Gophers Subject of Probe

It was a grim group of Minnesota Golden Gophers who showed up at Key Arena in Seattle on Wednesday. Try as they might, there was no way to put a happy face on a burgeoning scandal.

The St. Paul Pioneer-Press reported in its Wednesday editions that Jan Gangelhoff, a former office manager in the academic counseling unit, did term papers and take-home exams for 20 Gopher players from 1993-1998, including four players on this NCAA tournament team.

Coach Clem Haskins, who denied in the story knowing anything of Gangelhoff’s allegations, said little Wednesday at his mandatory NCAA tournament news conference.

“The investigation going on is being conducted by the university and they are doing a great job with that,” Haskins said. “When you hear things like this, you have to nip it in the bud right away and our administration is doing a great job with that. We are going to leave it to [the administration].”

University officials said it is possible that four players on the Minnesota team that is seeded No. 7 in the West Regional and is playing No. 10-seeded Gonzaga today will face suspensions before game time.

Two of the players--seniors Miles Tarver and Kevin Clark--are starters. Clark had suffered a seizure on the team flight from Minneapolis to Seattle on Tuesday and Haskins had said it was the third seizure in 3 1/2 weeks that Clark had endured. The seizures have been a lifelong problem for Clark, but they reportedly had been under control by medication until recently.

According to the Pioneer-Press story, Gangelhoff provided computer evidence of her claims that she did more than 400 pieces of work for Minnesota players. Four former players backed up Gangelhoff’s story.

Tarver claimed to know nothing of the Pioneer-Press story or reports that he might be suspended from Thursday’s game. “As far as I know,” Tarver said, “I’m playing.”

Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura loudly criticized the timing of the Pioneer-Press story. “It couldn’t have waited until after the tournament?” Ventura asked. He also blasted the newspaper for “ruining the enjoyment” of the players in the tournament.