Washington Admits to Violations : Pacific 10: School’s response says no-work summer jobs were provided for athletes and booster improperly contacted recruits.
The University of Washington has acknowledged the accuracy of several alleged violations of NCAA rules, including summer jobs for Los Angeles-area athletes requiring little or no work, according to a report released by the school Thursday.
The acknowledgment was part of Washington’s response to a series of charges lodged against the university’s football program by the Pacific 10 Conference.
The case is scheduled to be heard by the conference’s Compliance and Enforcement Committee next Monday and Tuesday in the Bay Area. An announcement of the findings in the matter--and possible penalties--is expected by the end of the month.
Penalties can range from a reprimand to a ban on postseason competition.
The Huskies are favored to win the 1993 Pac-10 title and make a fourth consecutive trip to the Rose Bowl.
The Pac-10 initiated an investigation of the Washington program in December after The Times and Seattle newspapers described alleged impropriety involving Husky boosters and athletes. In June, the conference charged the university with rules violations in 24 areas.
The school released its response to those charges--a document of nearly 800 pages--Thursday after requests by news organizations under Washington’s public records law.
The university’s report was prepared by Mike Glazier and Rick Evrard, Overland Park, Kan., lawyers who formerly worked for the NCAA enforcement department. Glazier and Evrard were hired by the university last December to conduct an independent review of the reports of impropriety.
According to the university’s report, the two lawyers conducted more than 200 interviews with approximately 125 witnesses in 10 states. Most of their work was done jointly with David Price, Pac-10 associate commissioner.
In a letter to the four members of the Compliance and Enforcement Committee, university President William Gerberding wrote:
“In many instances, we have corroborated the findings of the Pac-10 investigation. In a few instances, we have arrived at somewhat different conclusions. . . . We have done our utmost to find out what happened, and we are determined to do everything possible to guard against such problems in the future.”
The report describes several corrective measures taken by the university, including the commitment to hire an associate athletic director for rules compliance and a system to monitor jobs arranged for athletes by boosters.
Jim Daves, the school’s sports information director, said neither football Coach Don James nor Athletic Director Barbara Hedges would comment on the case until it is resolved.
In the report, the university confirms Pac-10 allegations that several former Washington football and basketball players were paid for work they did not perform in summer jobs at companies operated by Husky booster James W. Kenyon of Los Angeles.
Kenyon, a Washington graduate, is president of a Century City real estate development firm. He previously was an executive in the L.A. office of Cabot, Cabot and Forbes, a Boston-based real estate development company.
The report states that there is “conflicting evidence” as to whether Kenyon actually arranged for the athletes to be paid for work not performed. It notes, however, that Kenyon “allowed an atmosphere to exist . . . in which the student-athletes could obtain payment for hours not worked.”
The report also acknowledges that Husky tailback Beno Bryant, the former Dorsey High player who is entering his senior season, appears to have been paid by Kenyon’s firm for hours he did not work in 1991 and ’92.
The Pac-10 began investigating Kenyon’s activities after The Times reported last December that he had routinely provided Washington football players with no-show jobs.
Kenyon last week provided the Pac-10 with a lengthy document refuting the charges and will appear before the Compliance and Enforcement Committee on Monday, his attorney, Patrick Walsh, said.
Walsh declined to make Kenyon’s response public, citing the privacy of individuals named in it.
Noting that university investigators Glazier and Evrard worked extensively with Price of the Pac-10 in preparing the school’s response, Walsh said: “The university seems to be paying $600,000 (in legal fees) to plead guilty. I could go down to the courthouse and find someone to do that for $100.”
The university’s report also confirms charges lodged by the Pac-10 that Jim Heckman, James’ son-in-law and publisher of a Seattle-based magazine devoted largely to Husky sports, had improper recruiting contacts with several athletes, including former Notre Dame linebacker Demetrius DuBose.
However, it challenges an allegation that USC wide receiver Johnnie Morton was led to believe that, had he decided to attend Washington when he came out of South Torrance High in 1989, he would have been adopted by Husky booster Herb Mead of Seattle.
Morton told investigators that Mead’s son, Clint, mentioned the adoption plan in a phone call just before the first day high school football players could sign college letters-of-intent in 1989.
According to the university report, interviews with nine individuals familiar with the matter cast doubt on Morton’s claim.
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