Nordquist Fired in Wake of Charges : Girls’ basketball: Channel Islands High begins search for new coach following NCAA allegations he committed academic fraud as a New Mexico State assistant.

Chris Nordquist was fired as girls’ basketball coach at Channel Islands High on Thursday in the wake of NCAA allegations of academic fraud while he was a men’s basketball assistant at New Mexico State.

“We are looking for a new girls’ coach,” said John Triolo, Channel Islands principal.

Triolo would not comment on whether Nordquist still held his job as an English teacher, citing confidentiality in personnel matters.

Both Triolo and Bill Studt, superintendent of the Oxnard Union High School District, have said they did not know of Nordquist’s involvement in the NCAA probe until the allegations were made public this week.

Nordquist, 30, is in his first year at Channel Islands after working as a graduate assistant and restricted-earnings coach for six years at New Mexico State. He left the school in March after being interviewed three times by NCAA officials.

Nordquist could not be reached for comment, but his father, Al Nordquist, a dean at Moorpark College and the school’s former basketball coach, believes Channel Islands should have known about the investigation at the time his son was hired.

“He gave them references and phone numbers,” Al Nordquist said.

Nordquist said the references included Christine Chavez, New Mexico State’s president, and Neil McCarthy, the school’s head basketball coach.

“Chris had been told by the NCAA and [New Mexico State] not to talk about it,” Nordquist said. “It put him in an awkward position.”

Nordquist is concerned that his son was fired without due process.

“They are making a huge mistake,” he said. “It’s almost like a knee-jerk reaction. It is an injustice in my opinion.”

Chris Nordquist and another assistant, Gar Forman, are charged with 11 violations regarding correspondence courses New Mexico State players took from 1991-93.

Nordquist allegedly wrote and submitted eight English papers for a player and completed exams for other players.

Nordquist also has been charged with forging the names of other New Mexico State faculty as proctors during the taking of tests for the correspondence courses.

According to an NCAA letter of inquiry, Nordquist admitted that he administered all the tests in question in his office.