ST. LOUIS — Another heaping portion of public scorn
has been hoisted above the NCAA, ready to be dumped atop a pile that has
grown quickly and deservedly due to the organization’s maligned
president and error-laden investigators.
But before
we add another dose — one we started preparing as soon as it became
clear the NCAA seemed to know exactly what it would find in the bank
records it requested from former Miami and current Missouri men’s
basketball coach Frank Haith — we need to make sure it’s earned. We need
to answer some questions. 1) What, if anything, should be off limits
for an organization tasked with stamping out corruption in college
athletics? 2) Are we willing to live with the effects such limits might
cause?
First, some background. On Monday, Haith and
his lawyer filed a petition in Miami-Dade federal court. The petition,
if approved by a judge, will allow Haith to subpoena Bank of America
employees in order to find out who gained illegal access to the coach's
bank records while the NCAA was conducting its investigation into Miami.
That probe, built upon the claims of convicted Ponzi schemer and rogue
Miami booster Nevin Shapiro, has led to Haith’s charge of failure to
promote an atmosphere of compliance.
The NCAA claims
Haith failed to alert the Miami athletic department when Shapiro
requested money in order to keep quiet about the cash he put forward to
land a Miami basketball recruit. Haith, who could face recruiting
restrictions at Missouri and be suspended for one or more of the Tigers’
games if the charge stands, has denied this and asked the NCAA to
dismiss the charge. It refused.
Then came news of
Haith’s legal action against Bank of America, first reported by
CBSSports.com. Haith’s petition, which hopes to preserve evidence that
could be used for a lawsuit against the bank, states Haith became aware
of a breach in his checking account in October 2012. At that
time, Haith had already turned over photocopies of three checks to the
NCAA, giving investigators a chance to see the documents they believe
Haith used to pay Shapiro. It was after the NCAA asked Haith to provide
microfiche copies of the same checks that Haith, while in the process of
completing the request, learned from his bank that someone (the bank
reportedly refuses to name the person) appeared to have accessed his
account without authorization. That person likely violated state and
federal laws.
This is the point where it becomes easy
to jump to conclusions, to conjure up images of an NCAA investigator
strong-arming a Miami bank teller for a copy of Haith’s records. In
reality, NCAA investigations are built in less controversial and more
boring ways.
Jo Potuto, a former chair of the NCAA's
Committee on Infractions, spoke to FOX Sports Midwest on Tuesday. While
she has no inside knowledge of the Miami investigation, the Nebraska law
professor who spent nine years on the committee shared her
understanding of how most NCAA investigations
work.
"At least the way the [CBSSports.com] report
reads, it’s not as though the NCAA went to somebody at the Bank of
America who works there and said, 'Hey, this coach has records here.
Would you go look at the records and tell us what you find?'" she said.
"At least not the way this report reads — by any means. And when I was
on the infractions committee, I don't think we ever encountered a
situation in which the NCAA enforcement staff did
that."
Instead, the process usually goes something
like this:
A person notices something suspicious,
like an athlete’s car parked at a booster’s house, or a coach contacting
a recruit when he or she shouldn't. That information is passed along to
the NCAA, often by a source who wishes to remain anonymous. From there,
investigators work backward to see if the tip can be
confirmed.
But what if an investigator receives a
clue from someone who had access to information they should not have
known? What if someone broke the law by acquiring information that —
after it was relayed to the NCAA — helped an investigation? What should
the NCAA do then?
This is a predicament Potuto says
lands the NCAA in the same position as a second-string
quarterback.
"No matter what they do, they get
criticized, and everybody thinks the quarterback on the bench could have
done a better job," Potuto said. "Whatever they do, there was a
different way to do it that they should have
done."
She also pointed out a cold, hard truth. If
the NCAA dismissed every piece of information that ruffled a few
feathers, few of its investigations would end in
charges.
"If we want to say we want the NCAA
investigators to not use any kind of investigative tool that isn't pure
as the driven snow, and we're willing to take the fact that that means
that schools may commit major violations and get away with it, so be
it," Potuto said.
"If that's how everybody wants to
be, don't ever use information like that," she added. "We would rather
have people who have committed violations continue to be employed at
NCAA schools. We would rather have the competitive advantage that a
cheating school gets than to go after it aggressively, then so be it.
But that's not the way I would do it. If you're asking me to do the
rules, I would want pretty aggressive investigations to get out
wrongdoing for the good of everybody who is not breaking the
rules."
But surely there is a realm that is too
aggressive, right?
The NCAA already admitted previous
mistakes in the Miami case. President Mark Emmert said during a news
conference that there have been "enormous foul-ups" during his
organization's investigation. One example includes an investigator
paying Shapiro's attorney to insert investigation-related questions into
a deposition for Shapiro's bankruptcy case. That act that eventually
culminated in the firing of vice president of enforcement Julie Roe Lach
and the dismissal of the information gained during the court
procedure.
With so much at stake in this
investigation, and so many eyes on the NCAA, isn't there a chance the
organization again crossed the line when it comes to Haith's bank
records?
It's certainly a
possibility.
But we should hold our judgement for
now.
In time, we will hopefully know if the NCAA was
the instigator behind Haith's beef with the Bank of America, or just an
investigative organization following up on a
lead.
One would show the NCAA again overstepped its
boundaries by encouraging someone to break the law. The other would show
investigators simply did their jobs.
Only if the
NCAA’s fingerprints are directly on the breach should the organization
receive its freshest load of public scorn.
Until
then, we should wait to add to the pile, and reserve the next heap for a
more-deserving occasion.
Chances are one will come
pretty soon.
Ben Frederickson is an award-winning writer for FOX Sports Midwest. His work has appeared in the Columbia Missourian, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the New York Times, the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Casper Star-Tribune.
You can follow Ben
Frederickson on Twitter (@Ben_Fred) and contact him at
frederickson.ben@gmail.com
