DuBose Suspended for First 2 Games : Football: NCAA penalty against Notre Dame linebacker marks first-ever such sanction for the Irish.

The NCAA has suspended star linebacker Demetrius DuBose of Notre Dame for two games because he received improper benefits from a Seattle couple with ties to the university, Notre Dame Athletic Director Dick Rosenthal announced Tuesday.

Rosenthal said the university accepts the ruling, made by the NCAA eligibility staff, and will not appeal to the NCAA Eligibility Committee.

The suspension, which will sideline DuBose for the Irish’s season opener Saturday against Northwestern at Chicago’s Soldier Field and their Sept. 12 home game against Michigan, marks the first time Notre Dame or one of its athletes has been sanctioned by the NCAA.

On two previous occasions, in 1953 and 1971, Notre Dame was publicly reprimanded by the NCAA, but the school was not subject to NCAA sanctions then or since, until Tuesday.

Notre Dame announced Aug. 20 that it had declared DuBose, a senior all-American candidate, ineligible, pending a ruling by the NCAA eligibility staff, because of unspecified NCAA rules violations.

The school’s announcement came the day after The Times reported that the NCAA had scrutinized a variety of gifts, including a large cash loan, provided to DuBose by a Seattle couple connected to Notre Dame. DuBose grew up in Seattle, where he attended Bishop O’Dea High School.

The Times identified the couple as Grant E. Courtney, president of the Western Washington Notre Dame Alumni Club, and his wife, Rose, a former Notre Dame admissions officer. Courtney, a Seattle attorney, received his law degree from Notre Dame.

The Times also reported that the NCAA was checking a $25,000 automobile loan with unusual terms that DuBose obtained earlier this year from a Seattle bank.

In a statement Tuesday, Rosenthal said: “The university acknowledged, and the NCAA found, (DuBose’s) relationship with Grant and Rose Courtney to be in violation of NCAA rules, specifically a $600 loan and other extra benefits.”

The statement did not describe those benefits.

NCAA rules prohibit representatives of a school’s athletic interests from providing athletes with benefits not available to the school’s student population in general.

Although the question of DuBose’s eligibility has been resolved, Notre Dame may still face institutional sanctions in the matter. Such sanctions, which would be decided by the NCAA Committee on Infractions and could take months to determine, can range from a reprimand to a ban on postseason competition.

Rosenthal made his statement after Notre Dame received informal notification from the NCAA late Tuesday afternoon of the decision to suspend DuBose, university spokesman John Heisler said. The school expects to get written notification of the decision today, Heisler said.

Janet Justus, NCAA director of eligibility, could not be reached for comment.

DuBose is a two-year starter for the Irish. He led the team in tackles last season with 127 and is considered a leading candidate this year for both the Butkus and Lombardi awards, given annually to the nation’s top linebacker and lineman/linebacker respectively.

“We won’t have Demetrius for the first two games, and those are two important football games,” said Notre Dame Coach Lou Holtz, who relegated DuBose to a limited role in practice this week as the NCAA eligibility staff considered the matter. “But the decision has been made. Notre Dame honors that decision.”

Holtz praised DuBose for being “very honest and forthright” in dealing with the NCAA inquiry and added: “In Demetrius’ mind, I’m convinced he doesn’t think he did anything wrong.”

Rosenthal, in his statement, offered a similar line of reasoning.

Noting that Grant and Rose Courtney befriended DuBose before he was recruited by Notre Dame, Rosenthal said: “Their relationship was born from the Courtneys’ interest in Demetrius’ academic development, and we can see how it was possible for the Courtneys and Demetrius to have made an error in judgment.”

Rosenthal confirmed that the NCAA looked into DuBose’s car loan, but said no impropriety was found.

The loan calls for DuBose to make a single “balloon” payment in January, 1993, according to a source familiar with the case. Another source confirmed that DuBose obtained a $25,000 auto loan with a one-year term from U.S. Bank of Washington in Seattle earlier this year.

Such a note would allow DuBose to pay for the car after the 1992 season, when he would, under NCAA rules, be able to receive advance payments from a sports agent.

The Seattle Times, quoting an unidentified source close to DuBose, reported that he purchased a new Nissan Pathfinder with a no-down payment loan. According to the newspaper, DuBose obtained the loan by convincing the loan officer that he would repay the loan when he became a professional football player.

Under NCAA rules, a college athlete loses his amateur standing if he uses his athletic reputation, skill or “pay-back potential as a professional athlete” to obtain preferential treatment, benefits or services.

In his statement, Rosenthal said: “(DuBose) did not market his professional earnings potential in obtaining (the) loan.”

Asked late Tuesday night to elaborate on the circumstances surrounding the car loan, Rosenthal said by phone: “This matter is really a personal matter between Demetrius and his bank. I don’t have authority to talk about his personal finances.”