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Aau coach Brad Augustine

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It is certainly a positive development. Augustine is a source for some of the statements attributed to Coach L, in which Coach L is described in the complaint as knowing about the payment of funds to Nassar. Moreover, Augustine, as Nassar's coach, is the lynchpin between Adidas and Nassar. If you remove Augustine from the case, it seems to be more difficult to connect Coach L to the Adidas folks, as well as more difficult to connect Adidas to Nassar, both of which are criticial elements of the conspiracy charges.
 
It is interesting that the latest source is claiming what Skip notes above -- that Augustine was dropped from the suit because he kept the Adidas money for himself and never passed it along to Nassir Little.

Interesting on two levels. First, if that's true, how ballsy, and crazy, would it be for an AAU coach to do this to Adidas -- you agree to cooperate in the delivery of money to a player and then keep the money yourself! He would essentially be cutting off any future dealings between Adidas and his program for $100,000-$150,000. That story has the makings of a good Sopranos episode! Plus, it would also mean that Nassir either never knew about the payments or otherwise agreed to not take the Adidas money.

Second, paragraph 47 of the sealed complaint includes a wiretapped conversation between the Adidas folks and Augustine in which Adidas says that they don't have the money for 2017, presumably to pay Nassir, but that 2018 was a possibility. So I wonder whether Augustine could have received anything from Adidas in 2017.

Moreover, I'm not a criminal attorney, but I don't believe the delivery of funds to Nassir is a required element for a conspiracy charge. I seem to recall that conspiracy does not require completion of the contemplated criminal act, but instead just some overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy. (In other words, some proof that the conspiracy was more than a mere discussion.) Perhaps the prosecutors were unable to find any overt act, if Augustine never passed the funds along to Nassir, but it would seem odd to drop conspiracy charges against Augustine merely because the eleged criminal act wasn't completed -- the complaint itself even suggests that the criminal act was yet to be completed, based on the inability of Adidas to delivery any money in 2017.

This is going to be interesting to watch unfold -- I just wish the future of our program wasn't so dependent on its resolution.
 
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On the negative side, the NCAA says up to 36 schools could face NCAA penalties. What are the odds we aren't one of the 36? (See today's ESPN NCAA Men's Basketball home page from today, Feb 15.)
 
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It's a fair question, hotshot, and I always worry that UM is an attractive target for the NCAA, in part based on our past relationship with the NCAA and on America's view of Miami and South Florida. Personally, we don't have a lot of the factors that typically bring down a program, namely:

- demanding, active alumni and boosters;
- a head coach with a win-at-all-costs approach; or
- high profile recruits that just seem to sign with us out of nowhere

On this last item, it seems pretty clear that Coach L and staff worked pretty hard to get Lonnie and Chris.

We also don't have any kids that were clients of Andy Miller, whose emails and phone records appear to contain a treasure trove of valuable information for the NCAA.

Now, none of this guarantees that we haven't done something wrong, but I certainly like our chances much more than if
 
Tad Footeball said:
Here's the Herald's article:

http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/college/acc/university-of-miami/article200354969.html
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Thanks. That's a well written article, in that it lays out some of the contradictions between the complaint, the dismissal of Augustine, and the purported involvement of Miami coaches. It also re-introduces the Little affidavits in which both Nassir and his father state under oath that they were never approached by anyone, including Miami coaches, about receiving money to play for the Canes.

I hope Michelle's article is picked up by other news services, as it set forth some pretty significant issues with respect to the charges related to Miami (University-7).
 
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Fingers crossed that we're gonna come out of this OK. And, especially happy for Coach L if it happens.

BTW, UConn fans (many at least) are convinced that someone paid Durand Scott to jilt them and come to UM. (He was a HS teammate of Kemba Walker at Rice HS in NYC.) Their board was full of that talk at the time!

Anyway, here's the relevant portion of the ESPN article I referenced above.

"Regardless of what happens with the criminal cases, sources with knowledge of the FBI investigation told ESPN this week that the clandestine probe could result in potential NCAA violations for as many as three dozen Division I programs, based on information included in wiretap conversations from the defendants and financial records, emails and cell phone records seized from NBA agent Andy Miller. His office was raided on the same day the FBI arrested 10 men, including four assistant coaches, in late September.

"It's not the mid-major programs who were trying to buy players to get to the top," a source told ESPN. "It's the teams that are already there."

The sources told ESPN that many of the alleged incidents involve illegal cash payments to prospects and their families, as well as players and their families receiving tens of thousands of dollars from agents while they were still playing in college. In some cases, according to the sources, NCAA head coaches were aware of the payments, while others didn't have knowledge of the schemes.

"At some point, the NCAA is going to see this stuff," the source said. "What are they going to do? They can't sit on their hands. If one kid is getting punished at USC for taking money, then the kid taking money at another school has to be punished, too."

36 (if it turns out that way) Div I programs is a pretty hefty percentage.
 
hotshot said:
Fingers crossed that we're gonna come out of this OK. And, especially happy for Coach L if it happens.

BTW, UConn fans (many at least) are convinced that someone paid Durand Scott to jilt them and come to UM. (He was a HS teammate of Kemba Walker at Rice HS in NYC.) Their board was full of that talk at the time!

Anyway, here's the relevant portion of the ESPN article I referenced above.

"Regardless of what happens with the criminal cases, sources with knowledge of the FBI investigation told ESPN this week that the clandestine probe could result in potential NCAA violations for as many as three dozen Division I programs, based on information included in wiretap conversations from the defendants and financial records, emails and cell phone records seized from NBA agent Andy Miller. His office was raided on the same day the FBI arrested 10 men, including four assistant coaches, in late September.

"It's not the mid-major programs who were trying to buy players to get to the top," a source told ESPN. "It's the teams that are already there."

The sources told ESPN that many of the alleged incidents involve illegal cash payments to prospects and their families, as well as players and their families receiving tens of thousands of dollars from agents while they were still playing in college. In some cases, according to the sources, NCAA head coaches were aware of the payments, while others didn't have knowledge of the schemes.

"At some point, the NCAA is going to see this stuff," the source said. "What are they going to do? They can't sit on their hands. If one kid is getting punished at USC for taking money, then the kid taking money at another school has to be punished, too."

36 (if it turns out that way) Div I programs is a pretty hefty percentage.
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As long as SEC teams are not there, expect NCAA to step in ..
 
The DOJ is never going to exonerate Miami.. they just drop the case.. the NCAA can't charge us if there is nothing there.. the innuendo will kill recruiting for a while. It is my opinion, that Blake will have a difficult decision to make in about year, if there is no recruiting going on... hopefully it won't come to that, but not sure any '19 recruits are going to have any definitive answers regarding the FBI investigation anytime soon and they will be committing in November.. hopefully the NCAA will charge the programs by late summer..
 
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Carlcane said:
The DOJ is never going to exonerate Miami.. they just drop the case.. the NCAA can't charge us if there is nothing there.. the innuendo will kill recruiting for a while. It is my opinion, that Blake will have a difficult decision to make in about year, if there is no recruiting going on... hopefully it won't come to that, but not sure any '19 recruits are going to have any definitive answers regarding the FBI investigation anytime soon and they will be committing in November.. hopefully the NCAA will charge the programs by late summer..
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The tricky part for Miami is that the DOJ doesn't need to do anything regarding us. Unlike Augustine, who had a formal complaint charging him with certain crimes, we are the equivalent of a "person of interest," with nothing formal filed against us. As a result, DOJ doesn't need to do anything with respect to us and isn't bound to any timeline for action. The best we could hope for is some statement that DOJ is no longer pursuing the claims relating to University-7, but I don't know what would compel the DOJ to make that affirmative statement is they're not bound to do so.

In some ways, the best thing that could happen for us is for the FBI investigation to explode, as has been suggested in several pieces this week, but us not to be named in any additional inquiries. At least that would help to level the playing field.
 
The DoJ no longer seems to be the problem. Now, it's the NCAA who will be hot on the trail of what is said to be three dozen schools that may have something to worry about.
 
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