Sports Lawyer Darren Heitner Addresses and Clarifies The Miami Hurricanes NCAA Ruling

Last week, news broke that the NCAA was placing the University of Miami on probation, following recruitment violations revolving around women's basketball players Haley and Hanna Cavinder this past summer.

In order to get a better understanding of the situation, All Hurricanes' own Alex Donno hosted sports lawyer and representative of the twins Darren Heitner on Locked On Canes to truly get a grasp for the situation.

One of the main points Heitner addresses is the confusion on what the NCAA ruling was targeted towards. When news broke, the consensus understanding was that this had to do with Name Image and Likeness.

However, Heitner brought attention to the fact that this was "not an NIL violation, but rather a violation of recruitment". Given Miami's notoriety in the NIL space, it's understandable as to why this original narrative caught wind.

This is a very important point to be aware of, as many were quick to go after prominent businessman John Ruiz and his handling of the situation. However, Heitner's insight goes to show Ruiz may have never been at fault for anything.

A main reason for the ruling was an assumed meal labeled an "impermissible benefit" provided to the Cavinder family at Ruiz's estate. But, Heitner explains that his "understanding is it's not crystal clear they even had a meal".

If proved true that no meal was served and the meeting was completely legal within NCAA rules, this point could have implications of the ruling of this case.

Heitner also provided clarification on what this probationary period looks like for the Miami Hurricanes.

He mentions that "additional focus [is] being placed on the program" and that "it's more likely there will be additional and enhanced sanctions on the program [if another ruling were to arise during this period]".

As for now, the Cavinder twins will continue to move past this ruling and rid themselves of any "reputational harm from this report". According to On3's NIL rankings, the Cavinder twins still top the list as they highest earning collegiate women's basketball players in the country and Top 40 overall NIL earners.

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