Relax...Nobody at ND Has Been Dismissed

[retro44]

Phil Daniels (former NFL lineman and Davaris Daniels' Dad) went on NBC to rip ND's reaction to this. He says ND jumped the gun.

He said that it was KeiVarae Russell's girlfriend who is in middle of it all. He said they asked for advice from her and really did nothing wrong.

He hints that they'll be back on field soon.

The rumors in South Bend are that the tutor is KeiVarae Russell's live in girlfriend and is a law student.

Ishaq Willams is Russell's roommate. That is supposedly how he is suspected. DaVaris Daniels sent his paper to this girl using school email asking her to edit it.

He opened her response email while in the presence of his academic adviser.

The academic adviser went nuts and reported it to his superiors and this is how this allegedly got started.

The rumors are that decisions on each should be made no later than this week and that Russell and Ishaq could be back soon but those are just rumors for now.

Phillip Daniels is kind of a loose cannon and has an obvious interest in his son's reputation and NFL aspirations, but that is the latest.

I can see ND jumping to a quick reaction to this. Recall how quickly George O'Leary was shown the door for an academic integrity type issue? We shall see.

another poster said on the N.D. board said that Williams is the dirty one in all of this and will not get cleared.....Rumors in every direction means nothing about the truth

 

[TheCusian]

I don't buy the "ND overreacted" act one bit. They would have tried to keep the investigation as quiet as possible to find out if the smoke was a fire. Why go public, then say (per TerryD) "nope - just smoke!" ...

If it's big, this is the oops - we need a scape goat or two so we can sweep it under the rug quickly method...

 

[TerryD]

Well, I understand that Phillip Daniels has a vested interest in defending his son.

I take these rumors with a big grain of salt, especially if Phil Daniels is the sole, or main, source.

But, you have to admit that the media coverage was over the top then this came out of Friday.

" 4 ND players expelled", "ND may forfeit its 2012 season", "22 players may be involved."

In truth, nobody really knew very much then. Hell, Brian Kelly was not told until the day before.

For what it is worth, Ivan Maisal of ESPN is backtracking a bit this morning on his original story:

"Some people, including me on ESPN Radio on Sunday afternoon, have been under the mistaken impression that the academic misconduct investigation of four Notre Dame football players involved work performed by academic advisors. In fact, the academic advisors uncovered the alleged misconduct. I trust Notre Dame will protect its academic reputation, no matter the consequences. With four important players in limbo, the consequences to the football team are going to be huge."

I tend to think that Phil Daniels is just pissed about his kid. I tend to think that some of these guys may have cheated academically. But, who knows when, how many and what the penalty for them may be?

ND has suspended its starting quarterback, its leading receiver and its best basketball player for academic reasons in the past 15 months, so it is not shy about booting players for that reason (instead of covering it up).

 

[retro44]

I find it very hard to believe that nobody whispered into Kelley's ear prior to the release.

Kelley's response is a standard practice. If Kelley says he knew all along about this this then it does not look good for him. He knew

 

[TerryD]

Jack Swarbrick's comments on Mike & Mike this morning:


* Athletics has nothing to do with the investigation. It's a university matter
* Nature of the investigation forced us to make a public statement - because of potential of eligibility issues, they needed to be held back from practice
* Not a matter of a second offense
* It's not like somebody detected an anomaly on a paper and got pushed aside. That's not how ND works. It started with compliance, got notified to athletic department and moved on to General Counsel
* Investigation went on for a while before Kelly was informed
* Nothing in this investigation pointing to a tutor, academic advisor. It's a student to student matter. No evidence of institutional involvement
* Nothing seen here so far has to do with Brian Kelly or the athletic department involvement
* Can't characterize the issue going beyond these 4 players. Very confident this is not a larger institutional issue
* Thousands of emails have been reviewed or read
* When players were interviewed Friday morning that was the first time they were interviewed (by the assistant provost, and not direct involvement of athletic department)
* No timetable. Investigation will be done regardless of any athletic concern. Hard to predict timetable
* Players will not be playing if season starts and investigation is still ongoing

 

[TerryD]

I find it very hard to believe that nobody whispered into Kelley's ear prior to the release.

Kelley's response is a standard practice. If Kelley says he knew all along about this this then it does not look good for him. He knew

As a lawyer, if I had the cross-exam on your statement, I would ask you what concrete, factual evidence you had to back up such a sweeping statement. If none, I would get you to admit that on the stand, then tell the jury that this was nothing but rank speculation without a single shred of supporting evidence, at all.

It would be like me saying that the Syracuse assistant coach was absolutely a sex offender, no doubt about it at all and no need to look at the evidence, why bother?

 

[TheCusian]

Jack Swarbrick's comments on Mike & Mike this morning: * Athletics has nothing to do with the investigation. It's a university matter * Nature of the investigation forced us to make a public statement - because of potential of eligibility issues, they needed to be held back from practice * Not a matter of a second offense * It's not like somebody detected an anomaly on a paper and got pushed aside. That's not how ND works. It started with compliance, got notified to athletic department and moved on to General Counsel * Investigation went on for a while before Kelly was informed * Nothing in this investigation pointing to a tutor, academic advisor. It's a student to student matter. No evidence of institutional involvement * Nothing seen here so far has to do with Brian Kelly or the athletic department involvement * Can't characterize the issue going beyond these 4 players. Very confident this is not a larger institutional issue * Thousands of emails have been reviewed or read * When players were interviewed Friday morning that was the first time they were interviewed (by the assistant provost, and not direct involvement of athletic department) * No timetable. Investigation will be done regardless of any athletic concern. Hard to predict timetable * Players will not be playing if season starts and investigation is still ongoing

Too cute.

 

[sabach]

As a lawyer, if I had the cross-exam on your statement, I would ask you what concrete, factual evidence you had to back up such a sweeping statement. If none, I would get you to admit that on the stand, then tell the jury that this was nothing but rank speculation without a single shred of supporting evidence, at all.

It would be like me saying that the Syracuse assistant coach was absolutely a s e x offender, no doubt about it at all and no need to look at the evidence, why bother?

That is Retro's opinion. He is entitled to an opinion on a sports message board without being subject to the rigors of the Uniform Code of Evidence rules. Obviously you are an ND fan as I am. Let's not let our defense of ND here cross the line and make us look like the D.B.'s people think ND fans are. And yes it is a D.B. move to bring up Bernie Fine in this matter.

 

[TerryD]

I apologize. I was not trying to be "that guy" in debating him on his opinion or in bringing up the coach (I didn't even know his name).

I gave Syracuse the benefit of the doubt on that rumor and didn't jump to conclusions that the school/head coach knew, etc... That was my only point but I will bow out of this discussion.

 

[sabach]

I apologize. I was not trying to be that guy in bringing up the coach (I didn't even know his name).

I gave Syracuse the benefit of the doubt on that rumor, that is my only point. I will bow out of this discussion.

Fair Enough Terry. As much as it will p*** people off on this board, "Go Irish", except for September 27.

 

[retro44]

Jack Swarbrick's comments on Mike & Mike this morning:
* When players were interviewed Friday morning that was the first time they were interviewed (by the assistant provost, and not direct involvement of athletic department)

I am quite sure the interviewers didn't show up like a swat team and pull them out of football activities without giving Kelley a heads up and make sure these players are available.

These kids now have curfews and mandatory breakfast with the team coaches, visit team trainers on a schedule and the like. These kids needed to be seated with their hands folded waiting for school officials who have the authority to deal with major issues that could severely impact the school reputation. So are you saying Kelley would never give the thought of "what's up" and "what the hell is going on here".

Can you prove that statement and what do you mean by "not direct involvement of athletic dept." That also leaves the door open for speculation.

 

[longtimefan]

Jack Swarbrick's comments on Mike & Mike this morning:



* Nothing in this investigation pointing to a tutor, academic advisor. It's a student to student matter. No evidence of institutional involvement

Don't mean to cherry-pick too much, but you did bring up the fact that your QB and top BB scorer have run afoul academically in the recent past. Then, there is the report that non-athletes could be involved somehow. Sounds like it might be an institutional problem.

Hey, it happened at Harvard last year.

 

[AZOrange]

Well, I understand that Phillip Daniels has a vested interest in defending his son. I take these rumors with a big grain of salt, especially if Phil Daniels is the sole, or main, source. But, you have to admit that the media coverage was over the top then this came out of Friday. " 4 ND players expelled", "ND may forfeit its 2012 season", "22 players may be involved." In truth, nobody really knew very much then. Hell, Brian Kelly was not told until the day before. For what it is worth, Ivan Maisal of ESPN is backtracking a bit this morning on his original story: "Some people, including me on ESPN Radio on Sunday afternoon, have been under the mistaken impression that the academic misconduct investigation of four Notre Dame football players involved work performed by academic advisors. In fact, the academic advisors uncovered the alleged misconduct. I trust Notre Dame will protect its academic reputation, no matter the consequences. With four important players in limbo, the consequences to the football team are going to be huge." I tend to think that Phil Daniels is just pissed about his kid. I tend to think that some of these guys may have cheated academically. But, who knows when, how many and what the penalty for them may be? ND has suspended its starting quarterback, its leading receiver and its best basketball player for academic reasons in the past 15 months, so it is not shy about booting players for that reason (instead of covering it up).

JHC ESPNs reporting is terrible at every level.