By Carlos Pineda
SouthernPigskin.com

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“Hell yeah, I recruited a lot of kids for Miami,” Shapiro told Yahoo! Sports. “With access to the clubs, access to the strip joints. My house. My boat. We’re talking about high school football players.

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — It took 11 months of investigations but the storm hit the University of Miami Tuesday night.

Former UM booster Nevin Shapiro, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence, shared details of his encounters with the Miami program in a Yahoo! Sports exclusive.

Shapiro allegedly “provided thousands of impermissible benefits to at least 72 athletes from 2002 through 2010.”

According to the Yahoo! Sports probe, Shapiro first became associated with the university in 2001, when he became a “living scholar” and was paired with then-freshman Willis McGahee. He admitted that it was not until after the team’s awards banquet in December ’01 that his role intensified.

Shapiro’s gifts included: money, jewelry, entertainment in his homes and yacht and trips to restaurants, nightclubs and strip clubs as well as player bounties and other items.

Elite players such as Vince Wilfork, Jon Beason, Antrel Rolle, Devin Hester and McGahee were listed among others along with current UM players Jacory Harris, Ray Ray Armstrong, Travis Benjamin, Sean Spence, Marcus Forston, Vaughn Telemaque, Dyron Dye, Aldarius Johnson and Olivier Vernon.

It gets worse.

Having donated $150,000 to the athletic program and $300,000 to the university, Shapiro said he broke some NCAA rules with the “knowledge or direct participation of at least seven coaches from the Miami football and basketball programs.”

Former UM coaches Clint Hurtt, Jeff Stoutland, Aubrey Hill and Joe Pannunzio allegedly took highly touted recruits to Shapiro’s home so that he could make recruiting pitches, Yahoo! Sports reports.

“Hell yeah, I recruited a lot of kids for Miami,” Shapiro told Yahoo! Sports. “With access to the clubs, access to the strip joints. My house. My boat. We’re talking about high school football players.

“Not anybody can just get into the clubs or strip joints. Who is going to pay for it and make it happen? That was me.”

Yahoo! Sports cited that eight former players or recruits admitted to taking gifts from Shapiro. In particular, former running back Tyrone Moss.

According to Shapiro, Moss took $1,000 in cash in addition to going on Shapiro’s yacht. Moss confirmed this, stating, “Yeah. It was me and some other players with my incoming [class].”

Miami released a statement on Tuesday: “When Nevin Shapiro made his allegations nearly a year ago, he and his attorneys refused to provide any facts to [UM]. The University notified the NCAA Enforcement officials of these allegations. We are fully cooperating with the NCAA and are conducting a joint investigation. The University of Miami takes these matters very seriously.”

It’s really an unfortunate situation for first year head coach Al Golden. Before Tuesday’s practice, Golden said he was disappointed because of all the strides the program has made since the spring.

On the basketball side, Shapiro alleges to have paid $10,000 to secure current player DeQuan Jones and that assistant coach Jake Morton acted as the “conduit for the funds,” Yahoo! reported.

According to Yahoo! Shapiro’s alleged benefits “would potentially breach multiple parts of at least four major NCAA bylaws, which could be an exception to the four-year statute of limitations.

It is unknown at this time if the NCAA believes the school knew about these violations.