Miami and 10 College Football Programs NCAA Is Most Likely to Slam

The NCAA scandal that has rocked the University of Miami this month is only the latest in an ever-lengthening string of recent crackdowns that have once again exposed the seedy underbelly of college football.

Recent violations run the gamut, from harmless handouts at Boise State to improper recruiting contacts at Oregon and Tennessee, and may ultimately land a slew of big-time programs in hot water in the coming months.

In light of the exposure of the decay that has eaten away at the core of college football for years now, NCAA president Mark Emmert has just now begun to talk tough on college athletics, suggesting that his organization's most popular sport is in dire need of reform.

Ya think?

Emmert talks a big game, but has yet to bring the hammer down, though that first day of reckoning appears to be on the horizon.

So which schools have the most reason to fear the wrath of Emmert and his rambunctious band of rule-enforcing hypocrites... err, I mean, guardians?

Read on to find out!

Miami Hurricanes

The current kerfuffle at Miami is clearly the biggest and hottest of any with which Emmert has to concern himself at the present time.

The Hurricanes' controversy, first reported by Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports in mid-August, centers on the involvement of super-booster and purported jock-sniff Nevin Shapiro, who is currently serving a lengthy prison sentence for his involvement in a $930-million Ponzi scheme.

According to hundreds of hours of jailhouse interviews with and documents provided by Shapiro, at least 72 Miami players accepted millions of dollars worth of benefits—in the form of clothing, jewelry, prostitutes, access to strip clubs and night clubs, use of his homes and yachts, room and board and, in at least one case, an abortion—in clear violation of NCAA bylaws.

All while Shapiro himself donated thousands upon thousands to the university and its athletic department, likely so as to curry favor with coaches and officials, including president Donna Shalala, and open up access to the school's student-athletes.

What's more, Shapiro parlayed at least some of that privilege into clientele for Axcess Sports & Entertainment, the sports agency of which he was a co-owner.

The current scandal has come across as something of a copycat crime, hearkening back to the days when Luther Campbell of 2 Live Crew, also known as "Uncle Luke," got the school mixed up in shady activity in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Some have suggested that Miami's football program may be inflicted with the dreaded "death penalty" in light of this debacle, though such a harsh penalty seems unlikely in this day and age of college football in which the sport is so immensely profitable thanks in large part to the name recognition of teams like the 'Canes.

That being said, the NCAA will still likely come down with impressive force on Miami, depending on how the university goes about policing itself from here on out. If Shalala steps down and athletic director Shawn Eichorst swiftly imposes his own sanctions on the program (i.e. postseason bans, loss of scholarships, etc.) before an official ruling comes down, then the NCAA may exercise some leniency.

However, if the 'Canes administration remains stubbornly renegade in Emmert's eyes, then the future of football in Coral Gables could be in serious jeopardy.

North Carolina Tar Heels

Butch Davis left Miami shortly before Shapiro came onto the scene, though trouble seemed to follow him to North Carolina like death in a Final Destination movie.

Davis was fired from his post with the Tar Heels this past July, approximately a year after the NCAA first launched its probe into the university's football program amidst allegations of improper contact between players and agents.

In a nutshell, former North Carolina defensive line coach and one-time Oklahoma head man John Blake purportedly steered Tar Heels players toward NFL agent Gary Wichard, the man known best as the inspiration for the Oscar-winning film Jerry Maguire.

Apparently, Wichard's dealings with Blake's players were a bit more scandalous than Maguire's with Rod Tidwell, as Wichard provided his prospective clients with gifts and access to parties in South Florida, among other things, and Blake with sizable kickbacks for his efforts.

As far as sanctions are concerned, don't expect the Heels to come under much heat from here on out. The athletic director and the coaches responsible the misconduct have already been fired and the players who benefited are no longer around. That includes Marvin Austin, Greg Little and Robert Quinn, who were all ruled permanently ineligible by the NCAA last fall as a result of their involvement.

As such, unless the NCAA determines there to have been a lack of institutional control on the part of chancellor Holden Thorp, UNC should get off relatively scott-free.

Especially since the school isn't exactly a traditional football powerhouse.

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Not to harp too much on the Atlantic Coast Conference, but the league has been involved in a disproportionately large share of scandal of late.

Particularly given just how mediocre the ACC is as a football conference overall.

The recent sanctions that befell Georgia Tech football may not have garnered quite as much attention as the transgressions that took place at its rival universities, but the penalties are notable nonetheless.

The NCAA placed the Yellow Jackets on four years probation, vacated their 2009 ACC championship and fined them $100,000 after it was discovered that former players Demaryius Thomas and Calvin Booker had accepted impermissible benefits from an agent.

The rub, of course, is that the school was aware of the infractions and not only failed to report them in a timely manner, but also allowed the two student-athletes in question to play after the issues came to light.

What's more, the official report from the NCAA's Committee on Infractions, which handed down the ruling in July, states that one of the university's compliance directors went out of his way to fudge some facts and withhold others from investigators.

Georgia Tech is safe for now, though with probation hanging over their heads, the Yellow Jackets must tread carefully lest they invoke the wrath of the NCAA to an even greater extent.

Auburn Tigers

At SEC Media Day in July, Auburn coach Gene Chizik never once had to talk about Cam Newton directly, though the attendant media lodged plenty of questions asking indirectly about the 2010 Heisman Trophy winner and, more importantly, whether or not the NCAA was still investigating any improprieties regarding the gifted quarterback's recruitment.

The Tigers program came under fire in November, amidst the team's incredible run to the BCS National Championship, when allegations surfaced suggesting that Cecil Newton, Cam's father, had attempted to instigate a sort of "pay for play" arrangement for any school interested in his son's considerable services coming out Blinn College in Texas.

Coaches at Mississippi State had reportedly been authorized to see through Newton's recruitment by offering his father the $200,000 he demanded. However, nothing concrete has yet emerged to indict Chizik or Auburn in any wrongdoing.

Whether the NCAA is still adding to Newton's file is uncertain. During a recent appearance on the Dan Patrick Show, NCAA president Mark Emmert essentially dodged Patrick's question about the status of the investigation, leaving plenty of room for speculation.

As such, any penalties that befall Auburn at this point are highly contingent on the NCAA's pursuit of the allegations surrounding Newton. If they have, indeed, closed the book on Newton's case, then Auburn should be fine.

If not, the Tigers may be in store for Reggie Bush 2.0.

Tennessee Volunteers

The Tennessee athletic department has been to hell and back in recent years, with Lane Kiffin and Bruce Pearl dragging the Volunteers' good name through the mud before their respective exits, Kiffin's by choice and Pearl's by mandate.

The university instituted a self-imposed two-year probationary period earlier this year stemming from secondary recruiting violations that occurred on Kiffin's watch and which led to the disbanding of the "Orange Pride" program for new and prospective student-athletes at UT.

Vols athletic director Mike Hamilton resigned in June amidst the NCAA investigation, just days before the university was set to meet before the Committee on Infractions.

The NCAA decided against imposing any further penalties on the Vols' athletic department, though the school remains under its own cloud of probation. Any more missteps then, however minor, could cost coach Derek Dooley's team dearly.

Clemson Tigers

I know, I said I'd stop harping on ACC schools, but it's tough when so many of them are putting themselves so squarely on the NCAA's hit list.

Clemson may be due for a crackdown soon, though there's no indication yet as to whether it will involve the football program. The Tigers' athletic department reported 12 secondary violations to the NCAA in July, all of which reportedly took place during a five-month period earlier this year. One of the incidents allegedly involved five student-athletes getting put up in a hotel room by the agent of a former Clemson player.

However, the reports thus far have yet to name those who partook in the shenanigans or what sports they play.

One could presume, though, that some of the infractions pertained to the football program.

With the reports being as recent as they are, don't expect the NCAA to slap any wrists in South Carolina for another few months, at least while the folks there deal with all the other scandals on their respective plates.

Central Florida Knights

Miami isn't the only school in the state of Florida that's got itself on the NCAA's bad side these days.

In slightly less interesting news. the University of Central Florida is also under fire after receiving a letter of inquiry from the NCAA in mid-August regarding the relationship of the football and men's basketball programs to Ken Caldwell.

According to the New York Times, the Knights may have enlisted Caldwell, a convicted felon with known connections to a sports agency, to steer blue-chip prospects to the school, including highly-touted quarterback Damarcus Smith.

Smith has yet to enroll at UCF on account of academic issues.

For now, the NCAA's investigation remains ongoing, with a target date of completion set for September 30th. That leaves UCF's athletic department with just over a month to take action against itself before the NCAA does it for them. 

Boise State Broncos

UCF is just the latest non-BCS school to draw the ire of the NCAA.

Boise State, the one-time darling of college football, laid down sanctions of its own this past May to stave off the dreaded charge of "lack of institutional control" which the NCAA had lobbed at the Broncos.

The very same charge that left USC football with a two-year postseason ban and without a heap of scholarships.

The NCAA found 22 violations across five sports, including minor violations in football for the Smurf Turfers, who allegedly administered less than $5,000 in impermissible benefits to 63 players over the course of several years. Those benefits included arrangements made by the football staff for players to find food, transportation and housing, including brief stays at the apartments of other players, during valid summer workouts.

The football program has since repaid the money allotted, donating it to charity.

That wasn't quite enough to keep the axe from falling on the head of long-time athletic director Gene Bleymaier, who was let go in early August to bring an end to his 30-year tenure, which, among other things, saw the installation of the Broncos' famous blue turf.

The NCAA has yet to announce its ruling on the matter, though the university has already self-imposed a loss of scholarships and practice time for the football team.

With the way Boise State's athletic department has assisted the NCAA in its investigation and gone about policing itself since the storm began to swirl in 2009, the Broncos football team should be spared too harsh of a sentence.

Ohio State Buckeyes

Ohio State president E. Gordon Gee once so arrogantly pondered in public whether smaller schools like Boise State deserve to play for national titles.

If the NCAA has its way, the Broncos may have a better shot at doing so in the years to come than will Gee's beloved Buckeyes.

The cloud hovering over Columbus has already cost the Buckeyes their head coach (Jim Tressel), their star quarterback (Terrelle Pryor) and all of their wins from the 2010 season, including a victory over Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl.

This, for allowing a number of ineligible student-athletes, including Pryor, to play after Tressel and his staff became aware of his players having sold university-administered memorabilia for personal profit and accepted improper benefits, including discounted tattoos.

Of course, whatever integrity the NCAA hopes to maintain in this matter will be jeopardized by the fact that they allowed Pryor and his ineligible teammates to play in the Sugar Bowl while imposing five-game suspensions on them for the 2011 season.

According to ESPN college football guru Pat Forde, the NCAA has yet to complete its probe into the illicit activities of the Ohio State football program, with further inquiries launched in July following a report by "Outside the Lines" on  noted Buckeyes booster Dennis Talbott, who provided players with thousands of dollars in impermissible gifts and services.

Thus far, the NCAA investigation has cost the school's athletic department upwards of $800,000, according to AD Gene Smith, though the economic impact figures to balloon exponentially if and when further sanctions befall Ohio State in the months to come.

Oregon Ducks

It wasn't all that long ago that Ohio State and Oregon were in the headlines ahead of their meeting in the Rose Bowl.

Now, both find themselves firmly under the NCAA's microscope of scrutiny.

Like the Miami Hurricanes, the Ducks have fallen victim to the muckraking journalism of Yahoo! Sports' terrific (or terrifying) tandem of Charles Robinson and Dan Wetzel, who first exposed college footballs fans to the sorry saga of Will Lyles this past July.

Lyles, of course, is the high school football scout/supposed street agent who allegedly accepted $25,000 from the Oregon football program to steer blue-chip recruits in Texas, including LaMichael James and Lache Seastrunk, to Eugene.

James is back in school for his junior season after finishing third in last year's Heisman Trophy vote while Seastrunk has since decided to transfer to Baylor after getting buried on the Ducks' depth chart at running back.

Meanwhile, the NCAA continues to snoop around the Oregon athletic department, leaving the Ducks to compete for their third consecutive conference championship in the newly-expanded Pac-12 while a storm of suspicion gathers in the Pacific Northwest.

Given the gray area into which Ducks coach Chip Kelly's relationship with Lyles ventures, the NCAA is likely to take longer than usual in its fact-finding and perhaps even prolong its decision-making process once the particulars are in order.