Earlier this year the NCAA admitted it had crossed some of its own lines in gathering information against the University of Miami athletic department.  Now a former Miami coach at the center of that investigation wants to know if the NCAA crossed some legal lines while digging into his bank account.

The attorney for Missouri basketball coach Frank Haith filed a petition in court today in an attempt to determine how the NCAA was able to access detailed bank records.  CBSSports.com’s Dennis Dodd reports that Michael Buckner “is trying to determine whether information from canceled checks in the coach’s account were improperly — and possibly illegally — obtained.”

Uh-oh.

The gist of the case is as follows:

*  Haith provided the NCAA with a specific number of bank records as investigators tried to determine if he had passed money along to former Hurricanes booster Nevin Shapiro for his help in recruiting a prospect.

*  Additional information could have been obtained improperly by accessing the microfiche reproductions of Haith’s checks, which were not turned over to the NCAA by Haith.

*  Bank of America employees could be served with subpoenas to see if they turned over the additional information to the NCAA.

*  A judge will have to grant the petition before the subpoenas could go out.

According to the petition:

“Bank of America may have permitted or allowed an unknown person or person to gain access to, or to acquire, non-public information into (Haith’s) Checking Account without authorization.”

If that’s true it would be a black eye for Bank of America and yet another black eye for the NCAA… which would have once again gone too far in trying to track down information on Miami and its coaches.

Haith has been charged by the NCAA with failure to promote an atmosphere of compliance while coaching at Miami.  He just finished his second season at Missouri.

Even if the charges against Haith stand, it’s unlikely he’ll be hit with any serious, long-lasting sanctions.

Frank Haith wants to know what the NCAA has dug up on his old Miami program.  Haith’s lawyer wants to know what allegations the NCAA will make.  Fans of Haith’s current school — Missouri — surely want to know what their coach will be facing in terms NCAA accusations, too.

The scary part is… it sounds like Haith’s attorney, Michael Buckner, is already preparing people for what could be bad news:

“Whatever happens, everyone has to understand, these are just allegations.  The enforcement staff has been wrong before.  The university involved and the coaches themselves have to look at what the NCAA produces and conduct their own investigations.  There have been times when the NCAA has made allegations against my clients and I’ve found glaring mistakes in the evidence — maybe they didn’t interview everybody they should have or reached a conclusion that wasn’t supported by the evidence

It’s the job of the attorneys or whoever is representing each of the parties to do independent vetting of the evidence and bring that information forward to the NCAA so that the complete situation can be presented before the Committee on Infractions.”

Does Buckner have reason to suspect Haith will be hit with serious allegations?  Or is he simply preparing people for what might – or might not — be bad news?

The NCAA’s investigation into Haith’s Miami program stems from a jailed ex-booster’s claim that he provided $10,000 for one of Haith’s staff to pay to prospect DeQuan Jones for his signature on a National Letter of Intent.

There is still no word on when the NCAA will finally deliver a letter of allegations to Miami (and Haith) though reports over the weekend suggested the notice could arrive at any time.