Former Miami Hurricanes booster Nevin Shapiro, with the help of Yahoo Sports dropped an absolute bomb on the Hurricanes’ athletic program after his revelations of dispensing millions of dollars in improper benefits to 72 student athletes between 2002 and 2010.
What has been revealed these past couple days by far surpasses any other recent scandal we’ve seen in college sports.
Unlike some of the other scandals that have plaques schools like Ohio State, Tennessee and Southern California, Miami’s allegations are supported by first-hand confessions, documented evidence and corroborating sources.
Shapiro was not only a criminal, he was also a booster who ran totally rampant with Miami. Other than showering players with cash, he was supplied them gifts, lavish parties on his yacht and at his Miami mansion, sexual favors from prostitutes and in one case an abortion. All this was under the watchful eyes of ten coaches between the U’s basketball and football programs.
Now you may think that despite coaches having knowledge and in some cases partaking in Shapiro’s benefits, the school as a whole may not of known exactly what was going on or really who Shapiro was.
This simply was not the case.
Shapiro was well-known throughout the University of Miami, having part of a building named after him and even getting into a fist fight with the University’s compliance director.
Even if the University didn’t know who Shapiro was, they clearly should have.
If you add up all the factors, whether it be Shapiro handing case to recruits in order to secure their commitments or Miami coaches dabbing into the benefits given by Shapiro, the NCAA has quite a task in hand.
Now I don’t want to say that the NCAA is going to totally drop the ball on the whole Ohio State scandal but letting them get off without charging them for failure to monitor is a joke in itself. Or how about the NCAA totally turning a blind eye on the whole Cam Newton/Auburn ordeal we saw last year?
The NCAA has been presented the perfect opportunity to drop the hammer on Miami.
First, the U is a big name but not an overly big program meaning that the NCAA won’t lose tons of money if the punishment takes the Hurricanes out of the game for a few years.
Second, Miami has a pretty extensive history but does not have an extensive and wealthy alumni base.
Third, what Miami did may be worse than what Southern Methodist did during the mid 1970’s and into the 1980’s earning themselves the dreaded “death penalty”. Yes both Miami and SMU have a lot in common in that they were repeat offenders, used booster money to recruit and pay current players and did so on a consistent basis. But again what Miami did was so heinous when you add in the prostitution, the bounties for injuring rival players and the abortion.
The NCAA almost has no other choice but to hand down the harshest penalty it could and that would be the death penalty.
Not only would this give Miami what it deserves, but it would warn other programs that despite the name recognition all programs are subject to the rules and bylaws set forth by the NCAA.
Source: Yahoo Sports
