University of Michigan basketball scandal

The University of Michigan got into trouble because of some things that went wrong with their men's basketball team. It's one of the biggest cases where college athletes were paid in all of United States history.

The trouble was linked to a man named Ed Martin, who was a fan (or booster) of the team. Martin gave money to several players, which was against the rules. He was actually using the players to hide money he got from illegal gambling.

This problem came to light when a car crash involving a Michigan player, Maurice Taylor, led to questions about his relationship with Martin. The investigations found that Martin also had connections with other players starting from the 1980s. 

By 1999, four players,  Taylor, Chris Webber, Robert Traylor, and Louis Bullock, were found to have taken a total of $616,000 from Martin. At first, Webber said he didn't get any money from Martin, but later admitted he did. Because of this, he had to pay a fine and was briefly stopped from playing in the NBA after doing public service.

In 1997, the coach of the team, Steve Fisher, was fired because he was part of the problem. However, he was not found to have done much wrong in the investigation. 

By 2002, it was clear that the four players were indeed guilty because they took money from Martin and had cheated in their status as amateur players. As punishment, the University of Michigan put its basketball team on probation, didn't participate in postseason games for the 2002-03 season, and removed the players' names and achievements from its records.

Later, the NCAA agreed with these punishments and added more, including extending the probation period and postseason ban, decreasing the number of scholarships, and ordering that the school shouldn't have anything to do with the three living guilty players until 2012.

These punishments affected many tournaments and records for the team and individual players, such as removing the 1997 and 1998 championship wins and player recognition. The ban on postseason games was usually reduced after an appeal and the order to avoid contact with the guilty players ended on May 8, 2013.

Category:University of Michigan
Category:Basketball in the United States