Kirk Receives Prison Term and Fine : Ex-Coach to Serve One Year, Pay $20,000 for Tax Evasion

Dana Kirk, former Memphis State basketball coach, was sentenced to a year in prison and fined $20,000 Friday for income tax evasion and obstruction of justice.

Kirk, 53, declined to comment on the sentence but said he was considering an appeal of the conviction. He was accompanied to court by his family and five character witnesses who urged U.S. District Judge Odell Horton to put Kirk on probation with a requirement for public service.

Horton rejected those pleas, noting that he has received numerous letters from the former coach’s supporters urging the same thing.

The judge said he agreed with the jury’s verdict that Kirk was guilty of cheating on his taxes and trying to intimidate a grand jury witness.

“Coach Kirk has received a fair and impartial trial,” Horton said.

Kirk was sentenced to a year and a day in prison each on four of the five counts on which he was convicted. Those sentences are to run at the same time. He was fined $10,000 each on one tax charge and the obstruction charge and was ordered to serve three years’ probation after he is released from prison.

The maximum penalty for the crimes is 24 years in prison and $275,000 in fines.

Kirk has 10 days to file an appeal.

Kirk apologized to the judge for his mistakes but continued his claim that he did not intentionally break the law.

“Nobody knows how much I’ve been punished,” he said. “I love that game of basketball.” In asking for leniency, his attorney, Frank Glankler, noted that Kirk had lost his job and his standing as a celebrity in Memphis.

“The punishment is that his career as a coach has ended,” Glankler said.

Kirk, surrounded by supporters, left the courtroom with his wife by his side and his arms around his two daughters. He declined to say if he had expected the judge to grant probation.

“It’s not what you think all the time, it’s what happens,” Kirk said.

Kirk came to Memphis State in 1979 and, under his leadership, the Tigers became a national power. They rose to No. 1 in 1983 and went to the Final Four in 1985.

During his two-month trial the former coach was described as a wheeler-dealer who lined up public appearances, product endorsements and other business deals to swell his annual income to about $300,000.

His coaching salary over his seven years at Memphis State ranged from $35,000 to $62,500.

Keith Lee, the Tigers’ all-time scoring and rebounding leader, told the court that Kirk had paid him $400 to $600 a month for four years. Lee also said that university boosters had paid him $500 a month for a year.

Kirk claimed his tax problems were caused by sloppiness, saying that his wife, who was untrained as a bookkeeper, managed the family finances.