Charting Tarkanian’s Sacramento Connection : Enforcement: UNLV coach’s friendship with Gov. Deukmejian might have influenced legislation aimed at the NCAA.

As Richard Hilliard of the NCAA enforcement staff waited to address the California Senate Rules Committee two months ago on the intricacies of the NCAA enforcement process, he was struck by a thought that put the occasion into perspective: Don’t these guys have anything better to worry about?

“They’re talking about the homeless, AIDS, the condition of the roads,” he said. “Then they’re talking about lauding a coach in another state.”

What brought Hilliard, an assistant director of enforcement for the NCAA, to Sacramento--and had him pondering the condition of California politics--was the Senate Rules Committee’s consideration of a resolution supporting Jerry Tarkanian, Nevada Las Vegas basketball coach, in his long-running feud with the NCAA and calling upon Congress to enact legislation requiring NCAA enforcement proceedings to conform to due process of law.

The resolution, introduced Aug. 22 by Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco), received unanimous approval in the Assembly and was passed by the Senate on a 24-4 vote Aug. 30, two days before the Legislature adjourned.

Why would the Legislature concern itself with UNLV’s dealings with the NCAA?

Because, according to a number of people who dealt with the resolution, Gov. George Deukmejian, a friend of Tarkanian’s, wanted it to.

“I was even told by the fellow representing the speaker on this resolution, a staff member, that it had been given to the speaker by the governor,” said William Barnaby, a Sacramento lobbyist hired by the NCAA to represent the organization after the resolution was introduced. “And when you think about it, Tarkanian and the governor going back a long way, it adds up.”

The resolution states that, without due process, it is “inevitable” that NCAA enforcement proceedings will be unjust.

As an example, the resolution cites Tarkanian, who initiated court proceedings that allowed him to remain in his job after the NCAA Committee on Infractions ordered UNLV to suspend him for his role in rules violations committed in 1977.

Tarkanian’s case, based on the question of whether the NCAA should be considered a governmental body whose actions must meet constitutional due process requirements, went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled, 5-4, in the NCAA’s favor in late 1988.

The NCAA remains legally constrained from seeking Tarkanian’s suspension. But the Committee on Infractions ruled July 20 that, in lieu of Tarkanian’s suspension, the Rebels, defending NCAA champions, would be ineligible for postseason play this season as a final penalty stemming from the 1977 case.

In its reference to Tarkanian, the Legislature’s resolution says: “The handling of the case of . . . Jerry Tarkanian, who is one of the finest basketball coaches in the nation and who led the Runnin’ Rebels to a national championship in 1990, is one example of where the absence of due process has resulted in an unfair result.”

A law requiring NCAA enforcement proceedings to conform to due process of law has been on the books in one state, Nebraska, since 1988, and bills proposing similar statutes were introduced this year in the legislatures of Illinois, Missouri, Florida and South Carolina--states in which universities recently involved in highly publicized NCAA investigations are located. None of the bills were passed into law, although the Illinois Legislature approved a resolution urging the NCAA to review its enforcement policy.

Two weeks after the Committee on Infractions announced its decision to ban UNLV from postseason play, members of Nevada’s congressional delegation introduced bills in the House and Senate that would require due process of law in NCAA enforcement proceedings.

And when the NCAA Council in August upheld the stiff penalty imposed by the infractions committee on the University of Maryland basketball program, U.S. Rep. Tom McMillen (D-Md.), a former basketball star at the school, took to the House floor to deliver a stinging address during which he labeled the NCAA a “schoolyard bully with petty grievances against schools.”

Faced with these challenges, the NCAA argues that its enforcement practices are in line with those found in most non-criminal proceedings.

“NCAA enforcement procedures are replete with due process protection for schools, athletes and coaches,” said Mike Scott, Washington counsel for the NCAA. “I would be very much surprised if you could find any organization in the United States in which, in a similar type of procedure, greater due process protection is afforded to those who might be affected by its ruling.

“If you are accused of wrongdoing by the NCAA, you have the right to be represented by counsel, the right to present evidence, the right to testify, the right to appeal. A record is kept, and you have the right to look at the record. All the basic protections you would expect to find.”

Further, the NCAA’s advocates point out, most of the proposed legislation calling for due process in NCAA enforcement policy has come from lawmakers who stand to gain easy points at home by bashing the NCAA.

“They are simply knee-jerking without a thought of what they’re getting into,” said NCAA President Al Witte, a University of Arkansas law professor. “So far, it has been crystal clear that the motive (for proposing such legislation) is to protect people who violated rules from the consequences of their actions. Saber rattling.”

Now, some NCAA and Pacific-10 Conference officials are concerned that the Brown resolution, lost in the shuffle of the legislative session’s final week, did not get the kind of debate they believe it deserved.

Pac-10 Commissioner Tom Hansen said his office did not become aware of the resolution until it had been approved by the Legislature.

“It is very unfortunate that, without public notice or public participation by any California university that I’m aware of, the Legislature has taken such action,” he said. “I contacted my own representative (in the Assembly) to protest, and he said, ‘It was one of those things that went through in the last days of the session.’ The man said, ‘The only good news is Congress doesn’t pay any attention to these things.’ ”

Brown was unavailable to discuss the resolution last week, according to Michael Reese, director of communications for the speaker.

But a source close to the issue who asked not to be identified said that Brown introduced the resolution at the request of Deukmejian.

Deukmejian and Tarkanian both have Armenian ancestries and roots in the Long Beach community. The governor got his start in politics in the city about the time that Tarkanian was building his coaching reputation at Cal State Long Beach.

After UNLV won its NCAA title last spring, Tarkanian visited Deukmejian at the governor’s office, and they went to lunch at a popular Chinese restaurant in Sacramento .

Susan Trowbridge, an assistant to Deukmejian, acknowledged that the governor and Tarkanian are friends, but said Deukmejian had no involvement in the resolution, which did not require his signature for approval. The issue of NCAA enforcement policy was raised “solely by Willie Brown,” she said.

The NCAA itself was not aware that the resolution had been proposed until it had been approved by the Assembly.

After Hilliard outlined the NCAA’s stance on the matter for the Senate Rules Committee, the resolution did not get the majority vote it needed from the five-member panel to reach the Senate floor. The two committee Democrats who were present at the time, David Roberti of Los Angeles and Henry Mello of Watsonville, voted for the resolution. The two Republicans, Robert Beverly of Redondo Beach and William Craven of Oceanside, abstained.

But after receiving a visit from Senate Republican Leader Ken Maddy of Fresno, Beverly and Craven voted for the resolution when it was put to a second vote.

According to Craven and others present, Maddy came to the hearing room to tell the two Republicans on the committee of Deukmejian’s interest in the resolution.

“Frankly, I don’t see a damn thing wrong with what (the NCAA) has done and what it continues to do,” said Craven, who served as a manager for the track team at Villanova when he was a student there. “Every school that’s a member must deal with those regulations, and if a school does nothing wrong, it has nothing to be concerned about. . . .

“With the Tarkanian thing, well, you’ve got a Deukmejian and a Tarkanian. I think there may be something to that. That comes from my leader, Ken Maddy, saying, ‘The governor wants it.’ ”

Said Barnaby, the NCAA’s lobbyist: “I felt it was a moral victory to stop the thing as long as we did and force the minority leader to tell those senators that the governor really wanted it (passed).”

Moral victory or not, the NCAA probably will wonder what impact, if any, the resolution will have on Congress.

“The Nevada (congressmen) could reintroduce their bills in the next session, and, if so, there could be some hearings,” said Scott, the NCAA’s Washington counsel. “But, frankly, I believe our track record on the issue of due process, while you might quibble about this point or that, it is so strong that I would be very much surprised if there would be a serious effort to develop and pass legislation on this subject.”