I don't disagree with all of you, I'm just playing devil's advocate on this.
Bernie isn't just a co-worker that sits in the cube next to JB. This is JB's 1st Lieutenant. Fine has been his "right-hand-man" for the last 40 years. They live across the street from one another. They travel together, they work together and they've built this program together.
If JB plays the "i know nothing" card about Fine, then the next logical question to ask is what else does JB "know nothing" about? Does he have control of the program?
I understand where everyone is coming from, but ask yourself this. Let's look at it from a JB to player perspective. Every time an SU player got in trouble, the question that always came up was "How could JB have not known these guys were out partying, or doing this or that? How could he allow that to happen?" Time and time again he has come back and said that he is not a full time babysitter. He is a basketball coach. Period. He can give his players a code of conduct, but cannot police them 24-7. They are college kids and are free to make their own choices just as any other young man is. If they choose to do something that gets them into trouble, then that is there fault. They'll learn the hard way.
This "relationship" is not all that different. It is not JB's job to police his assistants 24-7. He has his own family and his own job to attend to. I have kids the same ages as JB's. I am moving all the time. I coach, I travel for work, and I supervise a small team. If you were to ask me what the heck one of my co-workers was doing last night or where he was with his family, I have no idea. I would imagine that JB's life is just as hectic, and probably a lot more. Bernie Fine is a grown man. I doubt JB micromanaged every aspect of his staffs' lives. Do you really think he knows what Mike Hopkins and Adrian Autry are doing tonight after they get home? Does any coach?
People have lives outside of the work place. People hide things from others all the time. You cannot possibly know everything about people you think you are close to. And you can't spend your life worrying about them when you have your own life to live.
I don't know JB personally. But do I think he would have acted had he even a hint of what Bernie was doing? Yes, I do. I don't see him as a guy who would look away from that. Bobby Davis has already stated that JB was never told anything about what happened. I think it's clear that SU and their lawyers NEVER heard that tape prior to ESPN releasing it. The only thing we don't know is how involved JB was in the 2005 investigation, or any of them, for that matter. I tend to think he didn't know anything about the ESPN and PS investigations. And why would Cantor and the lawyers involve JB in their investigation other than to interview him? And would they have even done that? He wasn't implicated by Davis. He obviously knew about the outcome of that investigation, but I question how much else the chancellor's office would have made him privy to. He's not a university big-wig. He's the bball coach.
I am in the camp that JB knew absolutely nothing about what Bernie was doing. Davis didn't tell him. For sure Bernie didn't tell him. No way Laurie told him either. If he didn't know about it from any of them, how else would he know?