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 Michigan investigating Martin FBI prompts questions over whether booster broke ban
Posted: Friday May 28, 1999 06:14 PM
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) -- The University of Michigan is investigating allegations that a booster had dealings with men's basketball players after he was banned from associating with the team in 1997, according to newspaper reports. The school's Provost Nancy Cantor said Thursday that a four-member faculty committee would review athletic department reforms begun in 1997 as a result of an NCAA-mandated probe of Ed Martin's contacts with former players and coaches, the Detroit Free Press reported Friday. The school also will review safeguards implemented by the athletic department. Ms. Cantor said Athletic Director Tom Goss requested the review last week after published reports about a federal investigation of whether Martin -- a Ford Motor Co. retiree -- ran an illegal numbers operation at Detroit-area Ford plants. As part of that probe, the FBI reportedly is examining whether Martin gave large amounts of cash and loans to several former Wolverines players, dating to the Fab Five era in the early 1990s. Published reports have suggested that wiretaps recorded conversations between Martin and several former Wolverine standouts, including Chris Webber, Louis Bullock, Robert Traylor and Maurice Taylor, according to a person familiar with the investigation. School officials have said the FBI told them that no evidence had surfaced of gambling on Wolverines games. "We want to make sure the policies are tough enough and make changes if necessary," Ms. Cantor said. "We believe we put in place very strong policies, but we want to make sure they are working." Ms. Cantor told The Ann Arbor News Thursday that she hopes to get the committee's initial report within a month. She will then discuss it with Goss and university Vice President and General Counsel Marvin Krislov. The committee is being chaired by Jerome Miller, an adjunct professor of psychology at the school and director of the Center for the Child and the Family. Other members include Suellyn Scarnecchia, assistant dean for clinical affairs in the law school; Derrick Gragg, the school's NCAA rules compliance coordinator; and Paul Edwards, an attorney in the office of the general counsel. The committee arises in the wake of new concerns over Martin's activities. Federal authorities searched his home on April 28. Agents from the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service, who also raided 11 other homes that day, seized more than $150,000 in cash, 10 handguns and gambling paraphernalia. Among the points the committee will examine: whether Martin has been seen around the team since he was banned in March 1997, a person familiar with the investigation told the Free Press. Martin was a target in a 1997 investigation of the university's basketball program that prompted his being banned, Goss' firing of coach Steve Fisher and minor NCAA sanctions. School President Lee Bollinger said he and Goss decided to take another look at the procedures after learning about the federal investigation. "On these sorts of matters you can never rest," Bollinger said.
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