Yahoo! Sports recently published a report detailing allegations that 72 University of Miami football and men’s basketball players, along with a handful of coaches, accepted hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollars in gifts, gratuities – including favors from prostitutes – and other benefits deemed to be impermissible by the NCAA.  And people are shocked.  SHOCKED!  Here’s what’s shocking:  That anyone is shocked.   
You could substitute virtually any of the 120 BCS schools, and probably many of the other 222 Division I schools that aren’t in the BCS, for Miami and the only difference is that most of them haven’t been caught – yet.
Ponzi artist Nevin Shapiro, a former school booster who is currently serving a twenty-year prison sentence for bilking clients out of $900 million, has been singing to Yahoo! Sports from his prison cell for the past year.  Despite denials by some alleged beneficiaries of Shapiro’s largess, Yahoo! Sports has examined documents which, along with information obtained from independent sources, corroborate many of the convicted swindler’s sordid details.    
A number of people have been quick to blame so-called greedy players who are already “paid” with a full scholarship, a myth that has been exposed in this space in the past, for their inability to say no to temptation. But it’s wrong to blame 18-22 year-olds for a system created, fostered and perpetuated by adults for their own personal benefit.  Until those who have the ability to make substantive changes – the NCAA, college administrators, the media, anyone who benefits financially from the status quo – have sufficient incentive to do so, you can count on more Nevin Shapiros and more Miamis.    
Proof that this is an adult-driven problem can be seen in one of the photos accompanying the Yahoo! Sports story.  It shows Miami president Donna Shalala gleefully eyeing a check, given to the university by Shapiro, as if it was the Hope Diamond.  This is the same Shalala who said in a statement issued in response to Yahoo! Sports’ story that she was “upset, disheartened and saddened by the allegations leveled against some current and past student-athletes and members of our Athletic Department.”  Not surprisingly, missing from her statement is any reference to her complicity in the scandal.
College athletics is fueled by two things:  Cheap labor, i.e., so-called student-athletes working for less than they could earn on the open market, and money, lots of it.  As long as the money keeps flowing into the coffers of those that benefit from the system, don’t expect any changes to be made.  Until violations by Miami and others similarly situated result in financial penalties large enough to cripple their athletic programs, the current system will continue with nothing more than nips and tucks that allow the Donna Shalalas of this world to say, “there, we fixed the problem, this won’t happen again.”  Until, of course, it does, which is inevitable.    
In the picture with Shalala is Shapiro with a microphone in one hand, getting exactly what he wanted from his illicit activities:  Publicity.  Standing next to Shapiro is Frank Haith, a former Miami basketball coach who, according to the Yahoo! Sports report, funneled a number of his players to a sports agency partially owned by Shapiro, a clear violation of NCAA rules.
Here’s something you can count on.  None of the adults in the photo – or any others involved in the Miami scandal – will be held accountable, with the possible exception of a few current assistant coaches.  The NCAA chooses to limit its enforcement activities to disciplining defenseless kids and ignores guilty adults.  No surprise there.  It’s the adults who make the rules.  And most of the coaches who enabled Shapiro have moved on and are therefore beyond the reach of the university.  
Shapiro may be a despicable human being.  But what of the other adults involved in the scandal?  Was Shalala duped, or is she guilty of turning the other cheek and ignoring the warning signs in the name of generating revenue for her precious athletic programs?  Either way, you can be sure she won’t suffer any consequences.  In an interview with the Miami student newspaper after the scandal broke, Shalala said she plans to remain at the school “for a very long time.”  
While the adults are responsible for the broken system, it’s the kids who suffer the consequences.    

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