Powell Says He Was Odd Man Out for Waves

Ron Powell says a lot of promises were made by Pepperdine basketball coaches when they recruited his son, R.J., three years ago. Now he wants to take delivery.

Upset that R.J.’s injury-plagued career at Pepperdine ended when the player relinquished his scholarship in April, the elder Powell says he plans to formally ask the school to pay for the completion of his son’s education at the college of his choice.

“I’m going to get with President [David Davenport] and present my case,” Ron Powell said. “I don’t think [R.J] was treated right.”

If his request is denied, Powell says he will consider legal action.

The Powells allege that Pepperdine failed to adequately monitor R.J.’s academic situation and that basketball Coach Lorenzo Romar discouraged the 6-foot-2 guard from returning for his junior season, even if he improved his grades.

R.J. said he became ineligible after the spring semester when his grade-point average fell below the 2.0 mark required for athletic participation.

The Powells also question the medical treatment R.J. received at Pepperdine for a chronic back problem that has jeopardized his playing career.

“What really perturbs me about this whole thing is they preach all this good stuff: ‘We’re going to treat him like one of our own. We’re going to make sure he graduates,’ ” Ron Powell said. “All of this was promised to me. Then none of it happened.”

Because of possible litigation, Pepperdine officials were reluctant to discuss specifics of the Powells’ charges. Romar declined comment.

Athletic Director Wayne Wright said Powell’s scholarship was not renewed because he “did not meet the academic rules set up by the NCAA, and Pepperdine’s standards.”

Powell was one of three Pepperdine players who left the basketball program in April, at the end of the spring semester.

Reserve forwards Eric Griffin and Billy Jones said their departures were based on mutual decisions with Romar, but Powell, a part-time starter last season, said he reluctantly withdrew from school after a bleak picture was painted by Romar.

“He told me he didn’t see me as one of his 13 [scholarship] players next season, even if I got my grades up,” Powell said. “He just wanted me out of there.”

Ron Powell suspects Romar wanted to free up a scholarship by getting rid of a player whose future was clouded because of a recurring back injury. Since Romar took over the program after the 1995-96 season, five players have left Pepperdine for various reasons and five players have transferred to Malibu from four-year colleges.

Coming off three consecutive losing seasons, the Waves have been tabbed one of the favorites in the West Coast Conference in a preseason coaches’ poll, based on an influx of key transfers.

But was Powell’s departure the result of an ambitious coach looking to strengthen his team, or the consequences of a student’s weak study skills?

Wright dismissed Ron Powell’s contention that R.J. was marked for failure by the coaching staff.

“We’re not going to do those things,” he said. “That’s absurd.”

Wright pointed out that Pepperdine graduates 79% of its athletes, compared to 69% for the entire student body, and places a great emphasis on academics.

“We have a special person who works with all the athletes,” Wright said. “We have about 200 athletes and we won’t have but four or five at the most not making it academically in any one year,” he said. “That infers that we’re doing a pretty good job.”

Ron Powell, however, believes his son’s schoolwork may have been hindered by the effects of taking anti-inflammatory drugs prescribed by Pepperdine doctors to treat the player’s back injury.

“I had a problem with that,” the elder Powell said. “I didn’t know he was taking medication and trying to do his schoolwork.”

After a promising freshman season, Powell injured his lower back in a pick-up game at Pepperdine in the summer of 1995. The injury forced him to use a redshirt year, but through physical therapy and rest he recovered sufficiently to open last season as a starter.

His playing status changed after his back stiffened on the team’s flight to Syracuse for a tournament in December. After that, he was in and out of the lineup, depending on his physical condition. A shoulder injury later in the season increased his time spent on the bench.

Powell, who played in 106 consecutive games as a four-year starter at Carmel High in Seaside on the Monterey Peninsula, fears his playing days are over because he is facing back surgery.

Dr. Mark Howard, an orthopedic spinal surgeon in Monterey, says the chances of Powell playing college basketball again are “less than 50%” because of degenerative disks and a congenital spine condition.

He has advised Powell to seek other medical opinions regarding his condition, but acknowledged that disk surgery is an option.

Ron Powell said after a course of medical action is chosen, he will take his complaints to Pepperdine.

“I want them to be aware of what R.J. has gone through,” he said.