When Yahoo Sports crippling, tell-all report on Nevin Shapiro and the Miami football program first came out a few weeks ago, the whole narrative was so action-packed and so overwhelming that it was hard to put it all into a proper context. There was so much information, so many potential major violations, that it was inevitable that there would be some things from the Yahoo report that got lost in the shuffle and became underreported.
One of those things that seemed to get lost in the shuffle was Shapiro’s claim that some former Miami assistant coaches put recruits in direct touch with him when they were visiting the school. Simply put, for any coach to knowingly put a recruit in contact with a booster- regardless of whether extra benefits were handed out- is still a major no-no in the eyes of the NCAA. In all likelihood, if an accusation like that could ever be proven in an NCAA investigation, it would be the end of that coach’s career in college football.
Just as a refresher, this is what Yahoo had to say about Shapiro’s contact with Miami assistant coaches:
Shapiro said he violated NCAA rules with the knowledge or direct participation of at least six coaches – Clint Hurtt, Jeff Stoutland and Aubrey Hill on the football staff, and Frank Haith, Jake Morton and Jorge Fernandez on the basketball staff. Multiple sources told Yahoo! Sports Shapiro also violated NCAA rules with football assistant Joe Pannunzio, although the booster refused to answer any questions about that relationship. Shapiro also named assistant football equipment manager Sean Allen as someone who engaged in rulebreaking, and equipment managers Ralph Nogueras and Joey Corey as witnesses to some of his impropriety.
Among the specific incidents, Shapiro or other sources say Hurtt, Hill, Stoutland, Pannunzio and Allen all delivered top-tier recruits to Shapiro’s home or luxury suite so the booster could make recruiting pitches to them. Among the players who were ushered to Shapiro while they were still in high school: Eventual Miami commitments Ray-Ray Armstrong, Dyron Dye and Olivier Vernon (prompted by Hurtt); eventual Florida commitments Andre Debose (Hurtt) and Matt Patchan (prompted by Stoutland and Pannunzio); eventual Georgia commitment Orson Charles (Pannunzio); and eventual Central Florida commitment Jeffrey Godfrey (Allen).
Taking out what was said about the basketball coaches (this is a football blog after all), it seems that as time has gone on, Shapiro’s claims in these specific circumstances may have held some validity. After all, it appears less than ironic that the three players named specifically in this instance who ended up committing to Miami, Armstrong, Dye and Vernon, all received multiple game suspensions, while some others, like Jacory Harris, Sean Spence and Marcus Forston were only suspended one game. Could there be a correlation to Shapiro’s claims of contact with the recruits and those suspensions? (It should also be noted that the players who ended up at other schools like Debose, Patchan, Charles and Godfrey were given immunity by the NCAA)
Anyway, one thing that seems to have been since then, is what became of those coaches who were accused? Could those accusations be proved beyond Shapiro’s claims?
According to a report by the Miami Herald today, the answer is yes.
In that report, the paper has said that some of the suspended players, including Armstrong and an unnamed player (whose father spoke anonymously) have pointed the finger at the former assistant coaches.
From the Miami Herald:
Ray-Ray Armstrong’s father said his son stayed with then-UM assistant coach Clint Hurtt during a recruiting visit, which is a violation regardless of whether it was an official or unofficial visit. Armstrong was forthright about that with the NCAA.
Also, the father of another current player who was interviewed by the NCAA told us that his son indicated that then-UM assistant Joe Pannunzio brought the player to booster Nevin Shapiro.
“How did my son even meet this creep? He would never have met Shapiro without Pannunzio,” said the father, who requested anonymity because the NCAA has asked the players not to reveal what they said. “To have one of the coaches deliver him up to this guy, it’s incredible.”
This, my friends is big.
Hurtt (now at Louisville) in specific is known as one of the top recruiters in the country, and was also thought to be one of the biggest reasons for the Cardinals success in recruiting the Miami area last year. In the 2011 Louisville recruiting class, the Cardinals signed Teddy Bridgewater, Gerord Holliman, Andrew Johnson and Eli Rodgers, all four-star players, and all from the Miami area.
Well, if the allegation from Armstrong (that he stayed with Hurtt on a recruiting visit) is true, it could mean the end of Hurtt’s time at Louisville. And of even greater importance, if the allegation that he served recruits on a platter to Shapiro is true, then we very well could be the end of his college coaching career all together. You simply don’t get away with those kinds of violations and keep coaching. While it isn’t a total apples-to-apples comparison, it was that kind of two-way dalliance that cost John Blake his job at North Carolina. It probably doesn’t help Hurtt that a Miami Board of Trustee member anonymously told the paper, the embattled coach was “up to his neck in this.”
Either way, we’ve been saying it all along, and will continue to: There are a lot of layers to this Miami case, with many more to come.
Follow Aaron Torres on Twitter @Aaron_Torres.
