“Quite frankly, we bring in $12 million to the university, nothing to do with state funds,” UConn Head Coach Jim Calhoun shouted at a reporter back in February, when he was asked about being the high paid employee of the Commonwealth of Connecticut. “We make $12 million a year for this university. Get some facts and come back and see me … Don’t throw out salaries and other things.”
That was a classic Jim Calhoun tirade, riding on a high horse and berating a reporter for questioning him. And now, facts may turn out to be Calhoun’s undoing, albeit on another matter, and it looks like another reporter has uncovered unimpeachable evidence of something rotten in Storr, Connecticut.
As Calhoun and his Husky team as prepares for their berth in the NCAA Sweet 16 comes news that UConn may have committed recruiting violations chasing former guard Nate Miles that are so serious that not even the money-savvy NCAA can turn a blind eye. Dan Wetzel:
[Nate] Miles was provided with lodging, transportation, restaurant meals and representation by Josh Nochimson – a professional sports agent and former UConn student manager – between 2006 and 2008, according to multiple sources. As a representative of UConn’s athletic interests, Nochimson was prohibited by NCAA rules from having contact with Miles and from providing him with anything of value.
A UConn assistant coach said he made Nochimson aware of the Huskies’ recruitment of Miles. Later, the assistant coach said he knew that Nochimson and Miles had talked.
The relationship and UConn’s knowledge of the situation are potential major NCAA violations.
Read Wetzel’s article, and look at the embedded evidence he presents. This is not a hearsay case, instead it is one with phone records, facts and a solid presentation of them.
To put it mildly, Calhoun may be in deep water. In my opinion, it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
UPDATE 1:
Sports Illustrated.com reported earlier Thursday on its Web site that according to a source, a member of the NCAA’s amateurism and agents staff made contact with UConn officials to request that the school conduct its own investigation. According to that report, the source said that the NCAA would not decide whether to launch its own probe of UConn until the school reported back its own findings.
But a source with direct knowledge of the process told ESPN.com that decisions on how to proceed with the case have already been made. Due to the potential for major NCAA violations as detailed in the story, the body’s enforcement staff will take the lead in the investigation, rather than its eligibility staff or its agents, amateurism and gambling staff.
The source said that the university didn’t have a choice in whether to pursue an investigation, saying that it is the obligation of the member and the NCAA to conduct a probe, based on the depth of information contained in the Yahoo! Sports report.
