University of Miami players paid to injure other teams' players?

I am reminded of a few months ago when Yahoo Sports writer warned of something huge coming down the pipe line...was this it?

Yahoo Sports and many outlets are documenting the scope of this, and it is huge, because it is related to a number of former and current University of Miami players and coaches, in receiving extra benefits including alcohol, hotel rooms and....prostitutes.  While all those are quite bad in themselves, the most difficult thing to understand, is that one of the allegations from the guy at the center of the scandal, is that he dangled a cash reward to players to take out star players from opposing teams.

The booster told Yahoo! Sports he had a number of individual payouts for “hit of the game” and “big plays.” He also put bounties on specific players, including Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow and a three-year standing bounty on Seminoles quarterback Chris Rix from 2002 to 2004, offering $5,000 to any player who knocked him out of a game." 

"We pounded the (expletive) out of that kid,” Shapiro said of Rix. “Watch the tape of those games. You’ll see so many big hits on him. Guys were all going after that $5,000 in cash. [Jon] Vilma tried to kill him – just crushed him – a couple of times trying to get that $5,000. And he almost got it, too.”

Wow, just WOW.  Johnahan Vilma was trying to take out a player for $5,000?  And guess what...that was under Paul Dee.  Everyone following USC's sanctions knows Paul Dee quite well.

Shapiro said he was enabled by the university, allowed to run the entire Miami team out of tunnel and onto the field – twice – and once honored on the field by former athletic director Paul Dee during a game. The same Paul Dee who wagged a finger at USC as the chairman of the NCAA’s committee on infractions in 2010, chiding the Reggie Bush/O.J. Mayo scandal as a systematic failure. 

“High-profile players demand high-profile compliance,” Dee said while announcing USC’s sanctions. 

Now Shapiro says Miami’s athletic compliance – Dee’s own backyard while Shapiro was operating – suffered one catastrophic oversight after another.

Oh man.  Paul Dee's NCAA COI specifically sanctioned USC by banning outsiders from access to practices, locker rooms and the field.  They cited the lax control of access from outsiders, as proof of a lack of control at USC.

So you know what happened to USC: 2 year bowl ban, 4 year probation and 30 football scholarships cut over three years.

We've got photos, phone call records, credit card bills and corroborating witnesses.  If Miami doesn't at least receive penalties more severe than what was handed down to USC, you know things are going to explode across the nation....after all the NCAA's own site specifically says, "The mission of the NCAA enforcement program is to reduce violations of NCAA legislation and impose appropriate penalties if violations occur."

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Update: Video below from Dan Wetzel.

If you read Wetzel's back story of what happened at Miami, it seems even more clear now, this IS the big story they were hinting at a few months ago when the Ohio State program was under national scrutiny. It's also crystal clear, there's no way Miami is going to avoid some sort of death penalty. This is at least as bad if not worse, than the SMU scandal, that resulted in the first and only death penalty case in college football.

And again, to reiterate, this happened under Paul Dee's athletic administration.

So I have to ask: Is there ANY hint of conflict of interest here, if the NCAA COI staff and members previously under Paul Dee's rule, are investigating the University of Miami and its athletic administration under Paul Dee, as late as 2008?