Inmate says he offered Hurricanes' players sex, cash
The Miami Hurricanes' entire football team took the practice field Wednesday amid mounting allegations by a former booster and convicted Ponzi schemer who claimed he treated players with sex parties, nightclub outings, cars and other gifts.
Nevin Shapiro told Yahoo! Sports he provided extra benefits to 72 football players and other athletes at Miami from 2002 to 2010. His claims involve several current players, but coach Al Golden said it was too soon to take disciplinary action.
The Hurricanes open their season Sept. 5 against Maryland."Everybody is practising," Golden said as his team took the field for a morning workout. "If it is determined somebody broke rules, then certainly they'll be first dealt with. ... As we get ready for Maryland, hopefully we'll swiftly learn if errors were made. If there are guys that are going to have to sit out games, we'll adjust our practice accordingly."
Players weren't permitted to speak with the media.
NCAA investigators were on campus this week to address Shapiro's allegations. Golden, who is in his first season as coach, said he's eager to obtain answers quickly, in part so his players don't repeat past mistakes.
Shapiro was sentenced in June to 20 years in prison for masterminding a US$930-million Ponzi scheme, plus ordered to pay more than $82 million in restitution to investors.
"If they were exposed to Mr. Shapiro, clearly we have to make sure we prevent that going forward," Golden said. "You do that by getting to the facts. How did this guy, if he did, get around our players like that? As a head coach, I want to know. I know our assistant coaches want to know. We want to make sure it never happens again. It shouldn't happen."
Shapiro's allegations threaten to bring down a program with a legacy dotted by scandals -- but none quite like this. Yahoo! Sports published its story Tuesday afternoon, saying it spent 100 hours interviewing Shapiro over the span of 11 months and audited thousands of pages of financial and business records to examine his claims.
"I did it because I could," Shapiro said of his spending. "And because nobody stepped in to stop me."
Shapiro began making his allegations about a year ago. Golden joined the Hurricanes in December after Randy Shannon was fired. Shawn Eichorst was hired as athletic director in April to replace Kirby Hocutt, who resigned to become athletic director at Texas Tech.
Golden said when he interviewed for the job, Miami officials did not tell him about Shapiro's allegations.
"If they knew this was percolating, I believe they did have a responsibility to tell me," Golden said. "I believe they have a responsibility to tell Shawn. But look, I'm happy here. My wife is happy here. We have great kids on this team. ...
"I want to make sure we get it right. As quickly as we can get to the bottom of whatever happened, then we can move forward. The only way to do that is to co-operate with the NCAA and get the truth."
Current Miami players named by Shapiro as receiving benefits included quarterback Jacory Harris, Ray Ray Armstrong, Travis Benjamin, Sean Spence, Marcus Forston, Vaughn Telemaque, Dyron Dye, Aldarius Johnson and Olivier Vernon. Former Hurricanes quarterback Robert Marve, now at Purdue, also was named by Shapiro, Yahoo! Sports said.
Shapiro said he gave money, cars, yacht trips, jewelry, televisions and other gifts to a list of players including Vince Wilfork, Jon Beason, Antrel Rolle, Devin Hester, Willis McGahee and the late Sean Taylor.
Shapiro also claimed he paid for restaurant meals and in one case, an abortion for a woman impregnated by a player. One former Miami player, running back Tyrone Moss, told Yahoo! Sports he accepted $1,000 from Shapiro around the time he was entering college.
"Hell yeah, I recruited a lot of kids for Miami," Shapiro told Yahoo! Sports. "With access to the clubs, access to the strip joints. My house. My boat. We're talking about high school football players. Not anybody can just get into the clubs or strip joints. Who is going to pay for it and make it happen? That was me."
Shapiro has said multiple times in the past year, including in the Yahoo! Sports story posted Tuesday, that he is angry with several of the players he claims to have helped when they were Hurricanes -- only to be "abandoned" when he sought their help years later.
Miami officials began co-operating with NCAA investigators not long after Shapiro made claims about his involvement with players last year. Eichorst and university president Donna Shalala were questioned by the NCAA this week. The school reiterated Tuesday it takes the allegations seriously.
The allegations against Miami -- which dealt with a massive Pell Grant scandal in the 1990s, along with other controversies -- have sparked what is just the latest in a string of NCAA investigations involving some of college football's most high-profile and successful programs.
In the past 18 months, the football teams at Southern California, Ohio State, Auburn, Oregon, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia Tech and LSU all have either been investigated or sanctioned by the NCAA.
The litany of scandals has led to calls for major reforms in the way the NCAA regulates and polices big-time college athletics. Commissioners of the major conferences, including Mike Slive from the Southeastern Conference and Jim Delany from the Big Ten, have called for major changes and increased penalties for rule-breakers.
Last week, NCAA president Mark Emmert led a group of university presidents in laying out an outline for changes, including raising academic standards, streamlining the rulebook and changing the parameters of athletic scholarships.
Yahoo! Sports also said Shapiro paid Wilfork $50,000 as a recruiting tool to sign with sports agency Axcess Sports & Entertainment, a firm Shapiro claimed he co-owned for much of the time he was involved with the Hurricanes. Yahoo! Sports reported players got cash and benefits through Shapiro's partner, former NFL agent and current UFL commissioner Michael Huyghue.
Former Canes AD: Shapiro 'should have been on our radar
Former University of Miami athletic director Paul Dee said Friday he is “absolutely sickened’’ by the allegations facing the Hurricanes, urged everyone involved to tell the truth, and conceded that Nevin Shapiro, the incarcerated booster at the center of the scandal, “should have been on our radar.’’
The only issue they had with Shapiro, Dee said, is that “he kept promising gifts he didn’t deliver.’’ Also, he rubbed football coach Randy Shannon the wrong way, to the point that Shannon warned his players about Shapiro. Dee admits that should have been a red flag.“At that point, if our coach is uncomfortable with someone, he should tell the compliance officer, ‘There’s something about that guy I don’t like,’ and then we can check him out, keep an eye on him, and maybe ward him off if we need to. Maybe even hire a private investigator. The key to preventing all this is leadership and compliance. But you always question how much is too much enforcement.’’
Dee said Shapiro never asked for anything extraordinary, and was treated like all the other boosters who made substantial donations. He was given sideline passes for a few football games a year, but that is a common courtesy.
“It is not an unusual request for a trustee or booster to ask for a field pass,’’ said Dee, who served as chairman of the NCAA Infractions Committee. “I’ve had trustees take their kids down there to get photos before a game, boosters down there for pre-game warm-ups, those are little favors we did for the people who supported our program and it has never burned us before. Nevin was friends with Shaquille O’Neal, and we were told by people who knew him that he was a good guy with his own business. We had no idea he was dirty and running a Ponzi scheme. His own friends didn’t know. Some guys smell fishy, and pique your interest. He wasn’t one of those guys.’’
Dee, who was AD until 2008, said whenever he got “word from the street’’ that Hurricane players were hanging out in the wrong places, he tried to put a stop to it. When he heard football players were visiting Club Rolexx, a North Miami strip club, he sent someone to check and the Canes were prohibited from going back.
“We tried to be careful, and we did a pretty good job, but we should have done more,’’ he said. “All we can do now is wait for the truth to come out, take our medicine if it comes, and learn from it. But it pains me tremendously to see such sensational stories and headlines. UM is getting creamed again, and everyone around the country loves it. We will survive, though. We will survive.
Luther Campbell: Nevin Shapiro Thought He Owned the Miami Program, Played Role in Firing of Randy Shannon
Luther Campbell certainly knows a thing or two about causing a stir within the Miami Hurricanes athletic department. The prominent Miami figure and one-time leader of the rap group 2 Live Crew has been associated with the program for more than two decades, which of course means he’s seen or been aware of some infractions over the years. Campbell though says he can’t believe some of the allegations brought forth by booster Nevin Shapiro.
Here’s Campbell’s take on the whole mess of a situation.
Luther Campbell joined WQAM in Miami with The Michael Irvin Show to discuss his initial thoughts on the Shapiro report, the depth of the allegations, if he’s questioning some of their validity, an encounter he had with Shapiro and athletic director Kirby Hocutt, if Shapiro played a role in firing football coach Randy Shannon and the state of college athletics in general.
When the Shapiro story first came down, what were your thoughts?:
“My thoughts basically was I was very upset for the kids of the program right now. But at the same time, when this guy says in this article, he’s “Little Luke,” that’s the most insulting thing I’ve ever been called at any time in my life. If this guy wants to know anything about me, he really needs to dig deep to see the youth program I started 25 years ago. … If you want to be “Little Luke,” do that for the community. Do not try to hide under the name of Luther Campbell off something that you have read in the newspaper, some allegations.”
Were you surprised at the depth of the allegations?:
“I’m very surprised because I’m a guy that keeps a pulse on the community. … When you hear about things like a guy giving out money to players, having these so-called parties and things like that, you would hear about these things. That’s why I find it very, very hard to believe.”
Are you questioning the fact that maybe some of these things didn’t happen?:
“I’m questioning it very much because I had the opportunity to meet this guy two times. The first time I met him, he was trying to get me to use my influence to start his sports agency. That told me a lot about him. He does not have the pulse on the kids that he says he has. … The second time I was at a University of Miami game and he invited me to his suite. … He was running around saying, “I’m one of the brothers. … And to prove I’m one of the brothers, here’s my black girlfriend.’ … That rubbed me real, real wrong on his approach.”
On witnessing Shapiro talking with former AD Kirby Hocutt and Shapiro arguing for the firing of Randy Shannon:
“He was saying … how he wants to pay and buy out Randy’s contract. That’s at a football game. I was there all of five minutes. I was thinking, ‘Who is this guy?’”
Do you think that conversation played a role in the firing of Randy Shannon?:
“In a major, major way. This guy had a major vendetta against Randy because Randy wouldn’t give him an audience. … He hated Randy Shannon’s guts.”
What was Kirby Hocutt’s response?:
“His response was he basically just shook his head and brushed him off and was like, ‘Nevin, just enjoy the game.’ … He really felt like he owned that program. It was from an administration standpoint.”
On the state of college athletics in general and what should be done:
“You look at it and you’ve got a guy at a tattoo shop that wants to give a guy a tattoo. You can’t get a tattoo. Now you gotta get kicked off the team for five games. Then you’ve got agents. Everything is built around giving these kids two or five dollars, or 20 dollars, or 100 dollars or a party or a good time. Look at everything that’s just happened over this year. … You’ve got the Texas football network. … We’re talking about major big business and the kids are getting treated like slaves
