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NCAA clears former SEBL Elite coach Tony Edwards of any wrongdoing

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Three months ago the NCAA made what many thought was an unprecedented decision when it sanctioned four non-scholastic programs for what it termed to be dealings with a sports agent.

Three of the programs had to change their names in order to compete in NCAA-sanctioned events while the fourth, SEBL Elite All-Stars, simply had to remove coach Tony Edwards from its organization.

Well the NCAA revisited that ruling, and according to Bret Stretlow of the Fayetteville Observer the governing body’s enforcement staff reversed course and cleared Edwards of any wrongdoing.

According to the story the NCAA stated that there’s “insufficient evidence available to establish a current connection” between Edwards and Andy Miller, who runs the ASM Sports agency.

Dwight Miller (no relation to Andy), founder and president of the SEBL program, told the paper that he would welcome Edwards back should he want to return to the program.

“Sometimes in these situations you have to let the NCAA do their jobs,” Dwight Miller said. “It seems like they’ve done a good job, come back and taken Tony’s name off and released him. The system we have built works, and I know Tony is relieved and his family, they’re relieved. It’s a great day for Tony and a great day for SEBL.”

Edwards denied the allegations of working with Miller or any other sports agency, and the NCAA’s decision to clear his name backs that up.

“It’s such a blessing to be free and clear of this situation,” Edwards said. “When everything happened I was in shock. I still don’t know how I was on that email. I knew there was absolutely no truth to it, but I didn’t want to be associated with anything negative because for me it’s always been about the kids. I’m very happy everything has been settled and we can move on.”

One question that may be worth asking is what kind of information did the NCAA receive that led them to lump Edwards in with the three administrators that were banned from having any contact with their respective teams.

In its release back in July the NCAA cited an email sent by Miller to the four people in question (who were also interviewed by the NCAA), which included Edwards according to their findings.

So if that email was a piece of evidence used to sanction Edwards but now he’s cleared due to “insufficient evidence available to establish a current connection,” what proof did they have?

Hopefully the NCAA provides an answer to that question.

Raphielle is also the assistant editor at CollegeHoops.net and can be followed on Twitter at @raphiellej.