The latest mess involving the University of Miami has ensnared plenty of names, including the Commissioner of the struggling UFL.
Michael Huyghue, who was an agent before he took his current job, allegedly funneled cash and benefits to Miami players in order to entice them to hire AxcessSports Management. Huyghue denies the allegation.
“[Shapiro] invested in the company unsolicited in 2001, he had no other role,” Huyghue told the Florida Times-Union, via SportsBusiness Daily. “You can call any of the other people at Axcess. We had quarterly meetings. I think he came to one meeting in seven years. I’m not sure what the motivation is [in implicating Huyghue]. I certainly didn’t pay players.
“It’s ridiculous. There’s no substance to it.”
The Yahoo! Sports report blowing the lid off the Miami program quotes an unnamed former Hurricane who said that he received benefits from Huyghue.
“The lunacy of it is supposedly [Shapiro] was funneling all this money through the company,” Huyghue told the Times-Union. “We only had three [Miami] players in seven years. One of them, Jon Beason, originally signed with another agent. I never recruited him. He and his mother came to me after he thought the negotiations with Carolina went badly. Jamaal Green was only a fourth-round pick. The other player, Wilfork, now I recruited him, but I didn’t pay him a dime. We developed a good relationship. I was the best man at his wedding.”
Like Wilfork, Huyghue has no obligation to cooperate with the investigation, via for example producing documents or other materials that possibly would contain evidence supporting or refuting his contention. Absent some legal proceeding in which Huyghue would be compelled to testify and/or provide information, Huyghue has no duty to say or do anything.
