Just when it doesn’t seem the NCAA investigation of the University of Miami can take another strange twist, that’s precisely what happens next.
In this latest chapter of the never-ending saga, tight end / defensive end Dyron Dye has filed a report with the Coral Gables police department regarding his 2011 interviews with the since-retired NCAA investigator, Rich Johanningmeier.
Johanningmeier has oft been accused of being a world-class bully when he was an official NCAA watchdog and even with the Miami case, has been linked to Ameen Najjar, the investigator who was fired and prior to that wrote a letter to a judge on behalf of Nevin Shapiro, as well as shamed Shapiro attorney Maria Elena Perez, with Johanningmeier writing the questions Perez would eventually use in Shapiro’s bankruptcy depositions.
Dye, most-likely on the advice of his attorney Darren Heitner, met with a Coral Gables detective a week ago, with the senior Hurricane stating that he felt “intimidated” by Johanningmeier, who met with Dye twice on August 16th, 2011 and allegedly threatened the player’s football eligibility. Johanningmeier has also been accused of coercing Dye into “favorable” answers for his investigation.
Dye, who was suspended the first four games of the 2011 season and paid back the $700-plus dollars he took in the form of dinners, drinks and club cover charge fees, has been accused of unethical conduct violation for inconsistencies between his first and second interviews, specifically in regards to then-Miami wide receivers coach Aubrey Hill, who recruited Dye years back.
The unethical conduct violation could cost Dye his final year of eligibility at Miami, which is why his attorney obviously has him swinging back.
In the affidavit Dye said Johanningmeier “continually threatened me if I did [not] comply with him. I felt intimidated by Mr. Johanningmeier and I was also concerned regarding the possibility of losing my scholarship and athletic eligibility. … I felt compelled to testify in a manner that would be consistent with the manner in which Mr. Johanningmeier was directing me in order to keep my eligibility. … I feel it is unfair the NCAA has twisted my testimony to use it negatively against Coach Hill.”
Former Hurricane players Olivier Vernon, Eric Moncur, Randy Phillips and Jacory Harris also signed affidavits on behalf of Hill, and Vernon told the Miami Herald in an interview recently that when he was questioned by Johanningmeier, “he made it seem like he wanted you to answer it as to where you did something wrong. He flipped it on us … Sometimes you blurt out something that you were pressured into saying. He pressured us a lot more.”
Vernon was suspended six games to start the 2011 season, while Harris missed one game. Both paid back paltry sums comparable to Dye’s.