THE SIDELINES : Wisconsin Acts on Coaches’ Pay

A University of Wisconsin committee has developed a tentative plan to rectify what the school said appears to be a violation of an NCAA rule by football Coach Don Morton.

The university’s Athletic Board compliance committee met for nearly three hours Monday night after the release of an internal report that found Morton broke the rule when he took out a personal loan to pay his assistant coaches. (Story, C3.)

Morton took out a $14,200 loan to pay nine assistant coaches their salaries for two weeks last summer after the money was cut from the Athletic Department budget in a cost-cutting move.

Details of the committee’s plan have yet to be worked out, but the goal is to have the university claim responsibility for distributing the money. The plan eventually would need approval of the NCAA, Morton and other university officials.