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UW Sports
UW faces "major" charges

By Bob Condotta
Seattle Times staff reporter

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University of Washington officials have feared all along that the NCAA is likely to take a harsher view of their gambling and recruiting violations than the Pac-10 did earlier this year.

Just how different the NCAA may view the case, however, became apparent just two weeks ago.

That's when UW was informed two violations that had previously been considered secondary in nature will be proposed as major violations when the school presents its case before the NCAA's Committee on Infractions tomorrow in Indianapolis.

The violations that have been upgraded are that former football coach Rick Neuheisel participated in two high-stakes NCAA men's basketball pools; and that the school undercharged several prospects for boat rides during recruiting trips that also resulted in a booster having impermissible contact with several prospects on the boats.

"I wish I could say I felt confident," Thompson said. "But the closer we get, the more nervous I get." - Dick Thompson, interim AD

UW interim athletic director Dick Thompson said yesterday he didn't know exactly what it meant that the two violations would now be considered major. The most likely possibility is that it could result in more serious penalties.

The Pac-10 agreed that all the violations were secondary when it met earlier this year and it essentially rubber-stamped Washington's self-imposed penalties, including a cut in football recruiting visits from 56 to 48 and not allowing the school to use a boat for recruiting for the 2004-05 academic year.

Secondary violations are defined as those that are isolated and inadvertent and don't result in a recruiting or competitive advantage. Major violations are not isolated or inadvertent and do result in some sort of an advantage.

The UW was already at risk of being found guilty of a major violation as the NCAA has charged Washington with exhibiting a lack of institutional control in connection with all of the violations. The Pac-10 dropped a similar charge of "failure to monitor."

Major violations can result in more severe penalties than secondary ones, including bans on postseason play and TV.

UW took no position on whether Neuheisel's betting should be considered a major violation.

The NCAA ruled that Neuheisel's betting is more serious than that committed by other UW coaches and athletic department employees because of the dollar amount. Washington has admitted several violations involving coaches taking part in $3 to $5 NCAA basketball pools, which is being considered by the NCAA as secondary.

Neuheisel won $4,799 in a pool in 2002 and $7,324 in 2003. Neuheisel is contesting the upgrade of the violation saying that the money won is "not relevant."

The NCAA, however, is arguing that it is a major violation because of the amount of money and because the dollar amounts wagered increased each year. The NCAA also wrote that Neuheisel's involvement in the auctions were "not isolated and inadvertent" in nature. The NCAA is also charging that Neuheisel's gambling is an "ethical conduct" violation.

Neuheisel will attend the hearing with his attorney, Bob Sulkin, and will argue against any additional penalty, such as a ban on coaching. The Pac-10 did not impose any additional penalty on him.

UW has admitted that it undercharged 44 recruits a total of $132 for boat rides during recruiting visits over roughly three years, and that a booster, Chuck Richmond, made impermissible contact with recruits. UW will say in its defense that only two of the recruits ended up attending UW.

The NCAA is charging that the violation should be considered major because the boat trips provided more than a minimal recruiting advantage and because the school should have known a booster was going to pilot the boat.

"They think they were fairly clear on how we should have handled the case and we called it wrong and they are unhappy with that," Thompson said. The NCAA's final decision on penalties likely won't come for four to six weeks.

Considering that UW's men's basketball program was found guilty of a major violation in the summer of 2003 for breaking numerous recruiting rules, UW could be at risk of being found guilty of four major violations in just over a year.

Still, UW isn't at risk yet of being labeled as a "repeat violator," which technically could have put the Huskies in danger of being hit with the death penalty. That rare occurrence shuts down a program for repeated violations. The NCAA ruled earlier this year that UW's latest violations came before the NCAA ruled on the basketball case and thus aren't "repeat" violations.

But while UW is basically admitting fault in the violations themselves — and in the case of the boat trip will argue only the severity — it will argue that the violations do not constitute a lack of institutional control.

"We don't think making a mistake in an effort to try to run a compliance program constitutes a lack of institutional control," said UW vice president Norm Arkans. "Lack of institutional control is when you are not running a compliance program, when you are not sending out gambling reminders, when you are not trying to figure how out much should we pay for this boat ride. People were really wrestling with that kind of stuff. That's not lack of institutional control."

Even if UW gets hit with a lack of institutional control or found guilty of multiple major violations, however, it doesn't guarantee severe penalties such as postseason bans or TV prohibitions. In fact, it has become more common of late for the NCAA to levy that charge on a school but then issue penalties of a less serious nature.

"That's a distinct possibility," said UW faculty athletic representative Rob Aronson, who is hoping to leave the post soon. "I would say in two-thirds or three-quarters of the cases where they find (lack of institutional control) they don't put on (the most severe penalties)."

UW will also argue that none of the violations resulted in a competitive advantage on the field and will also describe how it has made major changes to its athletic department.

That includes the hiring of a new president Mark Emmert, who has a reputation for keeping a strong hand on athletics in his previous stops at Connecticut and Louisiana State. UW also hired a firm to review its compliance department and will upgrade its compliance officer to senior associate athletic director.

"When they talk about lack of institutional control, their number one priority is the president," Aronson said. "And he's a known quantity."

Interestingly, the lead investigator for the NCAA's case against Washington, Dave Didion, recently removed himself from the case, citing a conflict of interest.

Didion, an NCAA director of enforcement, took himself off the UW case after his wife was offered a chance to be Washington's new director of compliance. Delise O'Meally, the NCAA's director of membership services, turned the job down, however, and UW is still looking for a compliance officer.

"I don't think that has a real impact," Arkans said. "He was the lead person but my understanding is that they sort of work as a team and so it's basically been handed off to them. But Dave did write the case for them."

UW also recently was told that the NCAA will not pursue issues connected to the softball team drug controversy at this hearing. UW officials, however, said the NCAA may look at the issue later. That could put the Huskies at risk of being found a "repeat violator" if the NCAA were to find major violations in that case.

"It's hard to say whether it's good or bad," Aronson said. "In one sense, you'd like to have everything done with one way or the other and not have it hanging over your head."

Much of the reason the Pac-10 largely accepted UW's penalties is because of the major personnel changes Washington is making in its athletic department. Washington hopes the NCAA will see it the same way.

Aronson said the fact that UW is in the process of upgrading its compliance department "is the kind of thing they want to see."

"I wish I could say I felt confident," Thompson said. "But the closer we get, the more nervous I get."

Fifteen people will travel to Indianapolis for the NCAA hearing, including Barbara Hedges, former UW athletic director who retired in January; Lee Huntsman, the interim UW president; Carol Niccolls, executive assistant to the president; Patrick Dobel, the new UW faculty rep; Karin Nyrop, UW assistant state attorney general; Keith Gilbertson: UW football coach; Dana Richardson: former UW compliance director; Dan Evans, a member of UW Board of Regents; William H. Gates Sr., member of UW Board of Regents; Thompson, Emmert, Aronson, Arkans, Neuheisel and Sulkin.

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

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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