“Hi, we’re the NCAA and we absolutely cannot get out of our own way.” How’s that for a new tagline regarding the Notoriously Corrupt Arrogant Asses?
The latest scoop regarding Mark Emmert and his merry band of thugs pertains to former Miami basketball coach Frank Haith, who has filed a court petition to determine how his detailed bank records were accessed during the NCAA’s investigation to the University of Miami.
Haith, now the head coach at Missouri, and his attorney, Michael Buckner, want to know if the cancelled checks were illegally obtained. The petition states that certain information could’ve been improperly gathered by accessing the microfiche reproductions of the checks, microfiche copies that were supposedly not turned over to the NCAA.
Should the petition be granted, it would allow Bucker to subpoena Bank Of America employees who had access to Haith’s account (between October 1st, 2011 and October 31st, 2012).
From there it’s in the hands of a judge to determine if the hearing warrants a petition and if so, whether Haith can issue subpoenas to depose witnesses.
Haith learned of these possible improprieties when requesting microfiche copies of checks, per the NCAA’s request. At that time, Buckner was informed by BOA that said microfiche copies had already been “viewed or ordered” by another party. (Uh-oh!)
In October 2013, Pamela Haith, Frank’s wife, contacted BOA’s customer service division, where the rep reportedly implied that microfiche copies have been previously viewed, or ordered. For more detail on the entire situation, Dennis Dodd at CBSSports.com penned a very detailed piece on Monday, which is worth the read.
Details aside, easy to see that this as more proof that the NCAA would stop at nothing to nail Miami to the wall. Illegal and unethical practices that have ruined the organization’s reputation and have cost employees their careers, all while putting UM through the ringer, based on the unprovable word of a convicted felon in Nevin Shapiro.
Miami obviously isn’t innocent and without blame here, which is why multiple suspensions, two self-imposed bowl bans, as well as sitting out the program’s first ACC Championship game appearance should be considered time served. This dark cloud has hovered over the program going on two years now. Enough is enough.
In other news, the NCAA revealed some new testimony in the former of Roberto Torres, former CFO for Shapiro’s Capital Investments, was deposed last month and revealed that he “witnesses” lavish parties throw in the “mid-2000s” on Shapiro’s yacht, including then-current Hurricanes, as well as prospective athletes.
Torres is reported as saying, he “saw them on the boat”, though he didn’t mention any specific athletes. It should also be mentioned that Torres shared this news from the inside, as he’s serving a four-year prison sentence for his involvement in Shapiro’s $930-million dollar Ponzi scheme.
Yet another credible witness helping the NCAA.
#EndThisThingAlready
#FireMarkEmmert
UPDATE : 5/10/13 : A federal judge in Miami denied Haith’s petition today, explaining that Team Haith couldn’t seek the info under Rule 27, but could get all the info from the bank should they choose to file a lawsuit, which isn’t off the table for the former Miami head basketball coach.