Written by Susan Miller Degnan at Miami Herald.com
University of Miami football coach Mark Richt spoke publicly for the first time Monday morning about the dismissals of linebacker Jermaine Grace and defensive end Al-Quadin Muhammad, describing the situation as “sad’’ but ultimately out of his control.
Muhammad and Grace were dismissed by UM on Saturday because they violated NCAA rules, UM stated that day in a written release. The situation focused around the players’ alleged use of cars provided by a luxury car-rental company.
“It’s sad that it happened,’’ Richt said on 560-WQAM’s Joe Rose Show, just five days before the season opener against FAMU at Hard Rock Stadium.
“But there was something being investigated for a while. You got to the end of the line and the decision had to be made.
“Through some consultation from an outside source who is very tied into the NCAA and universities across America, this is kind of what he does for a living, that was the decision that was made.”
Was that decision made by the administration ultimately? Richt was asked by WQAM.
“I guess. Somebody had to make the decision. It was made, yeah, by our administration. There were lawyers from our university and legal counsel, we had the advisor and the athletic association basically, made the final call.’’
When asked if he was kept “up to speed’’ about the situation day-to-day, especially in light of Grace and Muhammad practicing just about everyday in preseason with the starters, Richt said, “Yeah, well, I was getting a rough idea of what was happening but I wasn’t totally in the loop. I wasn’t hearing every story of what was going on. I wasn’t in the middle of any of that. It was something that had started prior to me getting here actually and it was handled by them.