Timing of Allegations Might Hurt UNLV

As part of an investigation that has spawned allegations of recruits receiving cash, cars and plane tickets, the NCAA’s recent charge that Nevada Las Vegas boosters had improper contact with Jason Kidd, the star point guard from St. Joseph High in Alameda, Calif., might seem insignificant.

But given the timing of the alleged infractions involving Kidd, the matter could have serious repercussions for UNLV.

In a supplemental letter of official inquiry, received by the school on June 28, the NCAA charges that representatives of UNLV’s athletic interests, including several prominent former Rebel players, had contact with Kidd during and after UNLV’s game at San Jose State on Jan. 31. NCAA rules prohibit representatives of a school’s athletic interests from having contact with recruits.

Perhaps more important to the UNLV case, however, is that the alleged contact occurred six weeks after the school received a letter of official inquiry from the NCAA outlining alleged rules violations in 29 areas, many focusing on the Rebels’ recruitment of former New York high school star Lloyd Daniels.

While declining to discuss the UNLV case specifically, NCAA officials acknowledge that a school that has received a letter of official inquiry might be expected to be in a heightened state of awareness, especially if the school had been charged with exercising a lack of institutional control over athletics.

In its original letter of inquiry to UNLV, the NCAA charged just that in three areas dealing with basketball.

“If you’re on notice that there are potential problems and yet you continue (to have problems), obviously that becomes a matter of concern,” said D. Alan Williams, the University of Virginia history professor who is chairman of the NCAA Committee on Infractions. “The school has to explain (why problems persisted), put the matter into a particular context.”

UNLV officials have declined to make public the supplemental letter of inquiry, which also includes allegations of impropriety in the school’s recruitment of former Lakewood Artesia High star Ed O’Bannon last summer.

UNLV Coach Jerry Tarkanian has declined to discuss the supplemental letter except to call the allegations contained in it “unbelievably minor.”

The NCAA Committee on Infractions is expected to deal with the UNLV case when it meets Sept. 27-29 in Boston.

If nothing else, the NCAA’s latest set of charges against UNLV has thrust Kidd, one of the country’s most sought-after recruits, into the middle of a high-profile investigation that was in progress before he entered high school.

As a junior last season, the 6-foot-4 Kidd averaged 25 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists in leading St. Joseph to the state Division I championship. He was voted by scouts as one of the top five players at the Nike/ABCD high school basketball camp.

In March, Kidd narrowed his list of schools under consideration to five--Arizona, Arizona State, Kansas, Kentucky and Ohio State.

His involvement in the NCAA’s investigation of UNLV centers on his dealings with several UNLV representatives, including former Rebel players Freddie Banks and Mark Wade, during the Jan. 31 game in San Jose, and at a party staged by relatives of former Rebel star Stacey Augmon afterward.

Kidd and St. Joseph teammate Andre Cornwell were invited to the game by Merv Booker, a volunteer assistant coach at Skyline College in San Bruno, who has coached Kidd in youth spring and summer basketball leagues. Booker said he obtained complimentary tickets for himself and the two players through his cousin, Eric Booker, a former UNLV player.

Merv Booker said his cousin did not know that Kidd would be using one of the complimentary tickets.

According to Booker, Kidd was introduced to Banks and Wade at the game by Richard Morton, the former Cal State Fullerton standout who was playing for the San Jose Jammers of the Continental Basketball Assn. at the time.

After the game, Banks, who was also a member of the Jammers, invited Kidd, Cornwell and Booker to a barbecue party given by relatives of Augmon at a nearby motel, Booker said.

According to St. Joseph Coach Frank La Porte, Kidd described his dealings with the UNLV representatives in separate interviews with NCAA enforcement representative Bob Stroup and UNLV legal counsel Brad Booke.

Calling Kidd “a victim of circumstances,” La Porte said: “It doesn’t look good for Jason to be involved in a thing like (the NCAA investigation), but the guy from the NCAA asked him, ‘Did you go to the (UNLV-San Jose) game?’ and Jason said yes. He was truthful. In fact, the NCAA guy was amazed Jason was so truthful. He said that people usually cover up.”

Booker said he also was interviewed by Stroup. “I don’t know what they’re after,” Booker said of the NCAA. “I mean, they’re just blowing this out of proportion. (Stroup) asked me if there were any coaches at the barbecue. I said no. I told him, ‘We just went by for a minute, and that was it.’ ”

Nonetheless, when the UNLV case is considered by the infractions committee, the school’s recruitment of Kidd could be a key item, if for no other reason than its place in the chain of events.

Said Williams: “ . . . I don’t think it would be the kind of thing where you’d want (the school) to be arguing ignorance (of the rules). But the impact we’re talking about would depend on the nature of the violation. People might have done things they thought were OK. Maybe they didn’t know the rules--or should have known the rules but didn’t. All those things have to be considered.”