Certainly it wasn't the players, who, though they knowingly jeopardized their eligibility and flaunted their status as football players, could no more resist the temptations of South Beach than any other 18- or 19-year-old. We didn't get mad at Ohio State players for getting free tattoos; we got mad at their coach for finding out and doing nothing about it.
It probably should be Miami president Donna Shalala, the long-outspoken advocate for her football program who recently bragged to ESPN the Magazine about monitoring the sidelines on game days for suspicious guests, yet
was caught on camera, beaming over a $50,000 donation from the rogue booster himself. But no, not angry -- that picture's too funny.
(She should still resign first thing Wednesday.)
Actually, one man towers over this story, even though he's only briefly mentioned: Former Miami athletic director Paul Dee.
Dee, you may recall, was the Committee on Infractions chairman for USC's much-publicized case last summer involving former stars Reggie Bush and O.J. Mayo. It was Dee who, in announcing some of the stiffest penalties of the last 20 years (a two-year bowl ban and 30 docked scholarships), closed with the preachy reminder that "high-profile athletes demand high-profile compliance."
Dee, Miami's AD during most of the period covering Shapiro's allegations, is retired and no longer under NCAA jurisdiction. Still, it seems only fair he should spend a day at USC's Heritage Hall wearing a sandwich board with the word "Hypocrite."
Dee if this sounds familiar: "We didn't have any suspicion that he was doing anything like this. "He didn't do anything to cause concern."
I'm fairly certain I heard Pete Carroll say something to that effect, repeatedly, about Bush's time at USC. He insisted there's no way he or anyone else at the school could have known that Bush's parents were living the high life in San Diego -- a defense Dee and his committee sharply rebuked.
But no, those were the words of Dee himself, Tuesday, to the
Palm Beach Post, in regards to Shapiro's allegations. Seriously. The same guy whose committee lamented the access outsiders had to the Trojans' locker room and sidelines also told the
Post that, " [Shapiro] would come by, ask to go out to practice and we would send one of our staffers to accompany him."
...
So go ahead, NCAA. Drop the hammer. If the Committee does in fact believe that high-profile athletes demand high-profile compliance, Miami took negligence to an entirely different level.
Cont'd ...
