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 Pressure still mounting Haskins maintains innocence despite new allegations
Posted: Friday June 11, 1999 09:49 PM
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Minnesota basketball coach Clem Haskins repeated his denial of wrongdoing Friday despite new evidence that he paid for a Hawaiian trip of the woman at the center of the scandal. Early in the day, the chairman of the Board of Regents told The Associated Press that he should resign. Asked if there was any winning outcome for the university, Regent Patricia Spence said she hates "to think of it as a win or lose type of thing. Human tragedy is involved." Spence added: "I'm hoping that Clem will resign and can leave this situation with some dignity." Spence later told Minnesota Public Radio she was "not in any position to tell Clem what to do." "I don't know any of the specific findings from the investigation. I just hope that he does what's best for himself and what's best for the University of Minnesota," she told MPR. Investigators will ask Haskins to explain why he apparently paid for a Hawaiian vacation for Jan Gangelhoff, the woman who says she did course work for players. Gangelhoff, a former office manager in the academic counseling unit, has maintained that the nine-day trip in 1995 was a reward from Haskins for writing athletes' papers and doing other course work beginning in 1993. Officials with the charter company that arranged the trip said Haskins' personal check for $1,050 paid for travel by Gangelhoff and another university employee. The check was the first document to be made public that supports her claim, the Saint Paul Pioneer Press reported Friday. University officials gave the newspaper a copy of the Nov. 15, 1995, check written on Haskins' personal account and signed by him. In a statement, Haskins said he sticks by an earlier denial of wrongdoing. "My statement was accurate then and is accurate now. I have, I am and I will continue to cooperate with the university and its investigation," he said. Tonya Moten Brown, chief of staff for university President Mark Yudof, said lawyers investigating the alleged academic fraud intend to ask Haskins to "clear up and explain" his paying for the Hawaii charter. University General Counsel Mark Rotenberg said investigators want to wait until Haskins, who recently underwent knee surgery, is out of the hospital before talking with him about the check. Athletic director Mark Dienhart said Haskins' payment may not violate NCAA or university rules. "Again, it is not a violation to pay for people to travel with the team. If I understand correctly, he also paid for other people," Dienhart told WCCO Radio. Rotenberg would not comment on whether any rules were broken. Meanwhile, Rotenberg spoke with Haskins' attorney, Ron Zamansky. Yudof has authorized discussion of a possible buyout of Haskins' contract. While there were no extensive discussions planned that day, Rotenberg said he hopes to meet soon. "We're having a useful dialogue," he said. Haskins has been under pressure since March, when the Pioneer Press reported that Gangelhoff said she had done 400 pieces of course work for players from 1993 to 1998. The allegations triggered an investigation by the university into possible violations of NCAA rules.
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