UW Football
Huskies "satisfied" by NCAA verdict

By Bob Condotta
Seattle Times staff reporter

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Once the NCAA hammer came down on the University of Washington and Rick Neuheisel yesterday, it barely made a welt.

The Huskies escaped any major penalties for gambling and recruiting violations, with the NCAA largely agreeing to accept penalties the school and the Pac-10 had already levied.

The NCAA also did not assess any additional penalties on former coach Neuheisel, clearing the way for him to resume his college coaching career.

New UW athletic director Todd Turner, who was not in charge when the violations were committed, said it was an "enormous relief not to have this as a distraction anymore. It's nice to know it's now been resolved."

The penalties UW and the Pac-10 had agreed to 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 extended the cut in the recruiting visits and the ban on using a boat for the 2005-06 academic year as well and also said that the school may not "bank" the unused visits for use in future years.

The NCAA also extended a probationary period against the school through February 2007. UW was already on two years probation for major violations committed by the men's basketball program last year.

The probation does not include any bans on TV games or postseason appearances or cuts in scholarships. The school was also told if it were to be found guilty of any new major violation during the next five years it would be subject to being found a "repeat violator," which could bring severe penalties.

However, the NCAA downgraded a charge of "lack of institutional control" to the lesser "failure to monitor" — as the Pac-10 had done earlier.
 
UW president Mark Emmert, who also was not around when the violations were committed, said he was pleased the NCAA dropped the lack of institutional control charge, the only item the school had really argued when it met before the Committee on Infractions in Indianapolis in June.

"That was terribly important to us," Emmert said, adding the university was "satisfied" with the ruling.

UW was investigated for improper participation in betting pools by coaches and staffers in the athletic department, for illegal contact between a booster and football recruits, and for undercharging 44 football recruits a total of $132 for boat rides during recruiting visits.

Tom Yeager, the chair of the committee on infractions, said he considered the penalties against UW as "significant."

"I think the penalties are appropriate to the violations," he said.

The penalties shouldn't do major damage to the football program. The team rarely uses all of its allotted recruiting visits, and the use of the boat was largely a function of Neuheisel's living on Lake Washington.

Turner said the penalties "will have a minimal impact on our program's ability to succeed."

UW coach Keith Gilbertson, however, said he considers the loss of 16 visits over two years "a pretty significant penalty for what supposedly we did." Gilbertson said the team doesn't often use all of its visits but could in a year like this when there is so much uncertainty about the football program, which figures to make recruiting more difficult.

"But I'm glad it's over with," said Gilbertson. "I'm also glad that there's some resolution for Rick."

More uncertain is how the rulings involving Neuheisel affects his wrongful termination lawsuit against UW. The case is scheduled to go to trial in King County Superior Court on Jan. 24.

The Neuheisel camp painted the NCAA's decision not to penalize him further as something that will strengthen his case.

"Obviously, this doesn't hurt our position," said Neuheisel's lawyer, Bob Sulkin. "The university claimed that one of the reasons for firing Rick was that he should have known that he was violating NCAA gambling rules."

The NCAA found that Neuheisel violated its gambling rules when he won roughly $11,200 in college basketball pools in 2002 and 2003. However, the NCAA also said it was "unable to find that the former head coach did not rely" on two e-mails sent by UW's compliance office that mistakenly said participating in pools outside the office was permissible. The NCAA said Neuheisel did the appropriate thing by relying on the e-mails.

Yeager, citing the e-mails, called it "a unique problem which requires a unique solution."

That unique solution, apparently, was to find Neuheisel guilty of gambling but blameless because of the e-mails.

The NCAA also decided not to charge Neuheisel with an ethical conduct violation for initially lying to NCAA investigators because he came clean later the same day. In its report, however, the NCAA said it was "very troubled" by the fact Neuheisel had initially lied.

UW officials said the NCAA considered Neuheisel's firing as a penalty.

"They said they were not able to determine whether he had relied on the e-mails and probably for that reason they accepted the termination penalty on him but didn't increase the penalties," said Lou Peterson, an attorney representing UW in the case. "But they went out of their way to express that they were very troubled by his failure to tell the truth to the NCAA (when initially asked whether he had taken part in the pools)."

Peterson also said "nothing in this decision changes anything in the lawsuit and the University of Washington is confident that the position it took in June and July of 2003 was the right one."

Peterson added "there are no reasonable prospects that the case will be settled short of trial."

While Neuheisel hasn't stated a specific monetary damage, Peterson said he expects Neuheisel will ask for the roughly $3 million he would have been owed if he had been fired without cause. Neuheisel will also seek forgiveness of a $1.5 million loan he was given in 2002, making the total he will be seeking roughly $5 million. UW has countersued Neuheisel to pay back the loan.

Peterson also said Neuheisel was fired for violating a dishonesty clause in his cause, not for taking part in college basketball pools. He added that Neuheisel had been warned not to lie again after he had misled reporters and UW officials about having interviewed with the 49ers in February 2003.

For the most part, however, it was a day for moving on.

"Getting this behind the university is a very important step," Emmert said. "It removes some uncertainty about the program."

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