NCAA VP of Enforcement Fired in Wake of Botched Miami Investigation

The NCAA today fired Julie Roe Lach for her role in mishandling the most-recent University of Miami scandal that has plagued the University’s football and basketball teams since it first broke in 2010. The NCAA named Jonathan Duncan as interim vice president of enforcement. 

Lauch first made headlines recently when she snapped at National Championship coach Gene Chizik in response to his inquiries into the Cam Newton investigation by firing back, “you’ll know when we’re finished!” 

Despite the firing and admitted missteps with respect to Miami, the NCAA will proceed with the information it deems was legally and properly collected.

Lach allegedly approved payments to the attorney for Nevin Shapiro, the Miami booster accused of providing illegal payments to dozens of athletes.  In exchange for the payments, the NCAA was given the opportunity to provide Shapiro’s attorney with a list of deposition questions for witnesses in Shapiro’s bankruptcy case, a power the NCAA did not have without the cooperation of Shapiro’s lawwyer. None of the questions allegedly had any connection to the bankruptcy.

The NCAA legal team advised against the plan, but the warnings were ignored.

The NCAA paid Shapiro’s lawyer nearly $20,000 for her services.

The information gained from the depositions paid for by the NCAA and taken by Shapiro’s lawyers pertaining to matters outside Shapiro’s bankruptcy will not be considered by the NCAA in finalizing the investigation into the University.

University of Miami President, Donna Shalala, has first-hand knowledge of underhanded tactics that take place behind closed doors.  During her eight-year tenure as a Cabinet-level Health and Human Services official to Bill Clinton, Shalala was criticized and eventually sued for her part in closed-door meetings with First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Shalala, this time the victim of what she describes as “shady” and “underhanded” tactics, is adopting the position of many of her critics from the mid-90s, accusing the NCAA of “a disappointing pattern of unprofessional and unethical behavior.”