Reaction To Marve Allegations

The Boiling Point: Here’s some thoughts on the recent storm that hit Miami’s football program and involves current Purdue QB Robert Marve.

On Tuesday, Yahoo! Sports released an 11-month-long investigation into the relationship between Nevin Shapiro and the University of Miami. Shapiro was incarcerated in 2009 for his involvement in a $930 million Ponzi scheme. He was thinking about writing a tell-all book about his involvement but ultimately decided to release all his information to Yahoo! Sports. In 100 hours of interviews, Shaprio stated he provided thousands of impermissible benefits to at least 72 athletes from 2002-10. Six coaches were also involved.

You can find the rest of the story in the link above. What I really want to focus on are the allegations involving Purdue quarterback Robert Marve. Marve committed to Miami after being ranked the No. 8 pro-style quarterback in high school in 2007. He had a tumultuous two years at Miami and transferred to Purdue after his red-shirt freshman year. Below are the list of benefits Shapiro said he gave to Marve:

"• Drinks and VIP access during strip club visits to Solid Gold, The Cheetah and Tootsie’s Cabaret. Shapiro said one such visit occurred in late August 2008. Shapiro said he took Marve and wideout Kayne Farquharson to Solid Gold after Marve told him he had been having problems with his girlfriend.• Food, drinks and entertainment at Shapiro’s $6 million Miami Beach mansion on multiple occasions.• At least one cash gift.• At least two dinners at Prime 112 steakhouse.• Transportation by Shapiro’s bodyguards and Miami staffer Sean Allen.• Drinks and VIP access at nightclubs on multiple occasions."

Shapiro told Yahoo! Sports:

"• “Robert Marve I met early on when he came to the University of Miami. He was actually a kid that I liked probably more than any of the guys that I dealt with. He was really a good kid, tried hard, and was really, like, I don’t know the word. He had a lot of spirit to him. He was a go-getter and he was a leader. He was always given the raw deal by [coach] Randy Shannon. I don’t think they were ever fair with him.”• “He was privy to my house. He came a number of times. I’d given him cash a few times. … He was at the clubs with me a number of times.”"

All of the allegations have been confirmed by multiple sources and bank statements, as well as pictures, such as this one taken with Shapiro:

Now how does this affect Purdue? One would have to assume that Purdue didn’t know about this when Marve transferred. The information is just coming out and it wouldn’t really be information that a player would want out there when trying to transfer. Marve has said multiple times that he has made mistakes in the past (not related to this) and is trying to turn his life around at Purdue. By all accounts, he has done so, and you might feel bad for him that this information is coming out now. You can also say he shouldn’t have been lured into the situation in the first place. If there is a penalty toward Purdue, it seems like it would be vacating any wins that Marve was able to play in.Well, go ahead and take those two wins, I guess.

Mike Carmin of the Lafayette Journal & Courier tweeted that he talked to two people in the NCAA compliance office, and they stated that Purdue takes a risk by playing Marve before it is settled what exactly his role was in this whole mess. Right now, he wouldn’t be playing, as he is still nursing his knee injury from last year.

Coach Hope has said he wants to use a two-quarterback system. I’m in the camp that is against that, regardless if Marve can play or not. Rob Henry is Purdue’s future quarterback and the reins should completely be given to him. Marve and Henry are too similar in mutliple aspects so defenses wouldn’t really have to change how they prepare to face them. At least with (yet another QB) Caleb TerBush, he brings a pocket-passer look as opposed to the scrambling threat.

It will be interesting to see what comes of this whole investigation. NCAA investigators have been at Miami for a couple days now trying to figure out who was involved and who wasn’t. Yahoo! Sports did a very good job of cross referencing all information it received, that’s for sure. The NCAA might decide it’s finally time to back up what its been saying lately and come down hard on Miami to set a precedent.

Stay tuned to see what the final word is on Marve.