Surely, Arizona State’s Athletic Director Must Carry Share of Blame?

If Mike Downey (March 19) is looking for a villain in the Bill Frieder affair, he shouldn’t stop with Bo Schembechler, Michigan’s athletic director.

He should pay some attention to Schembechler’s counterpart at Arizona State, Charles Harris, whom Downey doesn’t even mention. Harris gave Frieder 20 minutes to make a decision, just a couple of days before Frieder’s team was to enter the NCAA tournament.

What is so urgent about Arizona State’s needs? Why couldn’t Harris wait until the tournament was finished? If Arizona State had to start immediately on its recruiting for next season, that’s as good an illustration of the distorted perspectives in college sports as anybody could offer.

THOMAS STOUT

Northridge