That said, in all of that, Golden did nothing but take the appropriate approach and conduct himself with dignity. He did the same over the holiday weekend. Though there were all kinds of rumors and reports that Golden was looking to get out, perhaps to take over at Penn State, Golden silenced those rumors by signing a four-year contract extension.

Al Golden joined WDAE in Tampa with Dan Sileo to discuss his first season as head coach at Miami, what areas the Hurricanes team improved in this season, if the inconsistency was a product of his team being comprised of a a mixture of his players and those that were there when he arrived, what his contract extension means about his commitment and where the team needs to improve most in 2012.

Your feelings on the 6-6 season overall:

“Frustrating. We just never seemed to have consistency, even in our games. We weren’t the same team every week. I look at the defense the first six game and look at the defense the last six games. The first six games were marred by suspensions and different lineups on defense. The last six games we averaged only giving up 14 points a game. Again, it was a tale of two seasons for the defense. And then the offense, the last three weeks, we didn’t produce the way we produced for the first three-quarters of the season. We didn’t have consistency. We made progress in a lot of areas.”

On where the team has improved:

“We go from 27 interceptions a year ago to 11 this year and from 36 turnovers to 19, is great. The fact that we’ve gone up 85 points in penalties per game is great. We made a lot of progress on special teams, we just didn’t have the consistency and continuity.”

Did the fact that some of the players were recruited by you and some are obviously still left over play a role in the inconsistency?:

“I don’t think there’s any question. There is a certain amount of resistance that always exists. As I said to the staff and said to the team, that last 10 to 15 guys, they’re the hardest to get on board because they believe and they’ll fight for what they believe in as much you’ll fight for what you believe in. This is a new season for us today at 7 a.m. We have a team meeting. We’re moving forward; we’re leaving that behind. … We’re just trying to build a team that has depth, that can withstand the rigors of a 12-game season and the schedule that we’re playing and hopefully we’ll do a great job finishing off this recruiting class.”

On his contract extension and what it means to show fans that he’s committed to staying:

“I think I’ve shown that. I think the staff and I have shown that. I’ve repeatedly said that we’re happy here … and that when I took this, I took it because I believed it was a destination job and a job that could be among the best in college football. We’ve been charged with that. This is the first step, stage one. This is really our first full year of recruiting. … I think from a perception standpoint and other coaches or media saying ‘Coach is leaving,’ it’s safe to say we put that to rest.”

Is is about building up the attitude and desire for this group?:

“We’re going to work on that. We need to have a real strong, tough offseason. This first phase here in the offseason, we have to just get stronger. There was too many times that we just got pushed around. We weren’t a very good short-yardage offense, so we have to work on that. … And on defense, we gave up too much in the running game. … We’ll hit the weight room and also recruit some guys that want to play the way we want to play.”

Listen to Al Golden on WDAE in Tampa here

Campbell joined 2 Live Stews on Yahoo Sports Radio to talk about why he’s suing Nevin Shapiro, the two times he met Shapiro, why he immediately got a bad vibe from the embattled booster, the work he does in the Miami area with kids, missing the old days during the peak of his music career when things were more stress free, and being proud of the recognition that the South Florida hip-hop scene is garnering behind the success of guys like Rick Ross, Khaled and other artists he’s helped identify and promote.

On why he’s filed a lawsuit against Nevin Shapiro:

“Yeah man, basically when the guy did the Yahoo! Sports article and he mentioned my name and saying that he was the little version of Luther Campbell was doing back in the day at the University of Miami paying players and things like that which was all false. That was a guy wrote an article assuming those things, and the NCAA investigated and came out and found out that I didn’t do any wrong doing. The university was never sanctioned for anything that was said that I did, so I had a real serious problem with that with this guy coming 21 years later saying he was doing things basically because he knew me to be doing those things, and he was wrong in doing ‘em.”

If he’s taken it personally that his name as been associated with the Miami scandal considering how much he loves the school and football program:

“I took it personal very much because number one, I’ve got a problem when you use my name. I’m a community oriented guy. I started my youth football program over 25 years ago; kids like Chad Johnson came out of the program, Antonio Bryant, Brandon Harris,  – so many kids, so many doctors and lawyers that came out of our youth program that I started. And I say to people that if you want to be like me, go back and give back to your community, do some things, put some programs together where you can leave a good legacy as far as your name is concerned other than trying to take my name and saying that I was doing some wrong doing.”

If he’s ever met Nevin Shapiro:

“Yeah I met him on two occasions. One occasion, a friend of mine said ‘hey, look, he’s a booster, a great friend of the University of Miami, he loves it and just wants to meet you. I went and met him, and he kind of offered, he said he wanted to start some kind of agency and he knew I had a relationship with the kids because of my programs and my work in the community. I said ‘I don’t get into things like that.’ First of all because my love is a genuine love for the kids of Miami and the kids in this inner-city, and I didn’t care to get into a business venture with him. Then I see him again, I was at the University of Miami game and I was in the club seats, and right above was his suite, and he asked for me to come up there. And when I was up there I really just didn’t like the vibes and the environment, I saw Kirby Hocutt go up in there, and he started ranting and raving about how he hates Randy Shannon to the athletic director. And at that point — I like Randy Shannon — I was like this really ain’t a place for me right here.”

If he misses the old days back when he was at the peak of his musical career:

“Man, I miss the old days! You party, have fun, go to the club, you know what I’m saying? You just do the shows, people were happy, you didn’t have to worry about getting shot on the way home. Those were the good days. Football was great. I think when some of the guys I knew started getting into the business of football and me understanding the business of football, I kind of lost interest. I had to go back and start coaching at the high school level to get that energy back. Because back in the days it was good. It was a beautiful thing.”

What he thinks of the state of Florida hip-hop with guys like Rick Ross and Khaled doing well:

“Yeah I’m happy about those guys. Rick is a good friend of mine; Khaled I kind of discovered Khaled. He was doing an underground radio station and I was doing a big show on one of the stations here, and I heard him and brought him to the big station and he blew up from there. Rick is a good kid, been through a whole lot things in the community. Pitbull is another kid that I’ve discovered, Trick Daddy and all those cats. I’m happy about South Florida; I’m happy about the South period. Because even when we talk about those Shining Showcase days and Club Excess, even then when you were growing up in Atlanta, all you would hear on v103 is New York music and New York dj’s . But the underground music was there, so I’m happy to be a pioneer of the South and I carry their flag, and I’m happy to see all these guys doing good, making money, putting people to work and just doing a great thing.”

Listen here to Taylor with The 2 Live Stews on Yahoo Sports Radio

After a week off to regroup, his ‘Canes will welcome Ohio State to their house for what was expected to be a marquee game on the college football schedule with two prestigious programs getting together in Miami. Instead these two teams are far from what the name on the front of the jersey’s would lead you to believe. Ohio State still has a lot of talent and are one of the teams to beat in the Big Ten, but they are coming off a scare on Saturday against Toledo, they are still dealing with the aftershock following a scandal that saw Jim Tressel get fired, and they head to Miami this weekend with more questions than answers as they continue to try and stay afloat without some of their best players, who remain suspended. They are calling it the Ineligible Bowl and for one season, the shine has been taken off two of the most prestigious programs in college football.

Al Golden joined WDAE in Tampa Bay with Dan Sileo to talk about what he liked about his team despite losing to Maryland in week one, what it is like to coach at a program where the bulls-eye is always there, why he has decided to go back to Jacory Harris this weekend as his starting quarterback, and what he expects from Ohio State this weekend.

On what he liked about his team despite losing to Maryland in week one:

“There’s two things there Dan: every time we got punched we counter-punched and some of those punches were heartbreaking. You fumble in the red zone there and that took points off the board then you fumbled right before the half. Then you go in there and the guys regrouped there. Every time we got punched we counter-punched which was good. I thought our conditioning was good and we played with more energy. We didn’t play smart and we didn’t play disciplined but those are things we have to get fixed this week.”

What it is like to coach at a place where the bulls-eye is always there:

“That’s why I came here and that’s why the student athletes sign up to come to the University of Miami. You get to be a part of that heritage and that tradition. I think we lost our poise at times; the operational penalties are too hard to overcome. We wanted to be an on-schedule team. What I mean by that is we wanted to stay ahead of the count. We were left in too many second and third and longs to do that and that led to throwing the ball more and some interceptions. We have to get that fixed, our kids have had a good attitude, we worked hard last week, and I shouldn’t have to get them motivated this weekend. We’re playing Ohio State at Sun Life and it should be exciting.”

Why he decided to go back with Jacory Harris as his starting quarterback after his one game suspension:

“Again I think he gives us the best chance to win this game, in this environment. It’s a combination of two things. His body of work in training camp number one and then number two the things that we did not do well in the game. The things that we did not do well in the game were a lot of operational. Being in the right formation, not getting a delay of game, and a lot of those have to be managed on the field by the quarterback. I know Stephen (Morris) is going to learn from that. Stephen up until that first of the two two minute drives was 15 of 18, did a lot of good things, gotta learn to protect the ball better, but clearly we had too many penalties and too many operational issues and we didn’t play at the tempo we wanted to play. We think Jacory gives us the best chance to do that in this game.”

On Ohio State this year:

“Number one they got their wake-up call last week in the Horseshoe and the cage is rattled. We’re gonna have their full attention. It’s a national game and it’s gonna be a great environment. The biggest thing is play with poise, play with poise. Our kids fought last week I think we’re in really good condition and now it’s a function of going out there and playing with poise. This is gonna be one of those lock-your-jaw games. This is a physical hand-to-hand combat team, this is a team that loves to make it into a one-on-one game. Number 54 John Simon won the game for them last week with an incredible effort, they have a 330 pound guy in Hankins at defensive tackle, and the guy that is the flag carrier for their defense is Nathan Williams, number 43. They’re talented, rugged, they’re six Big Ten championships in a row. This is a great test for our program and I’m excited about the opportunity. I hope our kids are excited about this opportunity to play Ohio State on Saturday night.”

Listen to Al Golden on WDAE in Tampa here

That is still a possibility, though the suspension of eight players suggests that the ordeal might be handled on a more individual basis. Head coach Al Golden is not pleased by some of the story’s sensationalist aspects, and he feels it’s irresponsible for the words ‘death penalty’ to be thrown around while so much is still being investigated.

Al Golden joined WQAM in Miami with Sid Rosenberg to discuss whether the suspensions that have come out are fair, why Aldrarius Johnson’s suspension is longer than others’, what he told the players about how the program will and should go about proceeding from the incident, if he knows when the NCAA investigation will conclude, what he thought when he heard the term death penalty thrown around, how he minimizes the chances of this happening again, his quarterback situation and whether he’s ever regretted taking the job.

Do you think the suspensions handed down this week were fair?:

“Yeah I think they’re right on. I don’t know all the details and all that. All I know is based on what they valued the benefit being. I know sensationalism sells and everybody wants a salacious story, but at the end, this is a very clear-cut case of an extra benefit and then declaring the student-athletes ineligible … and then reinstatement. … From that standpoint, we have a chance to move forward now.”

Why is Aldarius Johnson’s penalty so much worse than the others?:

“Well, number one, he’s suspended right now for violation of team rules, which is independent of anything the NCAA is ruling. He was not included in anything from the NCAA as yet, so I’m not allowed to speak … about his case because that’s still pending. But the reason he’s suspended for us is conduct detrimental.”

More on the suspensions:

“With all these kids, not really discussing Aldarius’ situation now, but all these young people now, you’re talking three years ago for these guys. They’re all different people, they’ve all grown up, they’ve all matured. … It’s hard for us to go back. I told them, ‘Don’t be defined by this,’ number one, and then number two, ‘At some point you’ve got to forgive yourself, otherwise you are going to just lament and regret the opportunities that you have moving forward.’”

Do you have any idea when the NCAA investigation might conclude?:

“I don’t. Again, I’m just satisfied that this first chapter is over. … This is a far cry from what everybody was saying.”

When you heard people bringing up the possibility of the death penalty, did you think it was ridiculous?:

“Irresponsible, irresponsible at that point. Obviously there are some things that occurred that we have to get corrected. … We have the leadership here to do that and we will get that done. Other than that, I’m being completely honest with you when I tell you that I don’t know the details. I wasn’t privy to any of the interviews. All I told the young people is, ‘We have to cooperate fully. Be open and honest. And if you do that we’ll be able to move forward.’”

How do you minimize the chances of something like this ever happening again?:

“Number one, we’ve got to recruit to our core values. This isn’t just coach-speak, this is making sure that we know who the parents are, making sure that the kids understand what we’re looking for at the University of Miami and how every one of these decisions or the partners you choose can impact not just you, but impact our football program, our university, our alumni and clearly the city of Miami.”

If Stephen Harris plays well against Maryland this week, can he ensure the start over the suspended Jacory Harris going forward?:

“This is going to be a simple one. I’m going to withhold judgment until I see how Stephen plays. Those guys were neck and neck and then we were forced to just go with Morris the last four practices, meaning we kind of ended the competition. … When this first broke, Jacory’s name was involved in this. That was even before the second scrimmage. From that point on, the competition ended if you will. The more it went on and it looked like we were going to have to deem Jacory ineligible, then Stephen took the reins. We’re excited about Stephen. … Stephen’s going to seize this moment for our team and the kids believe in him. So this is an incredible opportunity for him. … We’ll see where it goes from there. If Stephen plays really well, we might just move forward that way. If not, we’ll open the competition back up.”

In any of the mess since you took over, have you ever questioned your decision to take the job?:

“No, no, no. We’ll get through this. Sometimes, as a coach, you don’t know what the source is. You can see the symptoms when you take a new job. It’s like putting a Band Aid on a cut. If you don’t sew it shut, it’s going to continue to bleed. I knew there were symptoms here when I took the job, otherwise I would have the opportunity. … I knew they were there and obviously we found out there were more than just symptoms. … But this is a great job.”

Listen to Al Golden on WQAM in Miami here

Well, on Wednesday, Fox Sports columnist Jason Whitlock attempted to bring all of that down in one foul swoop. Whitlock not only attacks Robinson’s story and his journalistic principles, but attacks Robinson personally. Robinson answered back with the following interview.

Charles Robinson joined KCSP in Kansas City with Nick Wright to discuss his reaction to Whitlock’s column, the hypocrisy of it, defending his stats, the argument that the story can’t be right because it doesn’t include drugs, why he included the part about the abortion and what he thinks when Whitlock essentially accuses him of being racist.

Your thoughts on Jason Whitlock seemingly backing your guys’ work in talking with a criminal and breaking the Kansas University ticket scandal but then him tearing you down for taking the word of felon Nevin Shapiro in the Miami story:

“That’s one of the first things that jumps out. A year ago, myself and two other reporters … did a piece on the KU ticket scandal. And the spine of that report had to do with statements that were made by a man who was eventually convicted and went to jail for his role in various schemes. … Jason Whitlock could not be happier about that story. As Jason likes to say, ‘We were doing the damn thing.’ … It was interesting to me that he loved that story so much, but this one, Jason has constantly railed on me  personally as just taking the word of a convicted felon and a guy who ran a Ponzi scheme. … According to Jason, particularly when you get to the end of the column, he basically says, ‘Well, there’s no proof in this story.’ … I would like to know what reporting he did on this story because, yeah, you know what, I have a lot of human stories on that story. A lot, 11 months worth. … And by the way, Jason Whitlock, in five years, has taken some significant shots at me personally. On the heels of the USC case, he once used the phrase ‘NCAA slave catchers’ to refer to the work that myself and another reporter had done. … He took some fairly broad swipes after we ran our Will Lyles piece. … And then this. And I want to tell you something, when I wrote what I wrote on Miami, every single person there is an allegation against in that story, I reached out to every single one of them. I called them, I emailed them, I tried to reach out to them through friends, I left messages on their Facebook page. … In five years, I’ve never gotten a single call, a single email, a single Twitter message, nothing, from Jason Whitlock. He is a coward. And I have no problem saying that. He comes after my personal integrity as a reporter. I stand on my record. Yahoo stands on its record. And I have no problem saying that. I spent 11 months getting it right. He spent 11 seconds deciding it was wrong.”

What was your reaction when you read Whitlock’s arguments that your stats were about desperation?:

“The stats reveal 11 months of reporting. He can say whatever he wants about, it’s all the poisonous tree and it’s all Nevin Shapiro. You know what? The documents we got, we got from the federal documents. The federal government sent me those documents. Nevin Shapiro can’t send those from jail. … Eight players ruled out multiple games. One guy gets six games. Two guys get four apiece. What, another five get a game. That’s eight guys named in the report who all have been found to have received things from Nevin Shapiro. Another five on top of that also found to have received things from Nevin Shapiro, however, are not suspended because it was less than $100 in value. None of that matters…”

What about the fact that his smoking gun with the story is the fact that you don’t mention drugs?:

“This is funny to me because he accuses us of being reckless … and yet, essentially, in the same column, Jason Whitlock says, ‘Well, there must have been drugs. This guy must have been doing drugs.’ … Based on what? A feeling? Jason Whitlock feels like there must have been drugs. … Nobody I spoke to, 21 people involved in implicating players, themselves, corroborating parts of Nevin Shapiro’s stories … not one ever said, ‘There were drugs at this party.’ … We took 30 names out of the story because nothing could be corroborated.”

Why did you feel like you needed to include the information about the abortion?:

“Here’s why, because, number one, the abortion, as an illustration, it shows the lack of boundaries for Nevin Shapiro. It wasn’t just, well, this is a guy who’s given some guys a ride on his yacht or he’s given us some drinks at a club. I think the abortion is a very fair illustration of how this went well beyond the norm, the booster who gives the hundred-dollar handshake and says, ‘I just want to take care of you.’”

What’s your thought when you read a guy with a big audience essentially call you a racist?:

“It’s race-baiting. I feel like it’s race-baiting. As you said, he’s used racially charged terms in reference to me before. He called the whole Miami story a lynching. He doesn’t know mean. … This is a human being who’s never spoken to me once in his entire life. It’s ridiculous. It’s unfathomable how he can just loosely throw that out and not be called on the carpet for it. And I’m the irresponsible one… It’s absurd, absolutely absurd.”

Listen to Charles Robinson on KCSP in Kansas City here

Here’s Campbell’s take on the whole mess of a situation.

Luther Campbell joined WQAM in Miami with The Michael Irvin Show to discuss his initial thoughts on the Shapiro report, the depth of the allegations, if he’s questioning some of their validity, an encounter he had with Shapiro and athletic director Kirby Hocutt, if Shapiro played a role in firing football coach Randy Shannon and the state of college athletics in general.

When the Shapiro story first came down, what were your thoughts?:

“My thoughts basically was I was very upset for the kids of the program right now. But at the same time, when this guy says in this article, he’s “Little Luke,” that’s the most insulting thing I’ve ever been called at any time in my life. If this guy wants to know anything about me, he really needs to dig deep to see the youth program I started 25 years ago. … If you want to be “Little Luke,” do that for the community. Do not try to hide under the name of Luther Campbell off something that you have read in the newspaper, some allegations.”

Were you surprised at the depth of the allegations?:

“I’m very surprised because I’m a guy that keeps a pulse on the community. … When you hear about things like a guy giving out money to players, having these so-called parties and things like that, you would hear about these things. That’s why I find it very, very hard to believe.”

Are you questioning the fact that maybe some of these things didn’t happen?:

“I’m questioning it very much because I had the opportunity to meet this guy two times. The first time I met him, he was trying to get me to use my influence to start his sports agency. That told me a lot about him. He does not have the pulse on the kids that he says he has. … The second time I was at a University of Miami game and he invited me to his suite. … He was running around saying, “I’m one of the brothers. … And to prove I’m one of the brothers, here’s my black girlfriend.’ … That rubbed me real, real wrong on his approach.”

On witnessing Shapiro talking with former AD Kirby Hocutt and Shapiro arguing for the firing of Randy Shannon:

“He was saying … how he wants to pay and buy out Randy’s contract. That’s at a football game. I was there all of five minutes. I was thinking, ‘Who is this guy?’”

Do you think that conversation played a role in the firing of Randy Shannon?:

“In a major, major way. This guy had a major vendetta against Randy because Randy wouldn’t give him an audience. … He hated Randy Shannon’s guts.”

What was Kirby Hocutt’s response?:

“His response was he basically just shook his head and brushed him off and was like, ‘Nevin, just enjoy the game.’ … He really felt like he owned that program. It was from an administration standpoint.”

On the state of college athletics in general and what should be done:

“You look at it and you’ve got a guy at a tattoo shop that wants to give a guy a tattoo. You can’t get a tattoo. Now you gotta get kicked off the team for five games. Then you’ve got agents. Everything is built around giving these kids two or five dollars, or 20 dollars, or 100 dollars or a party or a good time. Look at everything that’s just happened over this year. … You’ve got the Texas football network. … We’re talking about major big business and the kids are getting treated like slaves.”

Listen to Luther Campbell on WQAM in Miami here

Mark Emmert joined 790 The Zone in Atlanta with Mayhem in the AM to talk about how concerned he is with the allegations against the University of Miami, whether or not he takes these allegations more seriously because of Yahoo’s reputation, whether or not the death penalty has been brought up as an acceptable punishment for these kinds of issues, if he feels like the NCAA needs to make an example of Miami, whether or not he thinks there is too much money in college sports, and how tough the past year has been with a number of cases of rules violations.

How concerned he is about the allegations against the University of Miami:

“I’m deeply concerned about it. You can’t look at those kinds of allegations, we have to remember of course right now they are allegations, but if those allegations prove to be true, even substantially, it’s a mess.”

Whether or not he takes the allegations more seriously because of Yahoo’s reputation:

“This is an ongoing investigation and unfortunately I can’t comment on it beyond what I have already said. We’ll just have to let that process move forward. We hear from the media just like you in the stories that are out there. We have to go out and confirm or deny any of those stories based on the data we accumulate and we are in the midst of doing that. I can’t really comment on the quality of the source or what the information is at this stage.”

If he has been asked about the death penalty being used as a punishment:

“No I wasn’t asked directly about it. The need right now is for us to have, it’s something that we were just talking about last week with our President’s retreat, we need to have a series of changes made in every way we run the enforcements practice and the nature of the rules. We need to focus the rules on the things that count, not on the things that are extraneous. We need to make sure that our enforcement process is focused on those things that are serious integrity threats and then we need a penalty structure that provides a real, serious deterrent. Whether or not the death penalty provides that we will have to wait and see. The reality is people are sitting out there now doing a little cost-benefit analysis. ‘Does it make sense to cheat or not? What’s the probability of getting caught or not? Are the consequences of getting caught going to be so grave that I don’t want to engage in this kind of behavior?’ Unfortunately in too many cases they’re concluding that ‘I’m good to go here’ so they will go out and do something foolish or downright unethical. We need to have penalties in place that give all those people serious pause so they say ‘I don’t want to find myself in that situation.’ If that includes the death penalty I’m okay with that.”

Whether or not he feels like the NCAA needs to make an example of Miami:

“Well we don’t want to make an example of anybody. We want to make sure penalties fit the crime and we will always work hard to do that. It’s tough on your fans out there because they see one case with this penalty and another with that penalty. The reality is just like in a court system every situation is unique and distinctive and we’re gonna do our best to make sure everything fits the circumstances of that case.”

If there is too much money in college sports:

“Our mothers all taught us that money is the root of all evil but on the other hand money in college athletics has allowed for a lot of really terrific things. We now give out two billion dollars of scholarship support to student athletes every year. That’s a lot of support going to a lot of kids and allowing 400,000 of them to participate in sports. That’s all made possible by the revenue that is produced by a handful of athletic events. That’s not inherently a bad thing. The fact that people engage in bad behavior isn’t new. The history of the NCAA is over 100 years now and it began 105 years ago because people were cheating in sports and young men were getting hurt playing football. There wasn’t nearly as much money then, but the cheating was just as rampant. You talk to somebody who played ball in the 40’s, 50’s, or 60’s or even into the 70’s, you had all kinds of problems and at that time you didn’t have these great big media contracts. While money is always an issue when there is lots of money involved I don’t think we can blame bad behavior on the fact that there is too much money in the system.”

How tough this past year has been:

“Well in the evening you want to have a nice, stiff scotch right? It’s been a really, really unpleasant offseason and of course I worry about that. That’s a significant part of what we do is protect the real and perceived integrity of intercollegiate sports. You can’t help but say what do we need to do now to restore that benefit of the doubt that we lost along the way here? So we’re going to work hard on it, but the fact is we have to make sure that teams are abiding by our rules and people around the programs are abiding by the rules and if they don’t that everyone understands there are serious consequences. I remember not very long ago there was this mythology that the NCAA would never get involved with major programs. Well it certainly seems like we’re willing to get involved with major programs now.”

Listen to Mark Emmert on 790 the Zone in Atlanta here

Switzer joined 97.5 The Fanatic in Philadelphia to talk about how there should be much steeper consequences for head coaches who know of violations within the program and don’t report it to their athletic departments, what he thinks should happen to the Miami program, why Al Golden shouldn’t be punished for transgressions committed during a previous coach’s tenure, if he thinks the Canes athletic department should have been more transparent with the investigation that was being conducted when they were interviewing Al Golden and others for the head coaching vacancy, whether he’s shocked that such high profile programs have been mired in scandal recently (USC, Ohio State, The U), and if he believes that coaches should be allowed to leave programs without consequence when it looks like they’re about to be handed down sanctions.

On the consequences being much stiffer for those head coaches who don’t immediately report the violations to their athletic departments:

“You’re exactly right, and I don’t know how many radio stations I’ve said that nationally. Jim Tressel, when he got that e-mail, he should have taken that damn e-mail, walked up to his compliance officer — which we didn’t have 30 years ago, 20 years ago when I was coaching and making $130,000 or $140,000 a year  – throw it on his desk and say ‘here’s your problem, do something about it.’ And they’d be culpable in this. But if I was a head coach today, I’d invite the president, the athletic director, the compliance officer to be at every one of my team meetings to hear coaches talk to kids that do good talks, that do good rules, they’re NCAA rules meetings, that we always have. Because we explain to those kids what their eligibility is, the importance of their eligibility and what violates their eligibility. And they all know that, every one of those kids. They know where they can go get a good deal, they know where they can find a car at cost, they learn it because of the network, they learn it from the players before them. But kids that go violate the rules…I don’t think an assistant coach comes up and goes ‘you want a car? Go see this guy…’ Coaches don’t do that.”

What he thinks should happen to the Miami program and if he thinks it’s fair that new coach Al Golden may be punished for transgressions that he had nothing to do with:

“Again, he’s got new players and is he hopeful these players are all clean? He’s a new coach, why should he pay for the sins and penalties of someone prior to him? I don’t think the NCAA will do anything to him. These guys have gone on. These guys, someone did something for ‘em, I can’t understand why in the hell the guy would turn around and try to hurt the program today and talk about it. I’ve never understood that. Some of these guys have their hand out, they want something, they get something and then they turn around and say something about the damn program. It just doesn’t make sense. There’s no loyalty factor if they did violate the damn rules. But as far as coaches and athletic departments orchestrating illegal recruiting practices — man, it just doesn’t happen in major college football; it just doesn’t happen. Yeah there’s some individual players that are bought, and there’s some outlaws, some assistant coaches that go out and put a group together that ‘I’ma put something together and get something done for some superstar player.’ That happens, and sometimes the player tries to market himself. But I’ma tell ya — 99 percent of the coaches in America try to do the thing the right way. We believe in ourselves, we’ve got integrity, and we’re going to go out and try to recruit right. We find someone that is violating, we turn their ass in to the NCAA. It’s as simple as that.”

Whether he thinks the University of Miami should have informed Coach Golden of the investigation during the hiring process since it’s now clear that the investigation was already underway when he was interviewing and ultimately hired:

“Sure there should have been full disclosure. I had a coach hired here — an excellent coach, the one I went after, the one I wanted. I had a job opening here at Oklahoma. Back in the early ’70s; in fact, 1973 he was coming, I found out we would probably be going on probation and received a letter from the NCAA. I had to call that guy and tell him I couldn’t offer him a job, I had to renege on that because of some allegations that had happened here prior to my taking the job. So I had to offer full disclosure. Anyone would have given him that. I think coaches take the job understanding that’s part of it, but that’s the past, that’s not my problem, they’ll give me leniency because of that. And hopefully that’s what happens.”

If he’s as shocked as most are that such high profile programs like USC, Ohio State and Miami have gotten into this type of serious violations predicament recently:

“None of them are immune. It’s happened in the past, it happened today, it’s going to happen in the future. You’re not going to be able to police alumni. You’ve got hundreds of thousands of people in the fanbase out there, and a minuscule of them don’t give a damn about the rules. They would rather be the buddy or best friend of some player, or star player, on the team and violate the NCAA rules. And the kid knows when he does something or takes something from that individual alumni, he knows he’s violated the NCAA rules. But he thinks he’s going to get away with it.”

If he feels anything should happen to coaches who jump ship before the sanctions come down:

“Well, I know it’s happened with assistant coaches, I don’t know if a head coach has done it, but I know assistant coaches have been penalized and therefore were persona non grata by the NCAA and could not coach again. There was a time limit put on them; they could not be hired by an NCAA program. The NCAA is very powerful. They can control college presidents and athletic directors. I promise you. They can keep you from getting a job, and they can get your ass fired. The NCAA can follow these coaches wherever they go and penalize them, but you’ve got to have the facts with you and know it’s correct. I don’t know if you’re talking about. What program had some coach that went somewhere?”

Listen here to Switzer with Jon Marks and Dan Schwartzman on 97.5 The Fanatic in Philadelphia

This repetitive issue in college athletics is a matter of college athletes playing at a high level, but not being paid for it like a professional, so they look elsewhere and who can blame them? The University of Miami is just another victim of this corrupt system that is the NCAA, where the organization can profit off of student athletes, but the athletes themselves cannot. Michael Irvin took pride in being a part of the “U,” where a culture was derived on paying athletes bounties for hurting other opponents and giving financial rewards for winning National Championships. The playmaker is angry over a “snake” in Nevin Shapiro being suicidal and looking to take down his school in the process of serving jail time for his role in a $930 million dollar Ponzi Scheme that he did to himself.

Without further adieu here’s Michael Irvin much awaited rant on the scandal that is rocking his alma mater and the college football universe as we know it.

Michael Irvin joined ESPN Radio Los Angeles with Max Kellerman and Marcellus Wiley and rants on Nevin Shapiro, plus talks about if he ever met Nevin Shapiro, Nevin Shapiro’s role in a $930 million dollar Ponzi scheme, taking the listeners to the University of Miami and explaining how a scandal of this magnitude occurs, his issues with the University of Miami allegations and what he thinks will happen to the University of Miami.

Michael Irvin’s opening rant without a question being asked:

“I am up? It was the most difficult show that I have ever had to do in the history of shows. My “Michael Irvin Show” today in Miami. It was three hours on Nevin Shapiro. He finally get what he has been looking for, which is fame. That’s what he has been looking for the whole time while we did three hours. I told my co-host you have to help me get through this today. I let him run it and I was trying to…guys I will say this: I was trying to remain professional and there was a few times that I just had to let my black go. Just let my black go. [Max Kellerman: How does one let his black go?] Well I got personal. I started calling him [Nevin Shapiro] names. Then I let it go brother and there are some things they will have to decipher before they can get me off the air. People will say what did he mean by that? Lets go to the brotherology book. First time I ever called anybody…I got personal. I called the guy a snake. I never ever ever had a personal attack about anybody personally. When you get a guy…I want us to understand this and we are talking about Nevin Shapiro, the booster, from Miami. [Editors Note: A joke like conversation ensues about Black and Jewish people involved in scandals]

Nevin Shapiro. Do you know the man? Ever meet him?

“I ain’t never met him. I said this too though and I’ll be honest with you, I would have fell to those aphrodisiacs that he was throwing around. I would have fallen into that. I would fall into it. Listen I wasn’t able to handle at 19,18, 20. I wasn’t even able to handle it at 30. Thirty-five? I just got here at forty-five! I just got here. If you would have offered me boats, women, and my hands are up in the air. [Max Kellerman: He's not asking you to throw a game. He's asking you to play harder!] He’s asking me to play. Lets go play. I’ll do what you do. Lets go have some fun. I am going to play. The football part I am going to whether he is there or not. The other stuff he is making easy like boats. Dawg boats? Come on man get on the boat. We are going to go out on a boat. We got some women. Well we are out of practice at 3:30. I will meet you over there at 4. That is just what you say. I am sorry. That’s the truth. I called him a snake and rapist because think about it this this way…he’s snaking people, but you are a rapist. How do you walk into someone’s home. Forget football. Forget the University of Miami. I don’t care about it. How do you walk into someone’s home and sit and eat dinner with them? Watch and look at their kids? Look at all the things in their home that they worked hard over the years to gather and then you take a check and then you go and blow away all of their savings? Man it doesn’t get any lower than this. [In reference to Nevin Shapiro's $930 million dollar Ponzi scheme] It doesn’t get any lower than this. You sit with people and you not only take money from these people and you go here and you rape these kids of their future.”

You are referring to Nevin Shapiro’s role in a $930 million dollar Ponzi scheme?

“Now get this and I say this too…we have to consider the source when we get stuff like this and hope the NCAA does too. This guys is and I had the guy on from Yahoo! today that did the article [Charles Robinson] and he was saying this guy says he doesn’t care. He wants to die. He has sixteen years of sin. I said anytime you run into someone who is suicidal you better believe they are homicidal. If they don’t care about their own life. They don’t care about anybody else’s life. Now if he is at place where he doesn’t want to die then okay what is he going to do? He’s going to reach up and bring down everybody. I’m not saying the things he said are not true. I am sure some of it is true, but in the middle of it I am going to blow it all up because let’s remember he always wanted to be big time.”

I want you to tell us what you told me off the air. Take us to Miami. What goes on that leads to a scandal like this?

“Well, what we were just talking about you get a lot of people saying how can this happen? We say things because we hear people say them and we don’t think through what we are saying. This guy has convinced people to hand him over a billion dollars. Nevin Shapiro’s has done this. He must of come and you know he did come with a stack of recommendations. Our culture and our society an eyewitness is everything. It puts people in prison. An eyewitness gets people out of prison. An eyewitness does. When we want to hire people we take in recommendations from others. Those are witnesses to the work ethic and kind of person this person is. She has a stack of recommendations from some very affluent people who have given him the sum of a billion dollars on her desk saying this is a good man and then…so her job is to bring in supplement money to go along with the money that is made out here playing football and all of those things. You have to in order to convince the boosters to give. What do you gotta do? You gotta bring the players around, so they feel like they are a part of something. So unknowingly and certainly I am sure not wanting to… she leads the players to the…[Max Kellerman: to the money?] You say that. I say she leads the players to the wolf dressed in sheep’s clothing. She doesn’t know. You are bringing them to the person with the money to try to convince the person to buy into the program. This is the process of business. This is what everybody must do.”

What is your issue with this University of Miami scandal all together?

“Some kids you can say what you want. These young kids when you think about them looking at them when they are signing that letter of intent to go to their schools. They are going…this is their dream. They have worked so hard for this. This is what they are all about. They are so proud. Some of these kids will be tagged with bringing down the same university that they were so proud of signing that letter of intent to because of the snake we all know as Nevin Shapiro, because his inferiority complex knowing he could never be anything and I want to grab a hold of other people’s success and try to be around it for a moment.”

What do you think will happen to the University of Miami? What do you think needs to be changed to help college athletics?

“I hope all things are considered as to where the source is and where it is coming from in all of it with the kids. A lot of them have gone. There is still maybe 12 or 13 kids who are still on the squad. I hope they leave it in a place and I hope they consider coach Al Golden. Think about this. Coach Golden went to Temple and build that program up. He built it up. This man comes up the right way. He’s earned it through hard work. One step after another. One foot after another. One foot in front of the other. I walk across the floor. I walk out the door to my success. He has earned it the hard way and here comes somebody who is a taker. There are two types of people, actually three. There are givers. There are takers and then they are some people that are just there and I will tell you this as I give this advice: you get all the givers around you can get. People don’t just give money. They give advice. They give who they are. They give their spirit towards you. Now takers…you minimize those takers because those takers won’t just take. You got to minimize those takers.”

Listen to Michael Irvin on ESPN Radio Los Angeles here

That didn’t stop Shapiro’s lawyer, Maria Elena Perez, from doing her best to put her client in a more positive light. She says Shapiro takes responsibilities for his actions and feels remorseful for much of what is going on, but that it’s not his fault that coaches and officials at Miami were blind, or closed their eyes, to what was going on. And she says that Shapiro really only gets in trouble because he tries to help other people.

Maria Elena Perez joined WQAM in Miami with Joe Rose to discuss why he’s taking down the program, if she believes the university knew what was going on, why they didn’t cooperate with the university first on the matter, Shapiro’s motive in all this, Shapiro’s personality, the money that he spent on players, why blame rests with the coaches and if Shapiro feels remorseful.

Why would a guy want to take down a program like it appears that he is doing?:

“This isn’t something that he had a choice. Nevin Shapiro was arrested by the federal government … sat in a chair and told to spew his guts and discuss everything that he had done illegally. He had to provide a forensic accounting of all the money that he spent over a five-year period, which would include from 2005 to 2009, his involvement with the university. He was involved with the university for 10 years.”

Do you believe that the university knew what was going on based on the Yahoo! reports?:

“The Yahoo! reports are pretty much on point. There was a lot of investigative reporting. Probably 15 months worth that went into that. I believe that the University of Miami, I have to believe my client when he says that they knew. The relationships, the pictures are there. I’m not sure Donna Shalala knew. … She was far removed from the athletic program. But I know that the athletic program knew. … They had to have know, based on what my client tells me.”

Why wouldn’t you guys cooperate with the University, which says they came to you, on this?:

“They didn’t try to get information for years. They heard that Mr. Shapiro was going to author a book that involved disclosing the ugly side of the university and when they found out that he was potentially writing a book, they reached out to me and they said, ‘We want Nevin to provide proof of these allegations. If not, we’re going to take legal action.’ That’s not exactly reaching out about this. What are you going to say?”

On Shapiro wanting to be a part of the solution to the problem in college athletics:

“He was put in a point where he had to say the truth or get in trouble. … Nevin is not going to do anybody else’s time. That’s the bottom line. … The bottom line is you should not engage in this conduct. Nevin wants to make an example out of this because he likes the universities and he likes the college athletes and professional athletes and he wants to clean this up and the only way to do it is to bring it to the forefront.”

You’re trying to make this guy sound like a great person. He did bilk people out of nearly $1 billion:

“He did scam people. How much money did Bernard Madoff give to the University of Miami or to charitable foundations. Nevin is a complicated individual; he’s a Type-A personality. But he has a bleeding heart. He worries more about everyone else than himself. … He always ends up in a problem for helping other people. … He gave this money to the university out of the goodness of his heart, not for any other reason, and he’s getting slammed for it, and demonized because he gave money to the school.”

How much do you think he spent on the players?:

“It’s really hard to read and come up with a numerical figure. A lot of things happened in cash, a lot of things happened in favor — buying jewelry, washers and dryers, engagement rings, suits, benefits like using the boat and the yacht and paying for all that, dinners, endless parties. You name it, it happened. I would probably say close to in the millions.”

Who do you blame the most from the university on the other side of all this?:

“I blame the coaches. I think that executive staff didn’t have that contact. I’m not sure about the new coach, but I know he had a lot of contact with the old coaches. And, that’s who I blame. The coaches are there. If I was the coach, I would be like, ‘Who is this guy?’”

Does Nevin take responsibility for what he’s done and does he feel any remorse for it?:

“I will tell you that Nevin accepts full responsibility for everything that happened. He does feel extremely bad and very remorseful. The only thing that Nevin doesn’t feel bad about and doesn’t feel remorseful about are the individuals that put him where he’s at, because there was a number of investors who engaged in mysterious lending practices, knowingly, and were probably making 40 percent.”

Listen to Maria Elena Perez on WQAM in Miami here