UW Sports
UW admits flaws, defends control

By Bob Condotta
Seattle Times staff reporter

	STEVE RINGMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES Incoming UW president Mark Emmert will have the final say in who replaces Barbara Hedges, center above, as the school's next athletic director.
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University of Washington officials spent an hour yesterday admitting to flaws in how the athletic department has been run, and acknowledging the need for change.

But officials also presented their case for why they don't think the school should be hit with a charge of "lack of institutional control" when it meets with the NCAA's Board of Infractions in June.

The school released its response to the NCAA — which is investigating violations concerning gambling and the use of a boat for recruiting purposes — during a wide ranging meeting with the media on campus yesterday.

The issues were plentiful. Among them were the NCAA investigation (coincidentally released the same time former football coach Rick Neuheisel issued his own response to NCAA gambling charges), the school's search for a new athletic director, and an independent look at the culture within the athletic department and what must change.

Here's a capsulated look at those issues:

The NCAA investigation

Washington made public its 49-page response to the NCAA, listing five reasons why the gambling and boat trip offenses don't make them guilty of the serious charge of "lack of institutional control."

"We have conceded a number of violations," said Rob Aronson, UW's faculty athletic representative. "But we do not believe the violations amount to a lack of institutional control and our main goal is to convince the NCAA of it."

Among UW's defenses are that there has been no precedent for finding lack of institutional control in cases that involved similar offenses; that an "intentional and deliberate violation of the gambling bylaw by a head football coach should not be the basis" for such a finding; that the e-mails UW sent to its staff are proof that the school was attempting to educate and monitor its department and that a "single erroneous statement" in one e-mail does not mean a lack of institutional control.

The case will be heard June 11-14 in Indianapolis. Among those who will represent the university are incoming president Mark Emmert.

UW officials said they feel confident based on the fact that the Pac-10 did not levy a "failure to monitor" charge when confronted with the same violations. They also said they did not think the separate investigation into the improper dispensing of drugs to softball players will hurt the school's case.

Rick Neuheisel

UW interim president Lee Huntsman led his remarks by saying there was nothing new concerning Neuheisel. However, shortly before he spoke, Neuheisel's lawyers made public their own response to the NCAA, which has charged Neuheisel with violating NCAA rules on gambling.

Neuheisel countered the UW's position that he never stated the existence of a faulty internal e-mail that gave him license to gamble during his initial interview with the NCAA on June 4. "In fact, Neuheisel described the contents of the document during his interview," the response claims. A tape of the interview provided to the media, however, did not include Neuheisel making that claim.

	ROD MAR / THE SEATTLE TIMES Rick Neuheisel's defense centers on an e-mail memo.

The response also states that Neuheisel mentioned the errant e-mail to two witnesses — including UW director of football operations Jerry Nevin — during a break in the interviews.

Neuheisel's camp also said the amount he won in two NCAA tournament pools — reported as $8,409 — is irrelevant considering the attitudes that existed toward gambling at UW.

Neuheisel's defense looked at the school's culture, saying that UW coaches were encouraged to bet with boosters during outings at Emerald Downs — with no limits placed — and that the athletic department had been planning a "casino night" for boosters with coaches acting as "dealers" before problems erupted last June.

Neuheisel also charged that UW athletic director Barbara Hedges was aware of the erroneous e-mail by 9 a.m. on June 5 but did not tell the NCAA until June 8 — and only after Neuheisel had made the e-mail public. He also charged UW with failing "to fully acknowledge and investigate athletic department pools in 2001 and 2002." Neuheisel claimed current UW coaches took part in pools after 1999 but only admit to taking part in 1999 — which is beyond the NCAA statue of limitations.

UW officials say they cannot determine exactly who was in the pools in other years. But Aronson said he does not think that will be a problem with the NCAA, saying that Pac-10 and NCAA investigators were on campus to interview coaches twice "and could not find anything."

Finding a new AD

The school announced that it has hired the firm of Baker, Parker and Associates, Inc., of Atlanta to help in the search for an athletic director. The company has previously worked for Michigan, North Carolina, Harvard and Johns Hopkins, among others.

Huntsman said that UW has already interviewed a few candidates, though the school's ad in NCAA News states that applications and nominations will officially be taken through Friday.

Emmert said last night that he will be "very involved in that process and at the end of it, it will be my decision." Emmert isn't expected to officially start his job at UW until July, but he said that does not mean a new AD cannot be hired before then.

Reviewing culture of athletics

Huntsman announced that the school has hired two longtime college officials — outgoing Tulsa University president Bob Lawless and Gene Corrigan, former commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference — to lead a review of the culture of athletics at UW.

Huntsman said he and Emmert have talked about how they believe UW will need to proceed to deal with what they see as some big changes coming in college athletics.

"We see some very seismic shifts in the way athletics will occur at Division I with new rules being promulgated around academic progress which I think are going to change the (way) we recruit student athletes," Huntsman said.

Emmert said last night that it wasn't fair for him to talk in detail about what has happened at UW since he wasn't involved.

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com.

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