Northridge Coach Is Indicted in Drug Case

The women’s basketball coach at Cal State Northridge has been indicted on charges of conspiring to distribute at least 50 grams of crack cocaine in Omaha, the FBI announced Wednesday.

Michael J. Abraham, who has coached the team since 1995, was taken into custody without incident Tuesday night at a gymnasium on the university campus.

Dressed in the same gym trunks and jacket he was wearing when arrested, Abraham appeared before a federal magistrate Wednesday afternoon and was ordered released on $100,000 bail.

He now faces extradition to Omaha for trial.

Law enforcement sources said Abraham’s arrest was an outgrowth of a two-year investigation into drug trafficking by Omaha’s street gangs.

So far, more than 20 people have been arrested in the probe by a task force of FBI agents and members of the Omaha police street gang unit.

Omaha has long been fertile ground for Los Angeles-based drug traffickers.

“Cocaine is very expensive here,” said Omaha police gang investigator Kevin Donlan. “You can make a lot of money by bringing it here from L.A. A kilo of cocaine that sells for $12,000 in Los Angeles can be resold in Omaha for $25,000.”

At the Northridge campus, Abraham’s players were stunned.

“I couldn’t believe it. It sounds like someone you’d see on the street, not your coach,” said freshman Leah Rice. “He’s the best coach I’ve been around. He makes us all feel at home. We go to his house and spend time with his family. We all baby-sit his daughter. His wife is wonderful. She cooks for us.”

Sarah Bell, a senior last season, said, “It doesn’t sound like it could be him. It’s very surprising.”

Federal authorities in Omaha declined to say how Abraham came under suspicion and gave few details of the case, except that his alleged involvement in the conspiracy ended in January 1997, when investigators seized $53,000 in cash from a suspect at Omaha’s Eppley Airfield and 3 kilograms of cocaine at Burbank Airport.

U.S. Atty. Tom Monaghan said he will seek Abraham’s extradition to Omaha to face trial on a single count of conspiring to possess and sell crack cocaine. The charge carries a penalty ranging from 10 years to life in prison.

Abraham was placed on paid administrative leave after his arrest. He was about to begin his fourth season as Northridge’s coach, a job that pays $67,000 a year. Once considered one of the worst teams in NCAA Division I, the squad has improved marginally under his stewardship, going 14-14 last year.

Judith Brame, an athletic program administrator, was named interim coach while Abraham remains on leave. She headed the search committee that recommended hiring Abraham.

“We did a thorough search and there was nothing that came up in his history,” she said.

School athletic administrators met with team members Wednesday afternoon. Afterward, the players issued a statement that said:

“We feel like we lost a member of our family. We are all shocked, but we need to remain focused on our goals and the things that Coach Abraham wants us to accomplish. This is just another obstacle we have to overcome. We believe in our hearts he will be back, coaching our program.”

Before coming to Cal State Northridge, he was an assistant coach at Cal State Long Beach and Oregon State.

He and his wife, Trisonya, have two children, including one who was born this month. Reached at home, Trisonya Abraham declined to comment on her husband’s arrest.

Times staff writers Fernando Dominguez, Eric Sondheimer and David Wharton contributed to this story.