Earl Moore DT Hillsborough HS

[Mama_Bull]

Should be fun watching them squirm. 

Renegade Miami football booster spells out illicit benefits to players

By Charles Robinson, Yahoo! Sports

1 hour, 26 minutes ago

Nevin Shapiro and a second source said this photo of the booster and Kellen Winslow Jr. was taken in Shapiro’s VIP section of Opium Garden nightclub in 2003.

KEARNEY, N.J. – A University of Miami booster, incarcerated for his role in a $930 million Ponzi scheme, has told Yahoo! Sports he provided thousands of impermissible benefits to at least 72 athletes from 2002 through 2010.

In 100 hours of jailhouse interviews during Yahoo! Sports’ 11-month investigation, Hurricanes booster Nevin Shapiro described a sustained, eight-year run of rampant NCAA rule-breaking, some of it with the knowledge or direct participation of at least seven coaches from the Miami football and basketball programs. At a cost that Shapiro estimates in the millions of dollars, he said his benefits to athletes included but were not limited to cash, prostitutes, entertainment in his multimillion-dollar homes and yacht, paid trips to high-end restaurants and nightclubs, jewelry, bounties for on-field play (including bounties for injuring opposing players), travel and, on one occasion, an abortion.

Nevin Shapiro said this photo was taken during a basketball fundraiser in 2008, in which the booster donated $50,000 to the program. From left to right are men’s basketball coach Frank Haith, Shapiro and University of Miami president Donna Shalala. Shalala is holding Shapiro’s donation check, which the booster has said was entirely comprised of ponzi funds.

(Special to Yahoo! Sports)

Also among the revelations were damning details of Shapiro’s co-ownership of a sports agency – Axcess Sports & Entertainment – for nearly his entire tenure as a Hurricanes booster. The same agency that signed two first-round picks from Miami, Vince Wilfork and Jon Beason, and recruited dozens of others while Shapiro was allegedly providing cash and benefits to players. In interviews with federal prosecutors, Shapiro said many of those same players were also being funneled cash and benefits by his partner at Axcess, then-NFL agent and current UFL commissioner Michael Huyghue. Shapiro said he also made payments on behalf of Axcess, including a $50,000 lump sum to Wilfork, as a recruiting tool for the agency.

In an effort to substantiate the booster’s claims, Yahoo! Sports audited approximately 20,000 pages of financial and business records from his bankruptcy case, more than 5,000 pages of cell phone records, multiple interview summaries tied to his federal Ponzi case, and more than 1,000 photos. Nearly 100 interviews were also conducted with individuals living in six different states. In the process, documents, photos and 21 human sources – including nine former Miami players or recruits, and one former coach – corroborated multiple parts of Shapiro’s rule-breaking.

Read more at: http://sports.yahoo.com/investigations/news?slug=cr-renegade_miami_booster_details_illicit_benefits_081611

[Mama_Bull]

DanWetzel Dan Wetzel

:violin Shapiro says NCAA investigators have called Miami case "the biggest thing they’ve ever seen." :popcorn

1 hour ago

[Mama_Bull]

Seems strange that Rivals doesn't have Earl Moore listed as a Miami verbal, because they already did a story about it a couple of days ago.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/usf/football/recruiting/player-Earl-Moore-10881

http://rivals.yahoo.com/usf/football/recruiting/commitments/2012/miamifl-11

[Mama_Bull]

Golden said his players were told about the investigation before practice Tuesday. He declined to make them available to the media.

"I didn't think that would be fair to the kids," he said. "I'm living day by day right now."

Golden said he didn't expect his 24 committed players for the upcoming signing class to waver in their commitments.  :

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/6866006/ncaa-probe-miami-hurricanes-coach-al-golden-says-players-made-mistakes

[Rizman]

Wait till the NCAA throws the hammer down on Friday for the University not knowing what was going on. 

[Mama_Bull]

Wait till the NCAA throws the hammer down on Friday for the University not knowing what was going on. 

Could be even worse than that, if they find the U knew about it and looked the other way.

[RSSMOOTH]

Even with the imminent NCAA fallout from this, if Earl Moore decided he wanted to play for USF, I'm not sure the staff would take him. They've been backing off on him for a while now...he's not the player they thought he was when his sophomore film blew everybody away

[Mama_Bull]

Even with the imminent NCAA fallout from this, if Earl Moore decided he wanted to play for USF, I'm not sure the staff would take him. They've been backing off on him for a while now...he's not the player they thought he was when his sophomore film blew everybody away

I understand.

We probably would rather have JUCO DT Alton Bailey to help out immediately in 2012, when we have a real shot at doing BIG things.

[Reliable Source]

Even with the imminent NCAA fallout from this, if Earl Moore decided he wanted to play for USF, I'm not sure the staff would take him. They've been backing off on him for a while now...he's not the player they thought he was when his sophomore film blew everybody away

I understand.

We probably would rather have JUCO DT Alton Bailey to help out immediately in 2012, when we have a real shot at doing BIG things.

That may be a really smart move, because from the look of it our recruiting classes are only gonna get better. A few people posting have sneered at transfers and JUCO transfers but filling the current needs with these guys may be the smart move. It will leave us with more available schollies in 1,2 and 3 years from now when we should be raking some serious talent.

[Mama_Bull]

The whispers have just begun for Miami

Posted on: August 16, 2011 8:14 pm

Posted by Bryan Fischer

On Sunday, Miami added commitment to their class of 2012 in Tampa (Fla.) defensive tackle Earl Moore. He held offers from Florida State, South Carolina and several others. Moore might be the last bit of good news for the program in the wake of the devastating Yahoo! Sports report released detailing scores of extra benefits provided by a Hurricanes booster.

Just like North Carolina, Ohio State, Oregon, USC or any other program dealing with a major infractions case, now is when the whispers start for Moore and other players. Facebook messages, currently unregulated, are likely filling recruits' inboxes with links to the Yahoo! story and a note that any coach on staff is free to talk. Head coach Al Golden's toughest task over the next few months is two-fold: keep his team focused and stick to his message about the violations and their possible aftermath.

There will still be players in South Florida that want to play for "The U" no matter what. One could see a day however, where Miami is competing with FAU and FIU for recruits instead of Florida and Florida State if sanctions are bad enough. But because we're only in the initial stages of the investigation, Golden and staff can preach that no one knows what will happen to the program - which is 100% true even if it doesn't look good.

But that doesn't mean every recruit won't be afraid of what could happen. If you're even an average recruit, why take the chance?

That's likely what plenty of opposing coaches are telling plenty of recruits right now. The whispers have just begun for the Hurricanes.

http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/26895818/31356171