2011 University of Miami athletics scandal

[1] This allegation was verified in a subsequent NCAA investigation, which also found that the University of Miami's "head football coach and the associate director of athletics for compliance and internal operations were aware" of the payments.

[2] In 1994, former University of Miami academic advisor Tony Russell pleaded guilty to helping 57 football players and more than 23 other scholarship athletes falsify applications for Pell Grants.

[3] As a result of the scandal, Alexander Wolff wrote a Sports Illustrated cover story suggesting Miami should temporarily shutter its football program and that athletic director Paul Dee should be fired.

[2] That December, the NCAA announced that the University of Miami's multiple infractions would result in severe sanctions, including a one-year ban from postseason play and a 31-scholarship reduction between 1996 and 1999.

Some time between 1999 and 2003, under cover of a grocery business called Capitol Investments USA, Shapiro operated a $930 million Ponzi scheme, which eventually collapsed in November 2009.

[4] Shapiro was a major booster of the University of Miami's athletic programs, and reportedly spent $2 million from 2002 to 2010 in support of the football and men's basketball teams.

Sports writer Charles Robinson published an article based on 100 hours of jailhouse interviews with Shapiro, detailing his allegations regarding his illegal and unethical behaviors and lack of oversight in the University of Miami athletics department.

The University of Miami began the process in hopes that the NCAA would make its decisions on all players before their season opener at Maryland on September 5, 2011.

[9] On August 30, 2011, the NCAA announced results of the University of Miami's petition, clearing one named player, Marcus Robinson, but finding that the other twelve had received impermissible benefits.

The NCAA announced the following penalties on University of Miami players implicated in the scandal:[11] On October 22, 2013, the NCAA announced its sanctions against the University of Miami and four former coaches, alleging "a lack of institutional control in the poorly monitored activities of a major booster, the men's basketball and football coaching staffs, student-athletes and prospects.

Paul Dee, who served as University of Miami athletic director from 1993 through 2008, a period including both the current scandal and violations uncovered from 1995, was a recipient of heavy criticism.

[15] In 2012, with the NCAA yet to announce its findings as the end of the 2012 season approached, the University of Miami again chose to withdraw from postseason play, giving up a berth in the ACC Championship Game.