With quarterback Stephen Morris setting an ACC passing record while the University of Miami Hurricanes won another game in heart-stopping fashion, it's a real shame we have to keep reading about Ponzi schemer Nevin Shapiro.
Sean Allen, a central figure in the Shapiro scandal, wants everybody to believe he's a victim. He's full of it. Two weeks ago, the team's former football equipment manager, who also once worked as Shapiro's assistant, spilled his guts to CBS Sports and the Associated Press. He admitted to committing NCAA violations by providing Hurricanes players with improper benefits and talked about becoming a "middleman" between recruits and current coach Al Golden when he took over.
I met Allen, whom UM players nicknamed "Pee-Wee," in 2005, the year he went to work for a sports agency co-owned by Shapiro. He was a Big Brother to a kid who played youth football for the Liberty City Optimist Club I cofounded. Allen would give the boy and his friends rides to the park and drive them home, as well as take them out to eat after games. He arranged the only two meetings I had with Shapiro. I didn't like his boss, but Allen came off as a nice guy.
Now I am not so sure. In an effort to clear his name, he's throwing student-athletes who were recruited by UM under the bus. For example, Allen has admitted he was instructed by an ex-UM assistant to pick up former Miami Northwestern Senior High quarterback Teddy Bridgewater on December 17, 2010, and take him to a South Miami restaurant to meet Al Golden, who had been named UM coach five days earlier — a violation of NCAA rules.
The NCAA interviewed Bridgewater, who picked the University of Louisville instead of Miami, about the meeting, according to a Yahoo! Sports article in July.
It seems Allen can't get enough media attention. He needs to stop opening his mouth and move on with his life. He's only hurting people who trusted him.
Follow Luke on Twitter: @unclelukereal1.
