We’re back with another blog and this time we’ll talk about the disaster that is the Miami Hurricanes football program. Its been widely publicized by now the series of events that went on in Miami from 2002-2010 but a quick recap is players being paid by a former booster/con-man. Along with being paid, the 70+ players were given prostitutes, yacht privileges and access to the booster’s million dollar home. The kicker to all this is that allegedly several UM football and basketball coaches as well as some athletic department employees knew about this happening and yet did nothing to stop it. Because the NCAA investigation on the Miami football team is still ongoing its difficult to speculate on what type of penalty Miami is going to get but one thing is for sure, they are going to get pummeled with NCAA sanctions. Even if half of what the former booster is saying were true then that still would be a major violation and probably one of the biggest in collegiate sports history.
There’s been a lot of talk lately about who is to blame for this whole mess. Obviously Nevin Shapiro is a scumbag, and shouldn’t have been around the program. He’s a crook and douche and that’s why he’s in federal prison for 20 years. Yes the players need to know better and not be hanging around people like that and need to realize that they cant be accepting gifts or money. But these are also 18-22 year old kids we’re dealing with and who wouldn’t want some extra cash and benefits. I think most of the blame should be put on the coaches and employees of the university who knew what was going on and didn’t stop it. These people already made good money and should be old enough to know better yet they didn’t do anything to stop this guy and in some instances received the same benefits and gifts that the players were getting. It’s because of the athletic department employees and coaches that ultimately I believe Miami will receive some of the harshest penalties ever from the NCAA.
The “death penalty” has been widely speculated and im not so sure that wont happen but because of all the money at stake I think a long post-season ban as well as a big reduction in scholarships and possibly a TV ban would be more in order. Either way expect the “swagger” at the U to be lost for quite some time, if not forever. They were already a struggling football program but I believed they had the coach that could get them in the right direction. However, if strict penalties are enforced don’t expect Al Golden to stay in Miami long. That along with a resurgent Florida State and an always formidable Florida team in the same state will make recruiting very tough because nobody wants to play for a team that cant go to a bowl game and cant compete on the field.
Right now there are eight current Hurricane players ruled ineligible by the team but there’s hope that they will be ruled eligible by the NCAA in time for their September 5th match-up against the Maryland Terrapins. If those players aren’t reinstated this year expect an awful season for the Canes this year which will only worsen their fall to the bottom of the ACC. It’ll be a rough road for Hurricane fans for the next decade or so but for the rest of us it should be interesting and hopefully a lesson of what not to do for the rest of the NCAA.
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