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| NCAA enforcer Jim O’Fallon | NCAA player Nate Miles |
INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions has penalized the University of Connecticut for violations in its men’s basketball program…. As stated in the committee’s public infractions report, this case centers on the “extraordinary steps” taken by the university to recruit a top prospective student-athlete to its men’s basketball program. … Specifically, the booster provided the prospect with impermissible inducements, including the payment of at least a portion of the expenses for the young man’s foot surgery; … The members of the Committee on Infractions who reviewed this case include … James O’Fallon, law professor and faculty athletics representative for University of Oregon.
From the official report:
What’s the problem? Well, the federal health privacy law HIPAA prevents the release of medical records, including billing records, without the patient’s consent. According to CBS, the NCAA may have obtained the records illegally, and then O’Fallon’s committee used the illegally obtained records to punish UConn:
Miles told CBSSports.com he authorized neither the Tampa Bone and Joint Center nor the NCAA to discuss his medical condition.
“I didn’t authorize anybody,” he said.
“I never told anybody to share anything,” Miles said in a later interview. “I just couldn’t believe they did. I thought they couldn’t. I lost everything.”
Yes, we wouldn’t want to let universities or their boosters pay for foot surgery – let that go unchecked and it could take a serious cut out of the NCAA’s take. In 2011, the NYT reported on what eventually became of Miles:
The former University of Connecticut basketball recruit Nate Miles is effectively homeless. He moves from friend’s couch to friend’s couch, still recovering from a violent assault that left him with a stab wound and a punctured lung and a monthlong stay in the hospital.
O’Fallon, on the other hand, is doing quite well in his 24th year as FAR without faculty review, pulling down $93K and free junkets to the games, with a sweet half time job in President Gottfredson’s office. And PERS, and a law school job to fall back on. Which is nice:
Thanks to http://brewonsouthu.wordpress.com/ for the CBS link.
Crap! Just when I think I’ve been reading UOMatters long enough that nothing should surprise me, I’m appalled by something new. Maybe it takes a lot of work to keep our athletic dept straight academically. This would explain the regular meetings with O’Fallon on Gottfredson’s calendar. But, damn, exactly how many people have these bullshit half-time jobs with the president’s office–to do not very much at very substantial pay? UOMatters, can you pull it together in one report, with bottom line.
I’d like to know better why the admin can’t come up with more than a minute percentage of my current low salary to cover cost of living increases and reward me incredible merit in this job for which I work more than full time.
Good luck with that raise, professor. But rumor has it Jim’s FAR job will be opening up soon.
I hope UOMatters will be applying…
Fishwrapper sez:
Don’t crop the picture of JO’F so! That’s a swell lamp you’re leaving out of the story.
Sorry, the lamp threatened to sue me for defamation.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
I have deleted the comment above from “Muckraker”. While it was pretty funny, I have no evidence to suggest Mr. O’Fallon is anything other than a trustworthy if dim 15 watts.
Sir, I am an “institutionalized news media organization”, and have the credentials (lovingly hand crafted from paper board, Crayola markers, Elmer’s Glue, and glitter) to prove it. I take umbrage at your actions. Harumph.
In that case, Fishwrapper thanks you for shedding a little light on this story.
From the NYTimes… “The former University of Connecticut basketball recruit Nate Miles is effectively homeless. He moves from friend’s couch to friend’s couch… ” (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/02/sports/ncaabasketball/02uconn.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0)
Of course, I’m sure O’Fallon at least offered the kid his couch for a few nights. (How do athletic department execs sleep at night? How do they explain their abuses and exploitation to their own children when they ask?)