Infraction by UCLA Raises Questions

One supposedly harmless phone call has resulted in a secondary violation for a school already in the midst of a three-year probation, and opened an avenue of questions about the extent and depth of contact between UCLA basketball recruits and the Dodgers.

The background: Dodger General Manager Kevin Malone left a message last month on the answering machine of high-profile Bruin recruit Jamal Sampson of Mater Dei--a mishap triggered when UCLA Coach Steve Lavin gave him Sampson’s number instead of youth coach Pat Barrett’s. On Monday, UCLA Athletic Director Peter Dalis issued a statement, acknowledging such contact was a recruiting violation, and indicated Lavin would probably receive a letter of reprimand.

Lavin’s contract gives the school the option to fire him for violations “of a significant or serious nature or cumulatively significant or serious nature.” While UCLA officials consider a letter of reprimand the appropriate punishment in this instance, the school has acknowledged a rule violation occurred, and the contract allows the school to fire him, even in the absence of a major violation, should a series of similar infractions occur.

Lavin has not committed any other violations in his tenure as head coach, UCLA spokesman Marc Dellins said.

The Pacific 10 Conference was notified of the incident, and NCAA officials confirmed they were aware of the situation. Additionally, Lavin apologized for his actions at his weekly news conference.

Barrett is not a stranger to Bruin controversy. When the Bruins were put on three years probation in the spring of 1998, one of the incidents listed by the NCAA Infractions Committee was a 1995 national title ring given by then-coach Jim Harrick to Barrett, said to be worth $200.

Malone has more recent links to UCLA, mainly by virtue of his close friendship with Lavin. Last summer, Malone brought a group of basketball recruits to Dodger Stadium during batting practice and introduced them to UCLA graduate Eric Karros, Gary Sheffield and other players, according to Times staff writer Paul Gutierrez.

Malone was raving about the basketball players to the reporters. Gutierrez said he joked with Karros about recruiting for the Bruins and Karros laughed.

Lavin said Monday he was unaware of any recruits going to Dodger Stadium as part of a recruiting trip. Dodger senior vice president of communications Derrick Hall was asked if recruits went to games.

“It’s something done in the past, people just taking in a game, but it wasn’t for recruiting purposes,” he said. “It was not a recruiting thing.”

One of the incidents that combined to put the Bruins on probation in 1998 involved several potential recruits receiving tickets to Laker games paid for by their player hosts. The probation lasts until April 30, 2001. When it was announced, NCAA officials said if any violations are discovered to have taken place from May 1997 through April 30, 2001, UCLA will fall under the terms of the “repeat violator” provision. Typically, if further violations are found during this window, postseason berths, scholarships and TV appearances could be affected.

“UCLA appears to be handling this in exactly the right manner,” NCAA spokesperson Wally Renfro said. “They’ve taken the proper steps and investigated and passed the information along to the appropriate channels.”

*

Staff writer Bill Shaikin contributed to this story.