Gophers keep on digging
Memos, report went unheeded by school administrators
Posted: Sunday March 14, 1999 10:33 PM
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University of Minnesota president Mark Yudor (left) and vice president McKinley Boston conferred last Thursday before Boston declared four players ineligible for the tournament. AP |
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Internal memos indicate that officials from various University of Minnesota departments raised questions as early as 1993 about alleged academic favors for Gophers basketball players.
The memos included a "serious problem" reported to then-President Nils Hasselmo and other top administrators in 1994, according a report published Sunday in the Star Tribune.
Other memos show that coach Clem Haskins and then-assistant coach Milton Barnes -- now the head coach at Eastern Michigan University -- berated an academic counselor who forwarded suspicions of academic cheating in the basketball program, the newspaper reported.
The memos provide more evidence that university officials had knowledge of academic problems in the basketball program but still allowed it to be separated from the regular academic counseling unit and placed under Haskins' control, the newspaper said.
In addition, The Saint Paul Pioneer Press reported Sunday that six years ago a faculty committee urged the university to crack down on the intrusion of athletic department officials into academic counseling and tutoring for athletes.
That report -- which did not specifically address the men's basketball program -- called for a new code of ethics for coaches and an end to the practice of providing free season tickets to faculty members on a key oversight committee. Its recommendations were never adopted.
The Star Tribune reported that some of the concerns presented to university officials through memos included the granting of special favors to players.
One memo described Philip Wagner, the director of the Inter-College Program, as "very generous" in extending an admissions deadline for a player in order to maintain his athletic eligibility.
Under the extra-benefit rule of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, a favor granted to a student-athlete that is not provided to other students is a violation. Two NCAA compliance officials contacted Saturday declined to comment on whether the specific favors outlined in the university memos would be violations.
If a player received an extension specifically to maintain his athletic eligibility, it could be a violation, said Dave Schnase, NCAA director of membership services.
The memos were obtained after the Saint Paul Pioneer Press last week reported allegations of academic impropriety in the men's basketball program. Four players were suspended from Thursday's NCAA Tournament game, which Minnesota lost.
Hasselmo said Saturday night that he couldn't recall a case when special considerations were given to student-athletes.
"I can't believe that with all the discussions we had about the absolute necessity of integrity in the program that anybody would have condoned anything like that," he said. "I can certainly assure that I wouldn't. I certainly was never told in any way, form or shape that there were problems of the nature that have been alleged at this time."
In January 1994, Anne Hopkins, then vice president for arts, sciences and engineering, informed McKinley Boston, then men's athletics director, "of a fairly serious problem" concerning the admission of a player into ICP by Wagner. ICP is an independent degree program in which students design their own majors.
Wagner "was very generous in extending the admissions deadline for the player to assure that he would continue to maintain his athletic eligibility," according to the memo, which also was sent to Hasselmo.
Elayne Donahue, the now-retired director of the school's academic counseling unit, had warned university officials about academic problems in the basketball program and about Haskins' efforts to take control of academic counseling for his players.
She wrote to Boston in 1992 that she was "completely insulated from assisting any students" in the basketball program. "The basketball players are only allowed to interact with the academic staff that has been anointed by the coach, and the coach only anoints those he can co-opt."
In 1994, university officials took the basketball program out from under Donahue's auspices and handed it over to Haskins.
In July 1995, then-academic counselor Brian Berube received a telephone call from assistant professor Sander Latts of General College, who questioned possible academic cheating by a basketball player, several memos say.
Berube said Saturday that Latts told him the player had turned in a paper that appeared to be of much higher quality than his other work.
Last week Latts said another player -- former star forward Courtney James -- had turned in a paper in 1997 that was the best the instructor had seen in his nearly 40 years at the university.
Latts said he suspected academic fraud and told a professor responsible for ironing out academic problems of basketball players.
Regarding the earlier incident involving the other player, Latts said Saturday that no investigator contacted him. Berube said he also knew of no investigation.
Days after Berube's conversations with people outside Haskins' program, he was confronted by assistant coach Barnes, who questioned his handling of the incident. About two weeks later, Berube received angry memos from Haskins and Barnes.
Haskins' memo said Berube's action damaged the player's reputation and suggested that Berube may have intended "to do damage to this basketball program. ... I take offense to your action."
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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