NCAA Reportedly Accuses 3 Miami Coaches of Giving False Information During Probe

The NCAA and the University of Miami continued their back-and-forth over allegations of misconduct, and the latest turn in the ongoing saga is that three former Hurricanes assistant coaches will reportedly face charges of unethical conduct for misleading investigators.

Clint Hurtt and Aubrey Hill (who were members of the football coaching staff), in addition to Jorge Fernandez (who worked with the basketball team), have been accused of violating NCAA Rule 10.1, according to the Associated Press (via ESPN):

"

The NCAA said all three violated "principles of ethical conduct" as part of the notice of allegations served against the Hurricanes, according to a person who spoke to The Associated Press on Wednesday on condition of anonymity because the allegations have not been released publicly.

"

The scandal started in August of 2011 with Yahoo! Sports’ Charles Robinson, who conducted 100 hours of jailhouse interviews with former Miami booster Nevin Shapiro during an 11-month investigation. Shapiro is serving a 20-year prison term for his orchestration of a $930 million Ponzi scheme, and he detailed the multitude of NCAA rules he broke while supporting the school’s football and men's basketball programs. 

The NCAA then launched its own investigation, but suffered a major setback earlier this year. As The New York Times’ Steve Eder notes, the governing body admitted that its investigators “improperly obtained information” while looking into the program’s conduct.

However, the NCAA pushed forward, and on Tuesday it notified Miami that it would be charged with “lack of institutional control." As the AP report notes, this is “one of the worst things the NCAA can levy against a member school."

The information regarding misconduct by the three assistant coaches—all of whom have moved on from their positions with the Hurricanes—were part of the notice Miami was given on Tuesday. The AP report notes that Miami president Donna Shalala was extremely displeased with the NCAA’s actions and there will almost certainly be more contention between the two sides over this issue.