Report: NCAA Hasn't Contacted Key Figure In UM Case
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – While the University of Miami anxiously awaits the looming notice of allegations for its role in the Nevin Shapiro scandal, CBSSports.com is reporting the NCAA has not contacted the alleged middle man for Shapiro, former Miami equipment room staffer Sean Allen.
According to CBSSports.com, Allen was deposed by attorney Maira Elena Perez and NCAA investigator Ameen Najjar was in the room, but was asked to leave. Still, according to CBSSports.com, Perez grilled Allen, under oath, with questions the NCAA had fed her.
CBSSports.com said Perez asked Allen about former UM offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch's recruiting tactics even though Shapiro was in jail by the time both coaches were hired by the school.
CBSSports.com reported "no one as part of this investigation has gone back to Allen to inquire about any conversations that he may have had with Perez or Najjar as part of all this." This despite the fact that Najjar was Allen's "main contact with the NCAA and conducted hours of interviews with him."
The CBSSports.com report further clouded the multi-year investigation into the Shapiro allegations first reported by Yahoo! Sports. The NCAA had previously ordered an external review of the investigation after it found problems with the inquiry.
NCAA President Mark Emmert has repeatedly said the case will move forward against Miami with the evidence collected through improper means being left out. Emmert said previously that it was his understanding there was still a wealth of evidence against UM.
Still, the NCAA's enforcement process has been exposed as weak and suffering from internal ethical problems that reached the highest levels of the NCAA. It's called into question the legitimacy of the UM investigation and has crippled the enforcement division in the eyes of college sports fans.
Combined with troubling episodes at the University of Southern California, which is the center of a lawsuit, and the University of California-Los Angeles, along with a lengthy lawsuit from former basketball player Ed O'Bannon, and the NCAA is under more fire than at almost any time in recent memory.
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