Sacked for a Big Loss : Washington is punished harshly, and rightly, for football infractions

The University of Washington will pay a high price for infractions in its football program. But the punishment imposed by the Pacific 10 Conference is warranted. Let it stand as a warning to every player, and especially to overenthusiastic team boosters, that breaking the rules won’t be tolerated.

The Huskies won’t make a fourth consecutive trip to the Rose Bowl no matter how well they play this year or next. The team is barred from postseason competition for two years. The university will also lose an estimated $1.4 million in revenue from televised football games. The Pac-10 also limited the school’s football scholarships and recruiting budget.

The team’s biggest loss is the resignation of head coach Don James, the longest-serving football coach in the Pac-10. Investigators never challenged his integrity, but James quit in response to the tough punishments imposed without the possibility of appeal. While James can claim ignorance of the wrongs done, they occurred on his watch and thus were his responsibility.

Among the infractions, first made public in The Times, was a fan’s loan of $50,000 without collateral to one prominent player. Several other players got paid to do nothing at “jobs” arranged by team boosters.

Washington admitted the infractions after conducting its own extensive investigation. The university also cooperated with Pac-10 investigators. And, without waiting to be ordered to do so, university administrators also aggressively strengthened the school’s oversight of the football program.

But the university’s actions, though laudable, did not persuade the Pac-10 conference to be lenient. That is consistent with past Pac-10 sanctions against USC, UCLA and other schools caught breaking the rules in recent years. Pac-10 officials believe they must hold member schools to higher standards than even the National Collegiate Athletic Assn., and, surpassed only by the Ivy League and some individual schools, they have done so consistently. For an athletic conference made up of some of the most respected public and private universities in the West, that is exactly as it should be.