Keele Acted Alone in Decision to Hold Illegal CSUN Tryout

The NCAA publicly reprimanded Cal State Northridge Friday for holding an illegal tryout for prospective kickers a year ago. Additionally, the school’s head football coach is prohibited from recruiting off-campus for a one-month period, ending Jan. 1, 1986.

The latter penalty is moot since the coach, Tom Keele, was told Dec. 6 that he would not be reappointed to his position for next year.

The NCAA’s Committee on Infractions determined that the tryout, forbidden in the NCAA’s bylaws, was held around this time a year ago, “unbeknownst to the university, the athletic administration and the assistant coaches.”

That information was transmitted in late August to Bob Hiegert, CSUN athletic director. Hiegert then confronted Keele.

“I thought it was a joke, at first,” Hiegert said. “I asked Coach Keele if it was true and he said, ‘Yeah, I did it. I broke the law. I knew it was wrong.’

“At that point, the university’s stance was that there was no reason to appeal, since it was an admitted infraction,” said Hiegert. “It was not in the best interests of anyone to appeal. There was no trying to hide it. It wasn’t like Keele wasn’t sure of the rules. It was a clear violation. His reasons for doing it are his own.”

Keele, when contacted Thursday, declined to comment about the tryout. He indicated that he did not intend to comment at any point. Friday, he was unavailable.

Said Hiegert: “People were surprised it happened here. And they were surprised it happened to Keele. They were surprised at the way the man acted.”

In a prepared statement, James W. Cleary, CSUN president, said, “In its entire 27-year history, the university has had a blemish-free record of such compliance. The present infraction by one individual acting entirely on his own is most regrettable.”

The infraction, according to Dale Smith, Assistant Director of Enforcement for the NCAA, came to light last summer during his organization’s routine interrogation of the nation’s top 150 football recruits. One player from that group mentioned the tryout.

A source close to the investigation said that that player wound up at a Pac-10 school.

“Things come up in those interviews,” Smith said Friday from NCAA headquarters in Kansas. “We think it’s a good way to monitor the system.

“The reason for the rule against tryouts is that we feel that schools should not be running a meat market. There is no reason for a coach putting that kind of pressure on an athlete. The coaches have plenty of opportunity to watch the players perform. If they still can’t make up their minds, what are they accomplishing with the tryout?”

Such tryouts are not that rare, according to Smith. “It does occur,” he said.

The NCAA is only empowered to take action against those recruits who enroll at the school holding the tryout. In this case, two of the nine players from that tryout wound up at Northridge. Neither was identified and no action was taken against them.

“My understanding is that they were instructed to do something,” Hiegert said, “and they just thought it was part of the recruiting process.”

Hiegert insisted Friday that the NCAA investigation did not directly cause him to change football coaches.

“It was the won-loss record and the direction of the program that caused us to make our decision,” he said. “This was certainly not something that helped, but it was not the main factor for the dismissal. We were more concerned with the overall program.

“If he had gone 11-0 or 10-1, this was probably something that would have been noted in his folder and he probably would have been retained.”

Keele’s team finished 4-7 in 1985, giving the 52-year-old coach five losing seasons in his seven years as the Matadors’ coach.

However, a former CSUN administration official who asked not to be identified, insists that the decision to dismiss Keele was based more on his administrative problems and may have been made before the season’s opening kickoff.

Hiegert also said that Keele was not let go so as to encourage the NCAA to lighten its punishment.

“The NCAA wants to direct us to conform to the rules,” Hiegert said. “Whatever way we choose to clean house is fine with them.”

Smith said that the NCAA Committee on Infractions determined the penalties against Northridge “without knowledge of the coach’s dismissal. Any corrective action the institution takes can mitigate action taken by our committee.”

Since there is no prohibition against assistant coaches recruiting during this penalty period, the two holdovers from last season--offensive coordinator Rich Lopez and defensive coordinator Mark Banker--have continued to talk to prospective new student-athletes. Hiegert and other administration officials, meanwhile, have started the search for Keele’s successor.

“We feel it was a very fair penalty,” Hiegert said of the NCAA’s action. “We have received very fair treatment. We look at it as a warning to the rest of our staff. Sometimes you need something like this to remind you that the rules are in the book to be followed.

“It was not as if something was grossly wrong with our program. This was an individual matter. This was an individual who made a mistake and got caught. We dealt with it in our own house. We did not condone it.”