The Blind Side NCAA Investigation: What Happened?

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What was The Blind Side NCAA investigation? Why was Michael Oher under investigation and what happened?

As Michael Oher was recruited to colleges, some expressed concern that the Tuohys had pushed him to play at their alma mater. The Blind Side NCAA investigation was launched to find out.

Read more about The Blind Side NCAA investigation and what it meant for Michael Oher.

**What Was The Blind Side NCAA Investigation About?**

At the same time that Michael Oher was declaring his intention to attend Ole Miss, up at the NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis, a rumor was starting to spread about an unethical practice happening in the South. The rumor suggested that rich white Southern couples were adopting poor black kids from the inner city so they would play football at their alma maters. How the rumor got started or who it was that called and directed the NCAA’s attention to Michael Oher and the Tuohys is unknown. But a call, or maybe several, had been made, and at least one suggested that the Tuohys had kidnapped Michael. Because of that call, the Tuohys were now under investigation. The Blind Side NCAA investigation evaluated Michael’s relationship with the Tuohys.

In late March, a month and a half after Michael’s press conference, an NCAA investigator named Joyce Thompson sat in the Tuohy household with Michael and Sean. She turned on her tape recorder and started to question Michael. Leigh Anne refused to attend the meeting, finding the whole affair insulting.

Over the course of the next five hours, Joyce questioned Michael about his past, how he came to live with the Tuohys, why he didn’t live with his mother, who paid for his Briarcrest education, who clothed and fed him, and other questions pertaining to Michael’s relationship with the Tuohys. As always, Michael’s answers were mostly one or two words without elaboration or no response at all. Often, Sean jumped in to respond, but Joyce resented his intrusions and told Sean he’d have his turn to be questioned.

Michael found The Blind Side NCAA investigation annoying and upsetting. He didn’t like being asked about his life, but he also started to wonder whether there wasn’t some truth in the accusation. Had the Tuohys realized his future worth and taken him in out of some plot to benefit from his talents? He knew Hugh Freeze had used him to further his career. Michael’s faith in the people around him had been shaken so much that his senior quote in the yearbook was a line from a rap song that asked the question: If he didn’t become a star, would people still care about him?

Leigh Anne noticed a difference in his behavior. He didn’t outright reject the Tuohys or treat them differently, but she could tell he was wondering whether things would have been the same if he was just a poor black kid with no talent. He had also started wondering about Big Tony’s motives. Big Tony still kept in touch and seemed to constantly remind Michael that he was responsible for Michael’s fortunate circumstances.

Joyce didn’t help the matter with her questions. When she asked Michael if his truck was a gift for signing with Ole Miss, Sean blurted out that the idea was ridiculous. But Michael asked him, unclear whether he was joking or not, whether he’d have gotten the truck if he’d signed with UT.

The conversation became more contentious when Joyce tried to nail down the details of Michael’s upbringing before he met Big Tony. He mumbled something about foster care, but he couldn’t or wouldn’t be more specific. Joyce grew frustrated. She didn’t understand Michael or his secretive and pleasing nature and felt she was being taken for a ride. The interrogation ended only when Sue showed up for Michael’s tutoring lessons. Joyce said she would need to question Michael again.

Clearing the Final Hurdles

With his new diagnosis intact, Michael set to work to build up his GPA through the BYU courses. He took a series of courses called Character Education, which seemed to involve reading famous speeches or passages and answering a few questions. As the weeks went on, Sue helped Michael pass his Character Courses and replace Fs on his transcript with As. They were making progress toward their goal, but there was still The Blind Side NCAA investigation to deal with.

Toward the end of April, Joyce returned for her second interview. Again, she pressed Michael about any rich white person who had given him something over the course of his time at Briarcrest, whether money, a place to stay, or material gifts. As before, Joyce grew frustrated with Michael’s unwillingness to answer her questions or expound on his answers.

At this point, the conversation became heated. Joyce was suspicious and thought it strange that Michael wasn’t answering for himself. She didn’t understand the BYU situation, how Michael had survived so long without a home, and why he was with the Tuohys. Eventually, it was time for Michael to go study, and Joyce and Sean were left alone. Joyce suddenly changed her demeanor and admitted that she was pressing Michael so hard because she was truly curious about his living situation and couldn’t understand why the Tuohys had done what they did for him.

Sean explained his relationship with Michael and told her what he could about Michael’s past. He also said Michael had ruined them to some extent; they couldn’t look at a poor black kid now without wondering whether there was something they could do to help. Should they take in another kid after Michael left for college? Joyce almost fell out of her seat at the suggestion that they would do this again, but that was the last conversation she had with Sean or Michael. Whether she was satisfied or simply didn’t have enough evidence to support a case is unclear, but The Blind Side NCAA Investigation was over.

The Blind Side NCAA Investigation: What Happened?