NCAA Fights Back, Challenges Nevada : Jurisprudence: Lawsuit takes aim at statute that requires enforcement to follow due process.

In an unprecedented move, the NCAA Tuesday filed suit against Nevada Gov. Bob Miller, Nevada Las Vegas basketball Coach Jerry Tarkanian and others over the constitutionality of a new Nevada law that regulates the NCAA’s enforcement process.

The NCAA’s action in U.S. district court in Reno challenges a statute that requires NCAA enforcement proceedings involving Nevada institutions to conform to standards of legal due process, a cause long championed by Tarkanian. The measure was signed into law by Miller, an avid UNLV booster, in April.

The NCAA hopes that its action will allow the organization to proceed with a four-year-old infractions case centering on UNLV’s recruitment of former New York high school star Lloyd Daniels.

The case, which includes charges of rules violations in more than 30 areas, was scheduled to be heard by the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions at the panel’s September meeting. Instead, the case has been moved off the committee’s agenda indefinitely because of the Nevada law.

The action marks the first time that the NCAA has sued a state.

According to Executive Director Dick Schultz, the NCAA took legal action in the matter “very reluctantly.”

Said Schultz: “The association, since it was founded in 1906, has been in court many times. But this is only the third time the NCAA has initiated legal action. We’re doing it only as a last resort.”

The suit is the latest chapter in the long-running feud between the NCAA and Tarkanian, who sued when the NCAA sought to suspend him in 1977 for rule violations.

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 to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled, 5-4, in the NCAA’s favor in 1988.

Although injunctions preventing Tarkanian’s suspension remain in force, the infractions committee has barred UNLV from postseason competition and television appearances during the 1991-92 season as a final penalty stemming from the 1977 case.

Tarkanian, who announced in June that the 1991-92 season would be his last at UNLV, is named in the NCAA’s suit because his attorney, Chuck Thompson, notified the NCAA in August that the current infractions case must be processed under provisions of the Nevada law, according to an NCAA news release.

Also named as defendants for the same reason, according to the NCAA, are Tim Grgurich, a UNLV assistant coach; Ron Ganulin, a former UNLV assistant coach, and Shelly Fischer, a former academic adviser for the UNLV basketball program.

Ganulin is the head coach at St. Francis College in Pennsylvania. Fischer remains at UNLV but no longer works in the athletic department.

The NCAA seeks relief from the Nevada statute, which contains several provisions that differ sharply from NCAA enforcement procedure, in the current infractions case involving UNLV.

“We’re unable to proceed without violating Nevada law and subjecting ourselves to legal action and significant punitive damages required by the law,” Schultz said Tuesday. “Do we process this case or do we forget about it and go away?”

UNLV officials, who have sought to deal with the case under the NCAA’s current enforcement procedure, expressed hope that the NCAA’s request for injunctive relief might bring an end to the matter.

“One thing UNLV does not need is another 13 years of litigation over issues of intercollegiate athletics and the law,” said UNLV legal counsel Brad Booke, referring to Tarkanian’s previous court battle with the NCAA.

“But UNLV does need the pending infractions case to be brought to a conclusion. We hope (the NCAA’s action) can bring the case to a close. . . . (The request for an injunction) is not the kind of issue that requires extensive fact-finding. It should move fairly quickly.”

The NCAA also seeks a determination of the constitutionality of the Nevada statute.

According to the NCAA’s reasoning, the Nevada statute:

--Violates the interstate commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution by extending Nevada law beyond the state’s border.

--Violates First Amendment rights by depriving NCAA members of their right to associate and agree on procedures uniform to all members.

--Deprives NCAA schools of their freedoms of association, contract, liberty and property without the due process of law guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.

--Unconstitutionally impairs the contractual obligations between the NCAA and Nevada schools that have agreed to abide by NCAA enforcement provisions and other rules of the association.

Three other states--Nebraska, Illinois and Florida--have also enacted measures designed to regulate NCAA enforcement procedure.

Schultz conceded that the NCAA’s ability to pursue infractions cases in those states and others that might consider such legislation would be compromised if the NCAA loses its legal challenge to the Nevada statute.