Orange County’s Unger: SMU ‘Let Me Down’

After he heard the news Wednesday, Dominik Unger lashed out.

“This school let me down,” said Unger, a Southern Methodist University defensive tackle who formerly played at Orange High and Fullerton College.

“When SMU recruited me out of Fullerton, I was assured that the program was clean, that they had taken steps to see that violations would not occur again,” Unger said. “I was convinced at the time that I would be playing in a clean program. It turns out that they were lying to me.”

Only moments earlier, Unger had attended his last team meeting as a Mustang football player. The NCAA, citing evidence of a slush fund used to pay players, had suspended SMU’s program for the 1987 season, the most severe penalty ever levied against a major college football program.

The decision left Unger, a 6-foot 5-inch, 250-pound junior, without a place to play next fall. It also left him feeling betrayed.

“No one coach in particular lied, but the whole program did,” he said. “I can’t help but believe some of the people in the program knew that cash was being paid out to some of the players. I’m upset with those people, the people who didn’t tell the truth.”

Unger had joined the Mustangs only last season. “I came all the way to Texas from California to play football,” he said. “I probably would have started next season. Now there is no program, no place for me to play.”

The 56 SMU players with eligibility remaining may transfer without losing a year of eligibility, the NCAA said. But Unger may find it difficult to find a place to play as an incoming senior.

Unger, 22, came to the United States from Czechoslovakia six years ago when his father, Oldrich, was expelled for his political beliefs. He first played football as a junior at Orange, and by his senior year, he started both ways as a lineman.

As a defensive tackle at Fullerton, he was All-South Coast Conference, before he went to SMU on a full scholarship last season. He led the team academically and played in three games as a backup to All-Southwest Conference tackle Jerry Ball.

“I’m going to California during spring break in two weeks,” he said. “I hope I can talk to some coaches out there, maybe the coach at Cal State Fullerton. I’d like to play my final year back there.

“I gave SMU my best shot, and they know it. This school let me down, and maybe I shouldn’t have come here in the first place. But I’m not about to lay down and die. I’m going to get back on my feet and fight. I have a year of eligibility left, and I’m going to use it.”