NCAA delivers notice of allegations to Miami

Paul Myerberg, USA TODAY Sports | USATODAY

After two years spent investigating allegations of rule violations made by former booster Nevin Shapiro, the NCAA submitted a notice of allegations to Miami (Fla.).

The university is accused of a "lack of institutional control," according to a report by The Associated Press.

The NCAA typically reserves its strongest penalties and sanctions for those universities that fail to adequately monitor their athletic departments -- who exhibit a lack of control over, in the NCAA's words, the "formal institutional policies and procedures" meant to prevent schools from breaking NCAA rules.

Several former Miami coaches are named in the NCAA's notice of allegations, including former basketball coach Frank Haith, who currently holds the same position at Missouri, reported The Associated Press. After his team's win Tuesday night over No. 4 Florida, Haith told reporters, "Contrary to what was reported, there was no unethical conduct in my notice of allegations."

That the NCAA has issued the notice signals that its enforcement staff, which has come under fire, has completed the findings of its case against the university. Miami has 90 days to present its response to the allegations. The school imposed two years of postseason bans (2011-12) in an effort to potentially stem any major sanctions handed down by the NCAA.

Late Tuesday, Miami president Donna Shalala released her second strongly worded statement in as many days about the investigation, saying in part, "The University of Miami deeply regrets and takes full responsibility for those NCAA violations that are based on fact and are corroborated by multiple individuals and/or documentation. We have already self-imposed a bowl ban for an unprecedented two-year period, forfeited the opportunity to participate in an ACC championship game, and withheld student-athletes from competition.

"Over the two and a half years since the University of Miami first contacted the NCAA enforcement staff about allegations of rules violations, the NCAA interviewed dozens of witnesses, including current and former Miami employees and student-athletes, and received thousands of requested documents and emails from the University. Yet despite our efforts to aid the investigation, the NCAA acknowledged on February 18, 2013 that it violated its own policies and procedures in an attempt to validate the allegations made by a convicted felon. Many of the allegations included in the Notice of Allegations remain unsubstantiated."

The investigation into Miami has handed NCAA one of the most embarrassing episodes in its history. On Monday, an external review stated that the NCAA's enforcement arm "acted contrary to internal protocols, legal counsel and the membership's understanding about the limits of its investigative powers" in hiring Shapiro's lawyer to obtain information while investigating Miami's athletics program.

"With the completion of the external enforcement review, we recognize that certain investigative tactics used in portions of the University of Miami case failed our membership," NCAA President Mark Emmert said Monday.

Emmert also indicated Monday that the NCAA's case would continue without the "tainted information" gained when Shapiro's attorney gave members of the enforcement staff access to depositions in Shapiro's bankruptcy proceedings.

The NCAA's missteps have allowed Miami to go on the offensive – a new place for a school and a football program stuck in neutral while the NCAA underwent its two-year investigation.

In a statement Monday, Miami president Donna Shalala said the NCAA "has not lived up to their own core principles" and expressed disappointment in the NCAA's "unprofessional and unethical behavior."

Said Shalala: "The lengthy and already flawed investigation has demonstrated a disappointing pattern of unprofessional and unethical behavior. By the NCAA leadership's own admission, the University of Miami has suffered from inappropriate practices by NCAA staff. There have also been damaging leaks to the media of unproven charges. Regardless of where blame lies internally with the NCAA, even one individual, one act, one instance of malfeasance both taints the entire process and breaches the public's trust."

Miami did not immediately respond to USA TODAY Sports' request for comment.

The following is Shalala's full statement Tuesday:

"The University of Miami deeply regrets and takes full responsibility for those NCAA violations that are based on fact and are corroborated by multiple individuals and/or documentation. We have already self-imposed a bowl ban for an unprecedented two-year period, forfeited the opportunity to participate in an ACC championship game, and withheld student-athletes from competition.

Over the two and a half years since the University of Miami first contacted the NCAA enforcement staff about allegations of rules violations, the NCAA interviewed dozens of witnesses, including current and former Miami employees and student-athletes, and received thousands of requested documents and emails from the University. Yet despite our efforts to aid the investigation, the NCAA acknowledged on February 18, 2013 that it violated its own policies and procedures in an attempt to validate the allegations made by a convicted felon. Many of the allegations included in the Notice of Allegations remain unsubstantiated.

Now that the Notice of Allegations has been issued, let me provide some context to the investigation itself:

-- Many of the charges brought forth are based on the word of a man who made a fortune by lying. The NCAA enforcement staff acknowledged to the University that if Nevin Shapiro, a convicted con man, said something more than once, it considered the allegation "corroborated"—an argument which is both ludicrous and counter to legal practice.

-- Most of the sensationalized media accounts of Shapiro's claims are found nowhere in the Notice of Allegations. Despite their efforts over two and a half years, the NCAA enforcement staff could not find evidence of prostitution, expensive cars for players, expensive dinners paid for by boosters, player bounty payments, rampant alcohol and drug use, or the alleged hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and gifts given to student-athletes, as reported in the media. The fabricated story played well—the facts did not.

-- The NCAA enforcement staff failed, even after repeated requests, to interview many essential witnesses of great integrity who could have provided first-hand testimony, including, unbelievably, Paul Dee, who has since passed away, but who served as Miami Athletic Director during many of the years that violations were alleged to have occurred. How could a supposedly thorough and fair investigation not even include the Director of Athletics?

-- Finally, we believe the NCAA was responsible for damaging leaks of unsubstantiated allegations over the course of the investigation.

Let me be clear again: for any rule violation—substantiated and proven with facts—that the University, its employees, or student-athletes committed, we have been and should be held accountable. We have worked hard to improve our compliance oversight, and we have already self-imposed harsh sanctions.

We deeply regret any violations, but we have suffered enough.

The University and counsel will work diligently to prepare our official response to the Notice of Allegations and submit it to the Committee on Infractions within the required 90-day time period.

We trust that the Committee on Infractions will provide the fairness and integrity missing during the investigative process."