Miami Hurricanes, Al Golden In Deep Trouble With NCAA?
The Miami Hurricanes football program is in hot water. Charles Robinson’s report states that an investigation has led to information about Al Golden’s coaching staff and Sean “Pee Wee” Allen working together to circumvent NCAA rules and recruiting standards.
Allen, the former colleague of Ponzi schemer Nevin Shapiro, allegedly helped recruit Miami area players to play for Golden at the school. The report states that Golden had knowledge of Allen’s involvement in recruiting, which included improper benefits.
If true, this report is a major blow to the Miami program and Al Golden’s coaching history. Since arriving in Miami amidst the Nevin Shapiro scandal, Golden was allegedly attempting to clean up the program and restore Miami to their place atop the polls. Recruiting violations — let alone hanging on to a Shapiro ally — are the opposite of what the Golden era was supposed to represent in South Florida.
“I have been a college football coach for more than 18 years and I am proud of — and I stand by — my record of compliance over that span,” Golden said in a statement. “As my colleagues and players on all of my teams can attest, I believe strongly in doing things the right way with the best of intentions.
“The inferences and suggestions in the Yahoo! Sports story that my conduct was anything but ethical are simply false. I, like all of us at UM, have cooperated fully with the joint NCAA-UM inquiry and will continue to do so, so that our program and our university can move forward. Because the process is on-going, I am unable to address any specifics or answer questions on the matter.”
Laces Out will continue to update you on the situation at Miami. As ACC Media Day approaches, expect Al Golden to answer further questions on the issue.
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Joe Giglio is the ACC and Big East football writer for Rant Sports. You can follow him on Twitter or check out his Facebook page.
Joe is also the host of Charm City Sports Talk on WNST.net in Baltimore and member of the Society of American Baseball Research.
