Mom of Miami basketball player denies payment request

Nevin Shapiro

((ht: miamiherald.com))

Several of the people named in the Yahoo story about rogue University of Miami booster Nevin Shapiro are vehemently denying the allegations.

Among them, the mother and two coaches of UM basketball player DeQuan Jones.

The Miami Herald reached out to Jones's mother Irene Bell who tells them "The whole thing is such a lie".
 Bell says she did her homework and worked hard to provide for Jones and the thought of exploiting or taking money for her sons services would have made her walk away.

Jones's AAU coach and former high school coach added the timeline didn't add up either. They say the Yahoo story alleges the $10,000 payment request for him to come play there came after he was already committed and enrolled at the Coral Gables school.

Read more from the Miami Herald RIGHT HERE

We aren't sure who to believe here. Shapiro claims there is a witness, though Shaprio himself never met the kid and that then Miami assistant Jake Morton took care of the transaction.

The story also goes on to mention Irene Bell didn't need the money mentioned.

The quandry this poses is how do you prove all these allegations and who's story do you believe. And while the NCAA has been proactive thus far and obviously has something to work with as evidenced by the quick suspension of 8 current UM football players earlier this week, the older charges are going to be much harder to prove.

And as much as most Hurricane supporters and almost all journalists want this to be finished already, it's going to take a long time. We don't believe that every allegation made by Shapiro will be proven, quite honestly, we'll guess that maybe 50-percent get proven. But it will be enough to get the school in serious trouble or shut down as many writers have suggested? Well, that remains to be seen...

8 Hurricanes face various suspensions in 2011

Nevin Shapiro in the jersey

Well, the 1st ripple of the Nevin Shapiro/University of Miami saga has already played itself out.

8 Current Miami players are facing various forms of suspension and repayment penalties per a release issued by the NCAA their ownselves.

Olivier Vernon will get the stiffest penaly, 6 games and repayment of the $1200 worth of benefits the NCAA determined he received.

Aravious Armstrong and Dyron Dye: 4 games and over $730 in repayments each. Vernon, Dye and Armstrong allegedly got their benefits while being recruited.

5 players got benefits while already there according to the NCAA: Marcus Fortson, Sean Ryan Spence, Adwale Ojomo, Travis Benjamin and Jacory Harris. All 5 of these guys will miss a game and repay anywhere from $140 to $400.

Read the entire NCAA release RIGHT HERE

It's pretty obvious the NCAA has a detailed account of many of things alleged by former Miami booster Nevin Shapiro. And they seem to have a lot of it already documented.

Quite honestly, the current 'Canes are getting off fairly easy, though Mr. Vernon may have a challenge paying off the $1200.

The question is where do they go next. These infractions unto themselves, while serious, aren't nearly as deadly as many of the older allegations. And those allegations will be the hardest to prove.

This isn't the end of this story...and it probably isn't even the mid-point. So stay tuned, hold on, because there is much, much more to come.

Canes Make 8 Ineligible For Maryland

Including QB Jacory Harris and LB Sean Spence...

And what this action does, really, is force the NCAA into a more immediate investigation into the eligibility (or lack thereof) of the athletes involved in the current Nevin Shapiro entanglement...

The HQ gets this gambit completely...

Auburn did the same thing with Cam Newton and forced the NCAA's hand into declaring him eligible. Miami is hoping the same thing will happen with their ineligibilities...

Is that a word...??? It is now...

Susan Miller Degnan's piece in the Miami Herald detailing everything is hyah...

Another five players, all believed to be footballers, were not declared ineligible because the school believes the value of the gift was less than $100.

Here's Al Golden having to answer questions about stuff he shouldn't have to answer...
((HT: WFOR-TV Miami))


The only downside to the whole reinstatement process is that the NCAA looks at each case individually, so Miami will have to wait. Golden was set to name all of his eligible players Tuesday as preparation for the game against Maryland...

UPDATE:

Here's Miami head coach Al Golden Friday morning before practice. (Thanks Canes All Access)

Shalala Admits 15 Under Investigation at UM

((HT: umcommunications))

Miami president Donna Shalala says university compliance officers are looking into the eligibility of 15 Hurricanes players who have been implicated by Nevin Shapiro's conversation with Charles Robinson.

In a video message released Monday, Shalala says the university "will move through the process thoroughly."

Here's her message to the community...


Five months ago, NCAA officials say that they started investigating Shapiro's claims. President Shalala says Miami has retained attorneys who specialize in NCAA investigations to assist with the process.

Of course, she has... she needs to keep an eye on her career dissipation light as well... remember the photo of her at the bowling alley...???

We all do now...

University of Miami parents getting pissed

Alonzo Highsmith

((ht: miamiherald))

They are pissed and they aren't going to take it anymore. Well, they really are pissed, but I don't know about the taking it part.

Anyway, the father of former Miami cornerback Sam Shields is not happy. And he doesn't believe his son did anything wrong.

The father of current Hurricanes safety A.J Highsmith, who wasn't implicated in any of this mess, has some issues with all the implications too. Former Hurricane Alonzo Highsmith says he's contemplating a lawsuit against the NCAA on behalf of parents with kids playing football.

Alonzo Highsmith told the Miami Herald that the kids are the ones suffering for the indiscretions of the adults. Or of a select few players. And he's not wrong.

Read the entire story from the Miami Herald RIGHT HERE

We kind of agree with Highsmith about this, but it won't change. We've, in the past, advocated punishing the adults in all of this and questioned why the current players have to suffer from the indiscretions of past players. And it is a legitimate question.

We know full well that Highsmith's lawsuit won't get anywhere, but we hope it at least will initiate some discussion. It goes back to the NCAA's desperate need to reevaluate the way they dole out punishment to rule breaking schools.

We spoke yesterday about the talk of a "Death Penalty" for the "U" because of all of this and NCAA president Mark Emmert didn't do anything to dissuade that talk by saying he is "Not against using it". But he won't here. It again would be a blatant case of the NCAA punishing the innocent people who didn't do anything.

If someone should be punished, it should be the compliance officials. It should be the coaches and boosters. It should be the guys like Nevin Shapiro. It's somewhat cliche', but really it is all about "Don't hate the player, hate the game"

Opinion: Will Miami survive the hoopla?

The "U"

Yes. By now, most of you are familiar with the current craziness going on at the University of Miami. You know about Nevin Shapiro. You know about the allegations he has made. And you also know about the lengthy report on the whole thing delivered by Yahoo sports.

But the questions are beginning to surface. If this is all true, what does the NCAA do? The list of high profile schools in trouble seems to grow every couple of months. Yes, the NCAA threw a pretty big penalty on USC, and they should have. They are still contemplating what to do with Ohio State and depending on who you listen to, it may or may not be serious.

This case....could be different. Miami is not without a past. They've skirted and in some cases crossed the line in the past. But it has never been this serious.

In that vein, many columnists and so-called-"In the know" sportswriters are saying they should get "The Death Penalty". You know, shutting down the program.

That ain't gonna happen.

Yes, they will be penalized. And a lot of people have already convicted the school. And convicted them on the word of a guy about to spend a long time in prison after stealing hundreds of millions from people. There is no guarantee everything he said was true.

There's talk that if Miami gets a version of the "Death Penalty", they'll be shunned by everybody. Really. Would the ACC say bye-bye to a football program that couldn't compete? Could they? Where would they go? And actually, a weakened Miami, wouldn't be much worse than any other of the mediocre teams in that conference.

No, we don't think that will happen. Why? Because the program isn't going to say "bye-bye". And the ACC would be crazy to get rid of them. The conference is already a prime candidate to be raided, they are in danger of not surviving the "Mega-Conference" scenario even if they do nothing.

Yes, this story deserves to be played out and we really think this may be the case that forces the NCAA to change the way things are done. It should.

In the meantime, though it is early, here is what we think will happen. Miami will be put on "Double Secret Probation for a long time--say 10 years. There will be a bowl ban. They won't be on TV for a long, long time. There will be scholarship reductions. There will be a revamped compliance department. Some people, administrators will lose their jobs. And the once vaunted program will not be what it was for at least a generation.

This is only fitting: