The Miami Hurricanes have been under the NCAA microscope for the past couple years as the school had to deal with a lengthy investigation into its athletic program and after multiple years and plenty of paperwork, the football team got off mostly with a slap on the wrist, as they will lose scholarships over the next few years.
According to ESPN.com, the NCAA will announce its sanctions on the school on Tuesday and the report says that sources have said that the Hurricanes football program will not be getting a bowl ban, but rather they with have scholarships taken away, with nine totaling and three each over the next three seasons. The basketball team had a bit more, as they had head coach Frank Haith suspended and one of the assistant coaches now will have a two-year show-cause penalty.
Putting it into perspective, the USC Trojans and their penalties have the team losing more scholarships for next season than the Hurricanes will have throughout the whole penalty period. The Trojans were hit hard by sanctions and after the NCAA botched some of the Miami investigation, it appears the football team got off a bit easy. The team also hit itself with two years of bowl bans with self sanctions and that helped keep the team from getting the lack of institutional control deal from the NCAA.
The NCAA started looking into Miami two years ago about the possibility of former booster Nevin Shapiro giving money and other things to basketball and football players. Shapiro was convicted in a Ponzi scheme and told reporters that he gave money and other benefits to players during his years as a booster for the school. The school had just hired Al Golden for the football team when the news came out and he stuck by, taking the team back into the top part of the rankings, including this year at number 10 with a 6-0 record.
The NCAA will officially announce the sanctions on Tuesday and while the scholarships will hurt, the penalties do not take the team out of bowl games and they look like they are headed to one this season. The team is ranked seventh in the BCS and comes into this week with a game against Wake Forest after defeating North Carolina last Thursday. The Hurricanes have gotten back some of their former glory and now Golden can take the team to a bowl game this year.
