After providing conflicting information to investigators about former assistant coach Aubrey Hill, who the NCAA has accused of providing improper benefits to recruits, University of Miami football player Dyron Dye has decided to fight back. As reported by the Miami Herald, Friday the defensive lineman filed a police report accusing the NCAA of coercion and intimidation.
Dye says that during an interview with now retired NCAA investigator Rich Johanningmeier in 2011 he was coerced to give answers that would benefit the investigation. The defensive lineman has since retracted his previous comments in a signed affidavit where he denies receiving benefits during his recruitment.
In the report, Heitner said that “prior to the start of the second interview, Mr. Johanningmeier coerced Mr. Dye into providing favorable answers for his investigation.”
Dye, according to Heitner, “did not recall specifics of what Mr. Johanningmeier was asking. Mr. Dye stated that he felt intimidated by Mr. Johanningmeier.”
Heitner said Johanningmeier “threatened Mr. Dye’s football eligibility if he did not cooperate during the interview.”
Last week prior to him filing his police report, the NCAA met with Dye for a third time to discuss his inconsistent story. If the NCAA rules that Dye lied to investigators he could be charged with unethical conduct and his collegiate football career would be in jeopardy. The police do not have to follow-up on Dye’s accusations, and a spokesperson would not say whether they will be investigated.
The NCAA is a dictatorship that prospers off the free labor of collegiate athletes. Do I think the notorious and now conveniently retired investigator Rich Johanningmeier bullied Dye to provide testimony that would benefit his investigation? Yes. But do I think Miami provided what the NCAA deems as improper benefits to their recruits. Yes. Either way everyone but the athlete prospers in this system of free labor, and if this were 300 years ago we would be calling this something else. Bottom line is the whole collegiate athletics system is corrupt and as long as the NCAA makes its own rules and enforces them without the proper checks and balances things will continue to get worse.