In case you didn't have the time to read all 52 pages of the external review committee's findings into the conduct of the NCAA enforcement committee on Monday, here's a timeline of facts and events as it pertains to the UM investigation.
It might provide a clearer picture for you of who, what, when, where and even why as we move forward in all this.
TIMELINE
> August 2010: Former booster Nevin Shapiro tells our Barry Jackson he's prepared to write a tell-all book that will bring the University of Miami football program down.
> February 2011: Shapiro sends email to Rich Johanningmeier, Associate Director of Enforcement at the NCAA. Shapiro makes allegations that over nearly a 10-year period he colluded with student-athletes and coaches to provide improper benefits. The NCAA buys Shapiro a disposable cell phone and expends roughly $8,200 to fund communications with Shapiro. At one point they transfer $4,500 to his prison to pay for the communication expenses.
> April 2011: Johanningmeier makes contact for the first time with Shapiro's attorney, Maria Elena Perez, after Shapiro requests she be informed of his cooperation with the NCAA investigation.
> April 21, 2011: NCAA asks for copies of Shapiro's FBI 302 reports. A week later, Perez tells the NCAA she is not able to provide copies of the FBI 302 reports but offers to "extract the information regarding any reported NCAA violations or the like." In a email later, Perez tells the enforcement staff she can prepare summaries of Shapiro's 302 reports at a rate of $575 per hour and provide a retainer for the agreement.
> May 2011: After speaking to Shapiro for months, NCAA enforcement staff members Ameen Najjar, who heads the NCAA's investigation, and Johanningmeier meet with Shapiro in jail twice. Najjar visits alone a third time. In one visit, Shapiro provides the enforcement staff with four boxes of documents related to his allegations.
> Aug. 2011: The enforcement staff briefs NCAA President Mark Emmert for the first time in the investigation. Shortly thereafter, Johanningmeier and Najjar meet with UM President Donna Shalala to present her with a notice of inquiry.
> Aug. 15, 2011: UM equipment manager Sean Allen is interviewed for the first time. He later tells The Miami Herald and other publications he lied through his teeth in the initial interview.
> Aug. 16, 2011: Yahoo! publishes its expose of Shapiro's allegations. A day later, UM coach Al Golden said he was blind-sided by the story and had no idea when he was hired UM was facing an investigation.
> Aug. 25, 2011: UM declares 13 football players ineligible and eight serve suspensions.
> Sept. 28, 2011: Perez proposes the idea of leveraging the subpoena process in Mr. Shapiro's ongoing bankruptcy proceedings to compel certain witnesses to provide the testimony they were seeking. Perez tells Najjar that Shapiro wants to help because it helped the Bankruptcy Trustee and because it would help Shapiro "get revenge on the University of Miami and its student-athletes who had turned their back on him."
Despite the advice of the NCAA's legal staff not to retain Ms. Perez, the enforcement staff proceeds with Perez's idea. The notes from the NCAA investigation case strategy meeting suggest the Bankruptcy Trustee did not intend to depose Shapiro's former bodyguard Mario Sanchez, Allen (UM's equipment manager) or Michael Huyghue, Shapiro's business partner at Axcess Sports Agency. That evening Najjar reports the idea to Julie Roe Lach, the Vice President of Enforcement, and Tom Hosty, the managing director of enforcement.
Lach later tells the outside counsel hired by the NCAA she could not recall Najjar's email had not heard of Shapiro's lawyer before that date. Hosty said he did not know about the UM case until August 2011, but he had been briefed on interviews with Mr. Shapiro and knew of Ms. Perez prior to receiving the September 28, 2011.
> Oct. 4, 2011: Perez provides the NCAA with a written proposal to conduct depositions of nine individuals including Huyghue, Allen and Sanchez and her "expenses and legal fees" are estimated to be at $20,000.
> Oct. 10, 2011: UM's counsel of Judd Goldberg and Michael Glazier knew of Perez's proposal before it is presented to the NCAA supervisors for approval. In a conference call with Najjar and Johanningmeier they raise three concerns: 1. That Perez would leak information because she was not bound by the NCAA's confidentiality policy; 2. Perez was not trustworthy; 3. Perez was not listed as an attorney in Shapiro's bankruptcy and did not have the authority to issue the bankruptcy subpoenas.
In another email, Najjar tells Perez the NCAA only wants to depose Sanchez, Allen, Huyghue and only two other individuals of the nine mentioned in her proposal. Another person not named by Perez, but named by the NCAA is basketball booster David Leshner.
Najjar then sends an email to Lach and Hosty about hiring Perez to conduct depositions of the six individuals he previously listed and informs them it could cost roughly $20,000 for the work. Najjar tells the outside counsel later he sought approval simply for the expenditure and to get the guidance whether the arrangement was permissible under NCAA bylaws.
Hosty replies to Najjar's email that same day saying: "Most intriguing. I don't know what we can afford from costs, but this could be a creative solution for bigger breakthroughs on evidence."
Lach emails Isch to green-light the funding. She then emails Hosty to clear the proposal with Naima Stevenson, a member of the NCAA's legal staff.
> Oct. 13, 2011: Hosty forward's Najjar's email to Stevenson asking her if she saw any legal issues. She promptly reviewed the email and said it raised two concerns: 1. Only the legal staff could hire outside counsel and 2. She saw the arrangement as an effort to circumvent the limits on the NCAA's authority to compel cooperation from third parties. She emailed Najjar and Hosty to touch base so she could receive additional information regarding the proposal.
> Oct. 21, 2011: After consulting with her boss, Donald Remy, Stevenson sends an email to Najjar advising him not to use Perez in the proposed manner and offered several explanations for why she and the legal staff believed it was inappropriate.
She warns Najjar using a criminal attorney to conduct depositions would be inappropriate. "Any information obtained through such a manner for use in the NCAA process would be subject to significant scrutiny to the extent any decisions were based on that information if those decisions were to be subsequently challenged," she wrote. Lach, Hosty and Najjar explained the advice "created a significant impediment to our investigation" and asked for a meeting.
> Oct. 25, 2011: After exchanging emails, Najjar and Stevenson agree to meet to discuss the Perez proposal. Stevenson, Remy and Najjar attended the meeting. Lach participated via phone. Remy spoke during the meeting and reiterated Stevenson's message, saying they could not retain legal counsel to represent the interests of the NCAA, but could attend any public depositions or copy transcripts thereof. They also cited concern Perez's proposal could be an inappropriate circumvention of the NCAA's investigative limits. Lach later couldn't recall the meeting and said she was out of the office that day sick. But Stevenson said Lach did "appear to accept" the legal opinion.
A review of Lach's cell phone records show she received a call from the NCAA and was on the phone during that meeting for 11 minutes. Najjar later said he had no recollection of that meeting, but did recall the email of rejection.
Minutes after that meeting, Najjar sends Perez a text message saying he ran into a legal problem retaining her but "there's a way around it.
> Oct. 27, 2011: Najjar has Perez send him her tax information so she can receive payment. Less than a month later he texts her to assure her "everything was approved." Lach later says it was her understanding from emails through Najjar that her and Hosty were told the legal staff had approved the circumstances under which Perez had been retained.
> November 19, 2011: UM self imposes a bowl ban and then announces it will extend the contract of coach Al Golden through the 2019 season.
> Dec. 7, 2011: Perez provides Najjar a list of seven individuals she is prepared to depose.
> Dec. 13, 2011: Perez contacts Najjar to inform him Allen's deposition had been set for Dec. 19, 2011 and Huyghue's deposition was scheduled for Dec. 28, 2011. She also noted a deposition for Leshner on Dec. 27, 2011 and was in the process of trying to serve a fourth witness, Mario Sanchez.
Najjar and Perez also discuss the preparation of questions for the depositions. She tells Najjar that if he is unable to attend he should send questions. Although, she noted, "I believe Mr. Shapiro has all the questions covered."
> Dec. 18, 2011: Najjar provides Perez with a list of 34 areas they would like for her to "explore" with Allen. It was focused on identifying student-athletes who may have received prohibited entertainment and gifts from Shapiro. Najjar's list of areas to explore included questions such as "When Allen was employed/associated with Axcess Sports, which UM players did he recruit for Axcess and what monetary benefits did he provide or was aware were provided for them?"
UM's counsel of Goldberg and Glazier later say Najjar was reluctant to disclose information about the depositions and noted that Najjar never mentioned to them that Allen's deposition had taken place.
> Dec. 2011 to July 2012: Perez sends four invoices to the NCAA (Dec. 20, 2011; Jan. 3, 2012; Jan. 10, 2012; July 13, 2012) requesting reimbursement for court reporter fees, copying costs and conference room rental for a total of $8,467.
> May 2012: Johanningmeier retires from the NCAA. Najjar is fired. Stephanie Hannah takes over the investigation.
> July 20, 2012: Yahoo! reports links Golden to using Allen to help him recruit local players.
> Aug. 2, 2012: Perez sends nine invoices requesting payment of billatable time spent on the NCAA's investigation from Oct. 11, 2011 to July 31, 2012 at an hourly rate of $350. She requests a total payment of $57,115.
> Aug. 29, 2012: Hannah forwards Perez's email to Lach who says the NCAA agreed to pay far less, roughly $15,000.
> Sept. 18, 2012: The NCAA pays Perez for six invoices of her work, totaling $10,500.
> Sept. 28, 2012: Hannah reviews Pere'z invoices with Stevenson for the propriety of certain charges. Stevenson is surprised to learn that Najjar had retained Perez after she and Remy had told him not to. Stevenson meets with Lach and they agree to discontinue all work with Perez in the bankruptcy proceedings.
> Fall 2012: The Enforcement and Legal staff undertake a series of measures to review what happened and agree to pay Perez a final amount of $18,000. To ensure that the parties at risk of the investigation suffer no prejudice from the use of the NCAA's bankruptcy proceedings, the NCAA's Enforcement and Legal staffs decide to remove any information directly or indirectly derived from the work of Perez.
> Oct. 2012: The Legal Staff, in consultation with the NCAA President and Chief Operating Officer agree to remove evidence derived directly or indirectly from the Perez depositions. Remy explains the decision to exclude information was not based on a particular NCAA administrative Bylaw or policy, but instead inspired by the criminal law concept of excluding illegally obtained evidence and its "tainted fruits" to ensure that investigative targets are not prejudiced by any improper investigative techniques.
The staff determines any statements made by Allen in his voluntary interviews with the NCAA, both those that occurred before and after his sworn deposition, would be excluded as well the 13 subsequent interviews of others. They also determine portions of 12 additional interviews conducted after Allen's deposition would be excluded.
> Late November 2012: UM self imposes another bowl ban and announces it will also skip the ACC championship game in football.
> Jan. 11, 2013: The enforcement staff notifies UM and the subject parties of its conduct involving Perez and its decision to exclude any evidence directly or indirectly derived from them.
> Jan. 22, 2013: NCAA retains Cadwalader to conduct an outside investigation of its NCAA enforcement staff and its conduct with Perez.
> Jan. 23, 2013: The NCAA holds a press conference and issues a press release describing the enforcement staff's missteps in conjunction with Perez.
> Feb 18, 2013: Cadwalaer attorneys release their 52-page finding to the public. Lach is fired from the NCAA.
Based upon the review of over 75 interview transcripts and voluminous other records (including bank accounts, receipts, photographs and other records) it is the opinion of Cadwalaer the NCAA's investigative record on UM is not based on evidence that was improperly derived directly or indirectly from the depositions done by Perez. The outside hired counsel estimates 20 percent of the case against UM has been tossed out.
Emmert says the NCAA will continue with its case against Miami and there will be no settlement. He says the Committee on Infractions will have to determine the validity of the case.
UM President Donna Shalala releases a statement firing back at the NCAA, showing signs for the first time in the 22-month investigation the school may actually be digging in its heels for a fight and taking legal action. Shalala says in her statement she wants a quick resolution to the matter.
