NCAA Drops Its Sentence on Fullerton

Cal State Fullerton, which hasn’t had a winning men’s basketball season since 1993, suffered another setback Thursday.

The NCAA put Fullerton on probation for four years and restricted the school from giving scholarships to community college transfers for three years for alleged infractions by the program in 1993 and ‘94, when Brad Holland was head coach.

The NCAA also reduced by two the number of scholarships Fullerton can offer each of the next two years.

“These were serious violations and they call for a severe penalty,” said David Swank, chairman of the NCAA Division I infractions committee.

The school is considering appealing the length of the probation and the length of the recruiting ban on community college players, Athletic Director John Easterbrook said.

Fullerton, however, imposed several of the penalties on itself after its own investigation. Fullerton voluntarily reduced the number of scholarships in the program from 13 to 11. The school also reduced the maximum number of official recruiting visits in the 1998-99 and 1999-2000 school years by two, from 12 to 10, which was also accepted by the NCAA.

Swank said the committee increased by one year the community college recruiting sanction over what Fullerton had recommended. The committee decided against a ban on postseason play.

“We knew that the program was deficient, and that we needed to bring it up to a full level of compliance,” Easterbrook said. “We think we have things in place now that will assure that. We’re very happy that they didn’t do anything on postseason tournament eligibility. That way, our players and coaches have something to compete for.”

Easterbrook said the school has 15 days to file an appeal.

“We’ll take the weekend to consider the possibilities, but we suggested something shorter for not recruiting junior college players, and that’s a concern to us,” Easterbrook said. “ We don’t want to have the program be deficient for too long. But we want to evaluate the full report before deciding anything about an appeal.”

According to the committee report, prospective players received “assistance in registering and paying the costs of correspondence courses,” and “assistance in course registration and payment of tuition costs” at community colleges.

The report also alleges “improper cash payments, lodging, transportation and other benefits.”

The NCAA report said an unnamed assistant coach paid a portion of the tuition costs for two prospective student-athletes to enroll at community colleges other than the ones they were attending.

The report said the committee also found violations related to providing excessive entertainment and extra benefits. The report alleges that members of the men’s basketball coaching staff purchased tickets to professional athletic events and other forms of entertainment and provided them to student hosts and prospects from 1992-93 through 1997-98.

Swank said the committee cited a failure on the part of Holland and former athletic director Bill Shumard to “adequately monitor” the program, but no sanctions were imposed on them. Shumard resigned at Fullerton in 1994 and is now athletic director at Long Beach State. Holland left Fullerton after to become head coach at the University of San Diego.

Bob Hawking, the Titans’ current head coach, will be required by the university to attend NCAA regional compliance meetings for two years and then conduct a seminar for his assistant coaches.

Hawking also is restricted from off-campus recruiting through Nov. 30 of this year. Easterbrook said that restriction was self-imposed by the university because of “some secondary violations that came up” during Fullerton’s own investigation.

The committee report says that in late May of 1993, “an assistant men’s basketball coach who is now the head coach facilitated two prospective student-athletes enrollment at one of the junior colleges by completing both of their applications for admission.”

The report also said the same coach “in an effort to expedite (a) student-athlete’s receipt of his associate of arts degree. . . .coordinated a charge card payment for the overnight mail costs associated with having the student-athlete’s official transcript sent” from one community college to another in August of 1993. That cost, the report said, was approximately $11.50.

The players allegedly involved were Darren Little, Winston Peterson, Danny Robinson and Jerome Washington. Little, Peterson and Robinson transferred to Fullerton from community colleges. Washington also planned to transfer but failed to qualify. Little played one season, but failed academically and was not readmitted. Peterson and Robinson completed their college careers at Fullerton.

Easterbrook said Hawking’s status as head coach was unaffected. Hawking has one year remaining on his contract.

Hawking declined to answer questions about the case but issued the following statement:

“Cal State Fullerton has cooperated with the NCAA and its enforcement staff throughout this prolonged investigation. While we disagree with many of their findings, there is consolation that this exercise is finally over. There is a strong consensus that the penalties assessed are much more severe than warranted.”

In addition to Hawking, Holland’s other assistants for the 1993-94 season were Chris Brazier and George Tuttle. Brazier resigned under pressure from Holland after Holland’s final season at Fullerton. Brazier has said he was contacted by NCAA investigators regarding the case and cooperated.

Tuttle remained on the staff when Hawking took over as head coach, but resigned in May of 1997, six months after the school announced that the NCAA had begun a preliminary inquiry of the men’s basketball program. Hawking said at the time Tuttle resigned to enter private business.

DIANE PUCIN

The NCAA’s punishment of Cal State Fullerton is too harsh.

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Other run-ins with the NCAA:

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