The University of Miami, seeking to minimize the risk of NCAA violations, pays a Kansas City law firm about $50,000 a year to monitor and investigate its athletic program.
The practice is not unique but is unusual because of the cost. The NCAA and some conferences offer similar services free, but Miami prefers to pay for a more comprehensive, personalized study, athletic director Sam Jankovich said.
Led by former NCAA investigators Mike Slive and Mike Glazier, both considered experts in compliance, members of the law firm of Linde Thomson Langworthy Kohn and Van Dyke make unannounced visits to Miami every year. They spend 200 to 300 hours investigating normally private financial records and interviewing players, coaches and administrators, the Miami Herald reported.
”There are no limits, no constraints,” Slive said. ”Cooperation is full and complete. We talk to whoever we want to and we look at anything we want to.”
For the supplement to its in-house compliance program, the school has paid the law firm about $200,000 in the past four years.
”You have to take every step possible to ensure that you are making every effort to abide by the rules,” Jankovich said.
