Valvano Urged to Quit as AD : Position Conflicts With Role as Coach, Commission Says

A commission appointed to investigate allegations of widespread corruption in the basketball program at North Carolina State University reported Friday that Wolfpack Coach Jim Valvano tolerated “academic manipulation” to keep his players eligible and recommended that Valvano quit as athletic director.

The findings of the six-month internal investigation were delivered by President C. D. Spangler of the University of North Carolina System at a reporter-packed meeting of the Board of Governors in nearby Chapel Hill.

Spangler also included his personal observations of the year-long scandal, many of them scathingly critical of an athletic program that appeared to hold the academic achievement of athletes in low regard.

“Historically, it has been, it is, and it will continue to be a constant struggle to maintain athletic integrity,” Spangler said. “Athletics and academics are in tension by the nature of their time demands, but athletics and academics cannot be allowed to be in conflict in a great university.”

The meeting was broadcast on radio and TV across the state.

The report, however, fell far short of finding fact in the vast array of allegations about the men’s basketball program that were detailed in the recently published book, “Personal Fouls.” The book is regarded as having been the impetus for the University investigation and a continuing investigation by the National Collegiate Athletic Assn.

Some of the more lurid allegations of a booster club slush fund for basketball players and lavish gifts of cash, cars and jewelry were found by the commission to be groundless.

Still, after conducting more than 160 interviews and reviewing hundreds of documents, the commission found the basketball program to be in violation of scores of University regulations and guilty of ethical breaches.

Spangler also said that the NCAA was expected to apply sanctions for some of the violations. The NCAA report is expected in the next two months.

“Generally, the violations indicate weakness in institution record-keeping and monitoring,” Spangler said.

The Board of Governors recommended to the UNC Board of Trustees that Valvano step down as athletic director by Dec. 31, saying that his holding both jobs was a conflict of interest. That could happen sooner, however, perhaps when the trustees meet next month.

Valvano offered his resignation as athletic director to former UNC Chancellor Bruce Poulton two months ago, and said Thursday in a speech to the Fayetteville Area Chamber of Commerce that he would resign as athletic director if asked to do so. Poulton resigned amid the controversy Monday.

And, although there was some sentiment among the Governors to recommend that Valvano be fired as coach, that job, which he has held for nine years, appears secure.

Valvano, a normally gregarious man, has not commented on any specific allegations during the six-month investigation, but he broke his silence late Friday.

Reacting to Spangler’s report, Valvano said: “It was very accurate and very precise. On the one hand, we have some problems in our basketball program. I’d be the first to admit if I’d been a part of them. One of the reasons I’m here is that I want to be part of the solution.”

But even as the commission’s report was being prepared Friday morning, new allegations surfaced.

The Charlotte Observer reported that two basketball players had rented an apartment owned by Valvano and his wife. Valvano said that he had done nothing wrong and that as soon as he discovered the situation, the players moved out.

He said the incident was reported to the NCAA Friday.

Among the specific minor violations found by the commission:

--Players had sold complimentary tickets.

--Players traded extra athletic shoes to a local firm for other goods.

--Time-payment privileges were accorded to basketball players at a local jewelry store.

--Special discounts were given to players at a local restaurant.

Spangler said, however, that the Board of Governors was most concerned with two areas of conduct--manipulation of the academic standing of basketball players and the poor performance of an inadequate drug-testing program.

Spangler spoke spiritedly when he argued that the controversy at N.C. State has tainted the entire state university system.

“The rules have been manipulated in order to serve one overriding purpose: keep the players eligible,” he said.

Spangler elicited mild laughter in the hearing room when he observed that “most basketball players are not scholastically gifted.”

He cited a case in which one basketball player had been enrolled in eight regular semesters, five summer school semesters and had played for four seasons. At the end of four years the athlete had passed 76 semester hours and had a grade-point average of 1.1.

Spangler said that, regarding academic eligibility, the spirit, but not the letter, of university rules and procedures had been broken.

He said there were cases in which grades of basketball players had been changed, within the rules, but in such a way that allowed the players to remain eligible. Poulton was accused of having readmitted basketball players after they had been suspended for academic reasons.

At one point during the 1986-87 season, 10 of 12 players were were competing while on academic probation.

Spangler said that it was clear that many basketball players were not taking classes that led toward degrees.

“This was the principal finding, and the most important finding,” Spangler said.

Of the school’s drug-testing program, Spangler said there was no evidence that positive results had been masked, in part because so few athletes were taking part in the voluntary program.

On one occasion, during the 1986-87 season, 43 athletes (not from basketball) were requested to appear for the testing. None volunteered. In another instance, a lecture was scheduled by the Department of Athletics. Arrangements were made for 100 athletes to attend; one showed up.

The book, “Personal Fouls,” had alleged that at least one Wolfpack player had played games while under the influence of cocaine and that Valvano was aware of drug use among his players.

Through it all, Valvano has remained immensely popular here. He has steadfastly denied any wrongdoing, as has the University.

“There is no scandal at North Carolina State University,” Poulton said, conducting perhaps his last news conference before he leaves his job Sept. 30.