Tag Archives: Michael Glazier

University hires Mike Glazier to clean-up latest jock tutoring scandal

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Mike “The Cleaner” Glazier is the lawyer that UO’s Rob Mullens and Randy Geller hired to deal with the Chip Kelly/Willie Lyles recruiting scandal. The academic side got stuck with half his legal bills, Bob Berdahl used the fact that Nathan Tublitz and the Senate IAC tried to find out what was going on and who was paying Glazier as an excuse to try and shut down the IAC, and in the end Chip Kelly skipped town without even paying UO his $20K fine – or that’s what UO pro-tem journalism prof Paul Swangard tweeted at the time:

But this latest scandal is about the University of Missouri, here:

The University of Missouri has retained the services of prominent college sports attorney Mike Glazier to assist with its ongoing investigation into allegations of academic fraud brought by a former tutor in the Total Person Program.

Glazier — a managing member of the Overland Park-based law firm of Bond, Schoeneck & King — is “the founder and chair of the firm’s college sports practice,” according to his bio on the firm’s website.

He is leading Mizzou’s joint investigation with the NCAA into former tutor Yolanda Kumar’s allegations that she performed or assisted with coursework for 15 student-athletes during a 16-month period, according to a Nov. 21 letter from interim MU Chancellor Hank Foley to Glazier obtained by the Columbia Daily Tribune.

The whistleblowing tutor now can’t get work in sports-obsessed Columbia, so she wants the university to waive her $3K in overdue tuition and issue her a transcript so she can apply to grad school. Glazier won’t pay, so she’s promising to turn her documentation on the cheating over to the first reporter who will. Lucky for Chip he didn’t need anything from UO to get a new job.

Secret meeting update. Chip Kelly was a cheat who skipped town on his debts

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4/24/2013: Secret meeting update: 

SI is reporting UO held a meeting with the NCAA infractions committee last week to negotiate penalties. The charge of the UO Senate’s IAC says the IAC shall be consulted by the

3. The faculty athletics representative about all ongoing investigations and major violations.

And the Frohnmayer DOJ opinion says these investigations are a matter of public record. But FAR Jim O’Fallon and AD Rob Mullens have kept everything secret from the IAC, including this meeting. While making the academic side pay half the legal bills.

Another update: Duck sports and public records get the “O” brand priceless national recognition in the NY Times.


Update: Oregonian sports columnist John Canzano is unimpressed with Dave Hubin’s game:

Without that, there is no real transparency. There is no accountability, either. Oregon has played games with the media charged with covering one of this state’s biggest public entities, refusing to adequately and decently meet public-records requests. The Ducks have withheld information and moved slooooooooowly, then suddenly released documents on Friday nights, and on game days. UO released the original Lyles scouting reports, and said, “This is all we have,” then, a day later, recanted with, “Oh, yeah, that wasn’t all. Here’s a little more.” …

Glazier is a legend in a case such as this. And maybe he’s just trying to justify the steep cost of retaining him. The UO general counsel’s office and the athletic department are sharing the cost of his specialty law firm, which only means that taxpayers are on the hook here. 

Yes, the taxpayers deserve transparency. Yes, the public deserves a quick and reasonable turnaround on public records requests. And yes, Oregon’s athletic department needs to come to the NCAA, hat in hand, accept its punishment, and let the football program move forward. 

4/16/2013: That’s the conclusion from the documents UO released yesterday to KATU after 6 months of stalling by the Public Records Office. Randy Geller and Doug Park had been arguing NCAA docs were exempt, but I dug up this 1981 opinion by Frohnmayer’s DOJ saying just the opposite. Too bad guys.

Adam Jude has the story and the links in the Oregonian. The costs of the investigation and the sanctions UO is trying to negotiate with the NCAA will probably run into the millions. It’s been a huge distraction for new Pres Gottfredson – from what I can tell from his calendar he’s spent far more time in meetings about sports than about academic issues like Espy.
Here are the latest billings from the law firm of Mike Glazier, the NCAA fixer Rob Mullens hired to try and deal with this. Last I heard Randy Geller was still making the academic side pay half his bills:
Mullens and UO’s “Faculty Athletics Representative” Jim O’Fallon refused to talk about any of this with the UO Senate athletics committee, claiming NCAA rules prohibit it. They don’t. There was a clause in Kelly’s contract allowing UO to fine him for costs like this, but from what I can tell Rob Mullens let him leave town without asking for a dime. It’s much easier to spend other people’s money on your friends when nobody’s looking over your shoulder, right Rob and Jim?

Daily Show mocks NCAA, Enforcement Director and friend of Glazier leaves.

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4/14/2013. Six minutes of satire that captures it all:

This South Park episode is pretty wicked too. In other news NCAA Director of Enforcement Dave Didion is bailing for a job at Auburn – the latest in a string of departures or firings. Here’s an email that Mike Glazier, the lawyer that UO’s Randy Geller is paying to deal with the Kelly/Lyles infraction, wrote to Didion a while back. He sent it to me by mistake. Sort of odd to see UO’s lawyer telling the NCAA Director of Enforcement what to say about what is paramount in the eyes of the enforcement staff!

From: Glazier, Mike
Sent: Saturday, December 17, 2011 10:34 AM
Subject: RE: loss of institutional control wrst UO athletics

Dave:  When you respond, I believe it is important to explain that the conditions placed on Oregon are typical of those placed on any institution when the enforcement staff allows the institution to engage in a joint investigation with the staff. Protecting the integrity of the investigation is paramount in the eyes of the enforcement staff and that can only be ensured by limiting information about the investigation to a small number of people. Mike

And if you want more NCAA hypocrisy, listen to this Outside the Lines interview with NCAA President Mark Emmert, about the Miami/Shapiro case:

Why does Emmert still have his $2 million a year job? The university presidents that hire and fire him like his work.

Mullens must now pay all of "The Cleaner’s" fees

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2/27/13: The academic side is finally off the hook for the 50% we’d been covering out of tuition money.

We’ve written a fair amount on UO General Counsel Randy Geller charging the academic side half the cost of “The Cleaner” Mike Glazier’s work on the Chip Kelly / Willie Lyles recruiting infraction.

Here are the latest accounting statements. It takes 5 minutes to run these off – but it took a month to get them from Dave Hubin’s public records office. Note the date in the corner: 11-Feb-2013. Hubin sat on them for 15 days after they were ready. Full doc dump here.

And check the text in the lower left. The athletics department only paid half of the cost of Chip Kelly’s lawyer through November 2012. The academic side paid the other $75,000 or so. But for the December invoice, it looks like athletics paid it all.

Why the change? Because I raised a stink. Not as big a deal as the $555K a year in overhead payments I finally got Jamie Moffitt to admit they owed us, but every little bit helps. Next let’s go after the $1.83M in Jock Box subsidies and the second mortgage on Mac Court that Frohnmayer and Kilkenny stuck us with, for $467K a year. Only 26 more years of payments.

Of course UO “Faculty Athletics Representative” and athletic department shill Jim O’Fallon still refuses to share any information about the infractions settlement efforts with the UO Intercollegiate Athletics Committee. A violation of UO Senate rules, and our shared governance constitution and another example of the loss of institutional control by UO over its athletic department. Hubin wants $386.62 before he’ll show those docs:

The University of Oregon has received your public records request for “any and all documents received by the university — the president’s office, the athletic director’s office, the athletic department’s compliance office — from the NCAA regarding a “Notice of Allegations” from Dec. 21, 2012-Jan. 19, 2012. This would include the actual “Notice of Allegations” and any accompanying documents, in any form, as well as emails, memos, letters, notes regarding the same” on 01/23/2013, attached. The office has at least some documents responsive to your request.  By this email, the office is providing you with an estimate to respond to your requests.

The office estimates the actual cost of responding to your request to be $386.62. Upon receipt of a check made payable to the University of Oregon for that amount, the office will proceed to locate, copy, and provide the records you have requested that are not exempt from disclosure.  Your check may be sent to the attention of Office of Public Records, 6207 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-6207.

Glazier through Nov:

Through Dec:

Geller made academics pay $75K plus

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for the Glazier investigation. And it still ain’t over. Adam Jude has the latest in the Oregonian. Here’s a (dated) billing statement – approved by Jamie Moffitt, showing the split. Has Gottfredson put a stop to this? Good question, I’ve put in a public records request. Meanwhile, more here from the last go-round on this.

Geller blew UO money on Glazier: NCAA refuses plea deal

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We’ve written a fair amount on UO General Counsel Randy Geller charging the academic side half the cost of “The Cleaner” Mike Glazier’s work on the Chip Kelly / Willie Lyles  scouting business – while he and UO “Faculty Athletics Representative” Jim O’Fallon refused to share any information about the infractions settlement  efforts with the UO Intercollegiate Athletics Committee.

An in-your-face violation of UO Senate rules, and our shared governance constitution, and one more example of the loss of institutional control by UO over its athletic department.

Not only that, it seems Geller, Mullens, and O’Fallon wasted our students’ money. The NCAA has just refused Glazier’s plea bargain offer, and is going to try the case in their “Committee on Infractions” kangaroo court. Charles Robinson and Rand Getlin have the story on Yahoo Sports:

The sources said the committee ultimately did not accept Oregon’s presentment, disagreeing with “various aspects” of both the infractions the school believed occurred, and the sanctions the school deemed appropriate. That impasse has made a full-blown hearing necessary. Had Oregon’s request for summary disposition been successful, the school could have avoided a hearing in which individuals such as head football coach Chip Kelly could be made to appear and take questions.

All’s not lost though: UO’s Athletic Director, Rob Mullens, can still hit up Chip Kelly for the legal fees and any NCAA fines and lost revenue – but only if he acts fast, before Kelly flees for the NFL:

Reporters trying to get info on this case should ignore O’Fallon and Geller’s claims that NCAA investigations are confidential. Take a look at the Oregon Attorney General’s Public Records and Meetings Manual, and particularly this 1981 opinion. Oregon law still trumps the NCAA, I think. Don’t forget to cite it when making requests to UO Public Records Officer Lisa Thornton, here. And ask for a fee waiver – how UO has been spending public money is certainly a matter of public interest!

November 12, 1981, Blaine Newnham. Order granted inspection of NCAA complaint against the University of Oregon, with some deletions. The conditional exemption for interagency advisory communications was not applicable, because the NCAA is not a public body. The exemption for information submitted in confidence was not applicable, despite NCAA demand for confidentiality and university agreement, because the information could not reasonably be considered confidential and the public interest required disclosure of information relating to staff misconduct resulting in substantial adverse consequences to university athletic program. No adverse consequences to continuing investigation were likely. Names and other identification of students involved were deleted as required by federal law. University president had option under ORS 351.065 to delete names of staff members. Names of other persons involved, without official responsibilities, were deleted to protect their privacy except in a case in which wide publicity naming the person had already occurred.

Of course this is all bad for the players. Kelly wanted them, they were willing to come to Oregon, and Willie Lyles was willing to arrange this mutually advantageous deal in return for a very modest emolument. But the NCAA cartel will collapse if the coaches and the players start negotiating over “impermissible benefits” – and it’s the job of the NCAA Committee on Infractions to enforce their rules on indentured servitude. The NCAA is the real guilty party here – and some day I hope their chickens will come home to roost. 12/2012.

UO reacts to NCAA Lyles / Kelly penalties

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 Just kidding, this is about an earthquake drill, Thursday 10/18/2012 at 9:50 AM. The athletic department will tell no one – not even the Senate IAC – about the negotiations over the NCAA penalties. None of your business, professor. Just keep paying Mike Glazier’s bills. Randy Geller knows what’s best for UO. He’ll be in touch when he needs more tuition money for the fines.

Geller opens Glazier’s kimono on UO NCAA violations

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8/31/2012. KATU News requested the documents in May, Dan Tilkin and John Tierney have the story. Jake Zivin of KEZI also gives a peek. It’s another of UO General Counsel Randy Geller’s hack jobs, not much meat:

The full dump is here. I’d be very surprised if all Randy’s redactions are legal under Oregon’s public records law. Yes, there’s an attorney-client exemption, but it’s very specific. Not that I know anything about the Oregon DOJ’s Public Records manual.

Geller’s refusal to consider fee-waivers for public records requests on UO’s contracts with law firms helping UO with its NCAA compliance issues was the subject of a post last week. UO President Gottfredson told him to stop that, fix the policy, and give me the contracts. A week later, still no documents from Geller. The Oregon DOJ policy is to fill the request in a week, something simple like this typically takes a few days. So a few nights back I petitioned Lane County DA Alex Gardner’s office. Believe me, they’ve got better things to do with their time than babysit Randy and his crew. For that matter Alex Gardner’s Deputy was not too happy with me for pushing it either.

But that’s what it takes to get Geller to obey the public records law. It would have taken 3 minutes to just email these contracts when I made the request – and after 2 weeks, 2 days, and who knows how much wasted staff time here they are.

They don’t even describe the scope of the work, or limit the amount of billing. Did Geller follow OUS procurement OAR’s when making these deals with Glazier and BSK? How much is the academic side on the hook for this time? Who knows. Reporters are still working on getting the much more revealing Glazier invoices:

Geller, Mullens kept Berdahl in dark?

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Update: Berdahl and Geller appear to be on the same page about this. They won’t show this IAC member the Glazier contracts or other material, claiming the BSK investigation has nothing to do with academic matters, and that the IAC’s charge is wrong. From Geller:

It appears that you are confused. The compliance review project is being conducted in response to the NCAA investigation and pursuant to the same contract with Bond Schoeneck and King. Invoices and other documents are available on the same basis as any other similar matter. 

As you know, Oregon University System Internal Management Directive 8.036 makes the President (and the director of athletics) responsible for all aspects of the intercollegiate athletics program, except that the faculty athletics representative, who is selected by the president, determines the athletic eligibility of students participating in the intercollegiate athletics program. The constitution approved by the university senate in December 2011 provides for a faculty role only in academic matters.   

There are no academic matters at issue in this NCAA investigation. Thus, there is no role for the IAC. Nevertheless, I am sure that Rob Mullens will be happy to share the results of review with the IAC when it is complete.

7/30/2012: That’s one interpretation of this. Oregonian reporters and the UO Senate IAC have been trying to get information on Mike Glazier’s “Compliance Review Project”. This CRP appears to be some sort of project reviewing of UO’s NCAA Compliance, and is distinct from the Kelly/Lyles investigation Glazier is also doing.

NCAA compliance is just the sort of thing the IAC should be in the loop on. When UO is trying to show we have methods in place for institutional control of athletics, in the 2006 NCAA recertification report, we tell the NCAA:

The Intercollegiate Athletics Committee (IAC): It is a faculty and student committee that reports directly to the President of the University Senate. They provide advice and consultation to the Director of Athletics and the President on a variety of issues. They also provide faculty and student oversight and input to the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics.

And before Berdahl cracked down on public records access, I was able to get this one rather thoroughly redacted invoice from Geller on the review project. But now Berdahl won’t let the IAC get anything from the IAC without his personal approval. And, in his most recent email to the IAC, it appears Berdahl knows nothing about this review. There’s loss of institutional control for you.

One result of the Freeh report on Penn State has been criticism of the sorts of secret investigations Glazier runs. While Freeh apparently made everything he learned public, Glazier hides behind attorney-client privilege and in the end will only release what he and his employers want to release. Which won’t be much – he and Geller and Mullens even want to hide the facts from the Senate committee charged with keeping tabs on UO athletics. And perhaps they’re even hiding stuff from Bob Berdahl.

More trouble for Duck’s law firm

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6/10/2012: We’re getting off easy only paying Mike Glazier $150,0000 to clean up the Kelly/Lyles mess. From Syracuse:

The case was referred to SU’s human resources department and to Bond, Schoeneck & King PLLC, the university’s longtime law firm, which investigated Davis’ claims and wrote the report. SU paid BS&K $2 million in 2004-2005 and $20 million during the past decade, according to SU’s tax records. … BS&K did not develop corroborating evidence, new leads or new witnesses, Fitzpatrick said. SU officials did not contact Fitzpatrick’s office, which they had an obligation to do, he said. Fitzpatrick also said the law firm was not qualified to conduct the investigation.

I’d try and get more info on what Glazier is doing for UO, but Bob Berdahl and Randy Geller seem intent on hiding the public records – even from the UO Senate Intercollegiate Athletics Committee. Move it along professors punks, nothing to see here.

Miscellaneous services and supplies

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4/4/2012: UO’s accounting system is pretty detailed. There are thousands of accounting codes for everything from engraving to cheese to consulting contracts. But General Counsel Randy Geller’s budget puts more than a quarter of its expenditures under “miscellaneous”. Presumably the money we are paying for Chip Kelly’s NCAA cleanup lawyer is in there somewhere. I wonder what else is.

Randy Geller speaks on Glazier/Kelly/Lyles

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March 2013: ODE reporter Sam Stites gets UO General Counsel Randy Geller to explain why he thinks the academic side should be happy to pay half the cost of Chip Kelly’s lawyer. Because he usually makes them pay it all:

Lawyer Michael Glazier, a former NCAA enforcement staffer, has been providing athletics with advice for a fee of $330 per hour. To date, the athletic department has spent over $105,000 for legal advice on this issue alone — half of which will be paid for by University General Counsel, which usually picks up the entire tab for other units.

UO improves transparency 100%

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3/1/2012: Compare the December and January invoices from Mike Glazier, the NCAA insider lawyer that UO is paying to negotiate the NCAA football infractions settlement. Looks much more transparent when you do the redactions in white, instead of the traditional CIA black.

But the bottom line is the same: the UO administration is charging the academic side half of Chip Kelly and Rob Mullens’s legal fees, but they won’t tell us what is going on or how much we are going to pay to settle their mess. (Whole January invoice here. Seems BSK had screwed up the billing for the last 3 months, and had to refund UO $1,260.)

At this point even the Vatican is more transparent than Randy Geller – if a little slower. The Holy See has now released Martin Luther’s excommunication. With no redactions.

December 2011: January 2012:

More NCAA transparency from Randy Geller

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December’s entire bill is $15,441.41. I’m no art history professor, but I think this page has the most aesthetically appealing redactions, though page 2 has a certain stark symmetry.

Per the agreement between UO’s general counsel Randy Geller and CFO Jamie Moffitt, the academic side is on the hook for half the total for Mike Glazier’s cleanup of the Willie Lyles scandal – now $100,527.44. You’d think this would mean we’d be allowed to read at least half the words in his invoice.

When Chip Kelly does good, he gets a cut of the Autzen gate and a bonus. When he does bad, the academic side pays. Now that Moffitt is CFO for the entire UO, instead of just the AD, do you think she’ll start looking out for the academic side? Get with the transparency program? I’m skeptical. But maybe Kelly will send the faculty and students a nice thank you letter for paying his legal bills, like the one he sent Lyles:

PS – Thanks to bojack.org for his link to this.