Team Practiced Illegally, So Nebraska Bars Basketball Coach From Workouts for 5 Days

The University of Nebraska on Friday barred basketball Coach Moe Iba from attending workouts for five days because his team practiced illegally.

The sanction stemmed from a story in The Daily Nebraskan, in which the student newspaper said it made a tape recording of Iba and assistant Randy Cipriano shouting instructions to players in a campus gymnasium on Oct. 7.

National Collegiate Athletic Assn. rules prohibit coaches from attending practice before Oct. 15.

“The University of Nebraska has reported to the Big Eight Conference that a violation of the NCAA preseason basketball practice rule has occurred and has ordered head Coach Moe Iba and his assistant coaches to absent themselves from practice for a five-day period,” the university said in a news release.

“Iba and his assistants have also been informed that they will be asked to tender resignations if another violation of NCAA rules occurs,” the release said.

Athletic Director Bob Devaney said he ordered Iba to apologize to the school and “the university community.”

Iba, who issued a statement of apology Friday, had said he was putting his team through running drills--which are permitted by the NCAA before Oct. 15--on the day the newspaper made the tape.

Reporters who listened to the tape said it recorded basketballs bouncing, sneakers squeaking and the coaches shouting shooting and ball-handling instructions.