University of Miami booster scandal

[The NZA]

illicit benefits

 

A former University of Miami booster, incarcerated for his role in a $930 million Ponzi scheme, has told Yahoo! Sports he provided thousands of impermissible benefits to at least 72 athletes from 2002 through 2010.

 

In 100 hours of jailhouse interviews during Yahoo! Sports’ 11-month investigation, former Hurricanes booster Nevin Shapiro described a sustained, eight-year run of rampant NCAA rule-breaking, some of it with the knowledge or direct participation of at least seven coaches from the Miami football and basketball programs. At a cost that Shapiro estimates in the millions of dollars, he said his benefits to athletes included but were not limited to: cash, prostitutes, entertainment in his multimillion-dollar homes and yacht, paid trips to high-end restaurants and nightclubs, jewelry, bounties for on-field play (including bounties for injuring opposing players), travel and on one occasion, an abortion.

 

 

follow up

 

Nevin Shapiro says he was drunk, humiliated and belligerent.

 

It was Miami’s final home game ever at the Orange Bowl, Nov. 10, 2007. The halftime scoreboard read Virginia 31-0 (en route to a 48-0 embarrassment). Everything Shapiro held dear about the Hurricanes was being stomped on.

 

As a major booster to the program Shapiro had access to the Orange Bowl press box and that’s where he spotted David Reed, the school’s associate athletic director for compliance. Shapiro felt Reed had been implementing rules that were too stringent, trying to keep boosters and players apart.

 

To Shapiro, the results of Reed’s efforts were manifesting themselves on the field. A once-powerful program was a competitive disgrace.

 

“So I tried to kick his ass,” said Shapiro, who despite standing just 5-foot-5 was always willing to fight. “I was screaming at him, calling him a sissy over and over, at least five times. I shouted, ‘these guys are a bunch of (expletives) playing for a real (expletive) (head coach Randy Shannon) and, by the way, you’re a (expletive) too.’

 

“I had to be held back from hitting him. I wanted to punch him in the face.”

 

The scene was confirmed to Yahoo! Sports by a separate source who helped break up the situation. The University of Miami declined comment and didn’t make Reed available for an interview.

 

Shapiro never laid a hand on Reed but the wild, public scene is perhaps the most blatant example of a lack of institutional control ever seen in college athletics.

 

It almost perfectly sums up the depths the Miami program sank, except, well, that wasn’t even rock bottom for the Hurricanes.

 

As bad as it was for a notorious booster to try to punch out the compliance director, worse is that the school allowed Shapiro to continue operating as he wished.

 

gonna be bigger than the SMU scandal, might affect a lot of their programs, some people think other florida schools as well. thoughts?