UW Football
NCAA will rule on UW case

By Bob Condotta
Seattle Times staff reporter

Rick Neuheisel could be cleared to coach.

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The NCAA will announce penalties today in connection with its investigation of recruiting and gambling violations by the Washington athletic department.

There have been indications the penalties will not be much different than those the Pac-10 levied against the school earlier this year when it ruled on the same violations.

Those penalties included 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, but did not include any postseason bans or loss of scholarships.

The NCAA is expected to make its announcement at noon today.

The school had been charged with a lack of institutional control in connection with the violations, which included gambling by former football coach Rick Neuheisel and others in the department, as well as football recruiting violations.

While the Pac-10 ruled that all of the violations were secondary in nature, the NCAA had ruled that there were three potential major violations for Neuheisel's gambling, the improper use of a boat in recruiting and improper contact with a booster who owned the boat, and for lack of institutional control.

However, major violations do not have to result in severe penalties, and UW officials have said earlier that they were not anticipating any major surprises once the penalties were announced.

"I would personally be surprised, based on my experience, that the NCAA would find anything different than the Pac-10 did," UW athletic director Todd Turner said last month.

UW and NCAA officials were not available for comment last night, though it was thought that the school had been informed of the penalties yesterday.

It's also thought that Neuheisel has been informed of possible penalties as well. Neuheisel could be slapped with a "show cause" penalty that would require any school hiring him to show to the NCAA why it wants to employ him. The Pac-10, however, did not levy a "show cause" penalty on Neuheisel and it has been thought that there will not be any major penalties against Neuheisel announced today.
 
The announcement will bring to an end a case that began in June of 2003 when NCAA officials came to Seattle to interview Neuheisel regarding his involvement in two college basketball tournament pools in 2002 and 2003 and ended up rocking the UW athletic department.

Neuheisel admitted involvement in the pools, reportedly winning roughly $11,000 in the two pools. He was fired a week later, though the school said he wasn't let go just for the gambling but for having lied about his involvement in the pools when initially asked by the NCAA. Neuheisel has since filed suit against the school for wrongful termination, with trial set to begin next year.

The UW met before the NCAA Committee on Infractions on June 11 in Indianapolis. At that time, UW officials said the NCAA seemed more concerned with the recruiting violations than the gambling.

Washington had admitted that there was improper contact between a booster and UW football recruits who were passengers on his boat. The school was also charged with undercharging 44 recruits a total of $132 for those boat rides.

At the June meeting before the NCAA, UW officials characterized the violations as "honest mistakes" and pointed out that the school has taken significant steps to ensure that such mistakes won't happen again. The school has a new president, Mark Emmert, and a new athletic director in Turner who each have solid reputations with the NCAA, which the school hoped would be a mitigating factor.

The athletic department has also revamped its compliance staff.