U of L has confirmed that assistant football coach Clint Hurtt received a notice of allegations from the NCAA regarding alleged violations that occurred during his stint as recruiting coordinator at Miami. A spokesperson also confirmed to WDRB's Eric Crawford that "none of the alleged allegations occurred at U of L."
Two summers ago, Yahoo released the results of an extensive 11-month investigation into the University of Miami football program which revealed rampant NCAA rule-breaking. Hurtt was named multiple times in the report.
NCAA rule-breaking with coaches and staffers: Shapiro said he violated NCAA rules with the knowledge or direct participation of at least six coaches - Clint Hurtt, Jeff Stoutland and Aubrey Hill on the football staff, and Frank Haith, Jake Morton and Jorge Fernandez on the basketball staff. Multiple sources told Yahoo! Sports Shapiro also violated NCAA rules with football assistant Joe Pannunzio, although the booster refused to answer any questions about that relationship. Shapiro also named assistant football equipment manager Sean Allen as someone who engaged in rulebreaking, and equipment managers Ralph Nogueras and Joey Corey as witnesses to some of his impropriety.
Among the specific incidents, Shapiro or other sources say Hurtt, Hill, Stoutland, Pannunzio and Allen all delivered top-tier recruits to Shapiro's home or luxury suite so the booster could make recruiting pitches to them. Among the players who were ushered to Shapiro while they were still in high school: Eventual Miami commitments Ray-Ray Armstrong, Dyron Dye and Olivier Vernon (prompted by Hurtt); eventual Florida commitments Andre Debose (Hurtt) and Matt Patchan (prompted by Stoutland and Pannunzio); eventual Georgia commitment Orson Charles (Pannunzio); and eventual Central Florida commitment Jeffrey Godfrey (Allen).
Which leads us to today's news.
As annoying as it is for Louisville to be involved in this NCAA/Miami mess in any capacity, it's important to remember that neither U of L nor the Cardinal football program are being accused of any wrongdoing. The worst case scenario for Louisville in all of this is that they have to part ways with Hurtt, and it's looking more and more like that's a bridge that won't be crossed.
The NCAA has botched this whole thing about as badly as you can botch anything, and the likelihood of Hurtt being dealt a punishment that would force U of L to let him go is far less likely than it was just a few months ago. It's also just as unlikely that this whole mess will be settled before any member of the 2013 recruiting class graduates.