Miami had the biggest cheating scandal in a quarter century overshadowed by the stuff in Penn State, but the NCAA didn't simply forget about the Hurricanes.
Yahoo! reporter Charles Robinson, who has major ties to the NCAA, had a few things to say about the penalties.
Letter of infractions in next few months. Sanctions in spring. RT
— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) August 3, 2012@brandoncozart Any idea when NCAA will announce Miami findings/sanctions?
They self-imposed one already. They won't self-impose another. RT
— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) August 3, 2012@bdohertytshq1 Miami likely to take self-imposed bowl ban?
I'm w/
— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) August 3, 2012@bfeldmancbs 100-percent. If it looks like a bad bowl for Miami, where they'd lose money anyway, they could self-impose another one.
Unless it's a major money-making bowl, HUGE yes. RT
— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) August 3, 2012@dave_gillette@bfeldmancbs r bowl bans the best placebo penalty going?
— TomahawkNation.com (@TomahawkNation) August 3, 2012
@charlesrobinson that would be pretty much any bowl for which they're likely to qualify. Plus the ACC still gives bowl share 2 nonbowl teams
Speaking of Bruce Feldman, here he is on what he is hearing of the sanctions:
At this point, no one really knows exactly how severe the sanctions will be. As I wrote in the spring, I've heard that Miami is likely to self-sanction another post-season this year at some point in the fall. I suspect that'll happen no later than after Miami loses for the second time this fall, which realistically could be by late September/early October. It might happen sooner than that. That'd mean, technically, that UM would've self-sanctioned two post-season bowl bans.
Given the severity of what actually happened at Penn State, I don't see the NCAA coming down with a punishment equal to what Mark Emmert just dropped on PSU. Penn State re-defined what we think of as a scandal as it relates to college sports, especially in regards to a cover-up and abuse of power, and all of the harm that it led to.
I could see the NCAA going with something along the lines of a three-year post-season ban and 10 scholarship hits per year on Miami though-adding to what the school already had imposed on itself. It'd be worse than USC's punishment but not at the level of what Penn State just got.
UM people will also point out that the school has cooperated with the NCAA. Back when USC got hammered a few years back, we heard plenty about how AD Mike Garrett handled the NCAA investigation only inflamed the situation, and it's no stretch to think that attitude only added to level of punishment. Still, with the USC case, the NCAA was essentially going after one player, albeit as then COI chairman Paul Dee (yeah, the same former Miami AD linked to this Nevin Shapiro mess ironically enough) said a "high-profile" athlete, whereas there have been dozens of UM players allegedly involved, and many of them were punished by the NCAA in 2011.
Beyond USC and Penn State, we've also seen recent NCAA justice as it relates to UNC, Ohio State and UCF. The Miami case that it seems to be most similar to of those five is UCF. (The Knights were "cited" for a Lack of Institutional Control and have to sit out a post-season in both football and basketball, were fined $50,000 and will be limited to 20 scholarships and 80 total for football over the next three years, among other punishments. Miami certainly appears to be headed for a LOIC charge, but who knows exactly what the NCAA can prove from the litany of things Nevin Shapiro detailed in the Yahoo report? It looks worse than UCF.
How much, if anything, will be connected to Al Golden? I'd expect Golden would make the case that whatever the assistant equipment guy (Pee Wee Allen) may have done wasn't something he would've had any knowledge of. Is that viable? How many new head coaches know what the backgrounds and involvements of staffers who aren't full-time assistant coaches are in such a quick transition?
"What I wonder with Golden and others is with this new proposed presumption of knowledge will COI members be looking to make an example out coaches in this case?" Dr. David Ridpath, Assistant Professor of Sports Administration at Ohio University told me Friday morning.
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