Football Notes: Audit describes Barnett camp's poor accounting

DENVER — In an unseemly glimpse inside the Colorado program, state auditors said Monday that former coach Gary Barnett's offseason camp was such a bookkeeping mess they could not be sure whether more than $400,000 worth of transactions broke rules.

The long-awaited audit detailed three years of sloppy accounting within Barnett's camp and cited repeated examples of financial carelessness inside the athletic department.

Missing paperwork, a lack of spending oversight, a failure to check the criminal backgrounds of staff working with young campers — all of it points to a need for change, the auditors said in a 72-page report.

"The worst audit I've seen in my 11 years in office," state Sen. Ron Tupa of Boulder said near the end of the two-hour hearing.

The report and reactions to it illustrated the disconnect between the political climate surrounding Colorado athletics and the realities of running a big-time program.

University president Hank Brown, who last week announced an overhaul of school accounting and purchasing practices, agreed to each of the 15 recommendations for change proposed by the Legislative Audit Committee.

But Brown called the audit "a lot of smoke" without a smoking gun.

"Sadly, we're probably better than most public entities, but clearly still not up to par," said Brown, a former U.S. senator who has an accounting degree and once ran the multimillion-dollar Daniels Fund.

Barnett stepped down under pressure last week after his team lost three straight games by a combined score of 130-22. Athletic director Mike Bohn reiterated that Barnett's departure was based on a combination of factors, but in no way timed with the release of the audit.

Barnett, who received a $3 million settlement when he stepped down last week, was not present at the hearing. His name was never mentioned in the report. But it was his business, High Hopes 95 Inc., that got the most attention.

Auditors said they were unable to determine where $328,000 paid to Barnett's camps came from — 44 percent of the total income between 2002 and 2004. Nearly $103,000 in expenses from that period lacked sufficient paperwork, the audit said.

Bohn said he plans to hire Barnett's replacement before the Buffaloes play Clemson in the Dec. 27 Champs Sports Bowl.

Bohn declined to identify candidates, although reports said he recently met with former Colorado player Jon Embree, who is an assistant at UCLA, and with Boise State coach Dan Hawkins.

Other reported candidates include Butch Davis, the former coach at Miami and the NFL Cleveland Browns, Denver Broncos assistant Tim Brewster and ex-Colorado player Dave Logan.

Felder honored

California linebacker Anthony Felder, a 2005 graduate of O'Dea High School in Seattle, was a first-team selection on the Rivals.com Freshman All-America Team. Felder started seven games and made 23 solo tackles for the Golden Bears, who play Brigham Young in the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 22.

Notes

• Notre Dame has received 45,589 ticket requests for the Jan. 2 Fiesta Bowl against Ohio State in Tempe, Ariz., and school officials believe they have never had more.

John Heisler, senior associate athletic director, said the school doesn't keep records for ticket demand. But the Fighting Irish have played in 26 bowls and no one can remember such demand. When Notre Dame went to the Fiesta Bowl after the 2000 season, the school received about 22,000 ticket requests.

Fewer than 12,500 tickets are available for alumni, season-ticket holders, students' parents, faculty and staff. The school was allotted 15,000 tickets, and 2,500 were sold to students last week. Some tickets also will go to university officials.

• In an effort to expand its West Coast visibility, Tennessee has signed its first home-and-away series with Oregon, Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton said.

The Southeastern Conference's Volunteers will host the Pac-10 Ducks on Sept. 11, 2010, in Knoxville, then travel to Eugene, Ore., for a game Sept. 14, 2013.

• Louisville defensive end Montavious Stanley has an torn muscle in his chest and will miss the Jan. 2 Gator Bowl against Virginia Tech.

Stanley, a senior who started all 11 games for the Cardinals (9-2), will have surgery Friday.

• Norries Wilson became the first black head football coach in Ivy League history, taking over a Columbia program that hasn't had a winning season since 1996.

The former Connecticut offensive coordinator was introduced at a news conference. Wilson, 40, replaces Bob Shoop, who was fired after going 7-23 in three seasons on the job.