Arrest Rattles Compton Sports Empire

Two weeks ago, Compton’s Russell Otis was arguably the best high school basketball coach in the country. His Dominguez High boys’ teams have won four state championships in five years. His most recent squad earned the mythical title of “national champion” in newspaper rankings. And this season promised another title and, perhaps, a college coaching job.

On Saturday, when practice officially begins, Otis, 38, will be elsewhere. He has been on paid leave since his arrest last week by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department on suspicion of sexual assault, sodomy and oral copulation with one of his players.

No charges have been filed. Otis has denied any wrongdoing, he has not been arraigned and he is not in jail. Sheriff’s detectives, as they commonly do with sex abuse allegations, are now searching for other alleged victims, lawyers close to the case say. And the family of the 17-year-old senior who complained has hired attorney Johnnie L. Cochran Jr.’s firm to represent him.

Leonard B. Levine, the coach’s lawyer, said: “The coach adamantly denies any wrongdoing with this child, or any other child. It’s not our desire to try this case in the press, but when false stories come out, we feel it necessary to respond.”

The criminal investigation and a possible civil suit by the player could threaten more than Dominguez’s chances for a championship and Otis’ career. Whatever the ultimate conclusion, the scrutiny puts at risk a Southern California powerhouse, a basketball factory that has produced players for universities such as Georgetown, Kentucky and UCLA.

The reach of that franchise extends far beyond Compton. The story of the Dominguez program involves, in ways large and small, the National Basketball Assn. and the most recognized shoe and apparel company in the world.

“There is just so much at stake in this. It’s mind-boggling,” said Diane Prince, a mother of two sons who have played for Dominguez. She thinks the coach is innocent. “This program and Coach Otis are the top of the high school basketball world right now. This is about much more than a basketball team.”

It’s about civic pride. “Next to the Williams sisters and rap music, the Dominguez basketball team is the best thing to happen to Compton,” the Los Angeles Sentinel, a leading African American newspaper, once declared. After the team’s national championship this spring, city officials hosted a victory ceremony. Mayor Omar Bradley presented each player his own pro-style championship ring.

In town, the players are treated like diamonds, “like the Lakers,” said a former city councilman, Fred Cressel. Only the Dons, as any fan can tell you, had a better decade.

At the 2,000-student high school, where the team’s triumphs have been a bright spot, reports of Otis’ arrest have drawn a defensive response. Teachers and students have closed ranks around the legend, refusing to say much.

School administrators so far have declined to release a team roster, a schedule or Otis’ salary. A Channel 2 TV news crew that sought comment from students last week was chased out of the campus parking lot by a group of instructors and students.

“It’s a lie,” student Gustavo Reynoso, 15, said later at the homecoming football game.

“Everyone knows it’s a lie,” echoed classmate Juan Organista, also 15. “Kids make things up.”

The team may be in gritty Compton, its boosters say, but it is not of Compton. The Dons and their coach have soared above. This year, as many as seven players are 6-foot-6 or taller. And in his search for talent, Otis taps a pool of well-known players from across California who are willing to transfer.

Among those transfers this year was the 17-year-old senior who made the accusations. He left a school in another city to play for a program with ties to top-level college basketball.

Otis “is our John Wooden,” said school board Vice President Basil Kimbrew, comparing the Dons’ leader with the legendary UCLA coach. “People know Otis by his records and reputation. But who knows what to make of this?”

The coach, who declined interview requests, grew up in Compton and has spent his life in basketball. After starring at Dominguez himself, he played at Southern Utah University and earned a degree in criminal justice. At age 23, he returned home to Compton in 1986 to coach at his alma mater.

He molded teams far more gifted and aggressive than any he had played on. His defense relentlessly pressured the ball full-court. He played his reserves extensively. In his second season, Otis won the CIF Southern Section title in his division. In 1996, he won his first state title.

Those victories brought attention and money that allowed Otis to leverage his success. He developed friendships with dozens of college coaches who recruited his players. Five years ago, Nike, which sponsors about 130 elite U.S. high school teams as a way of marketing its shoes and shirts, signed a contract with the school to provide footwear and uniforms. And the shoe company gave Otis a consultant’s contract.

Under that arrangement, Otis is paid to travel to about 10 camps and tournaments around the country for elite players. At those events, he can look for top players from all over the country--one player on last year’s Dons was a transfer from New York. And he has scheduled games against the nationally ranked teams of other Nike consultants--matchups that put Dominguez in USA Today’s national rankings.

“Players will come from all over to play for Russell,” said Todd Irving, principal at Compton’s Centennial High and Otis’ college roommate. “He is one of the best coaches in the country. And parents like him because he insists the kids do their homework.”

Players from different cities and schools presented Otis with an unusual challenge. Otis, who is married and has a 12-year-old son, has let some players live with him as they relocate to the district or deal with family problems. His recruits inhabit a tight social circle. Parents say the team bowls together, watches movies together and sometimes spends evenings at the coach’s townhouse in nearby Carson. Many say Otis is a strong African American role model.

“He’s a caring person, and I admire him for staying close to his kids,” said Gorgonio Sanchez Jr., a school board member. “But in this day and age, when a teacher or coach . . . spends a lot of time with his students, you are likely to attract suspicions.”

As usual, Otis kept his team together this summer for tournaments and other games. The Dons looked formidable. Senior center Tyson Chandler, a likely first-round pick in next year’s NBA draft, who moved from San Bernardino to enroll at Dominguez in 1997, was the star. With Chandler gone next year, Otis told friends, he might move up as well and seek college coaching opportunities.

One of Dominguez’s new players was a 17-year-old senior. But Randy McMurray, the boy’s lawyer, said the youngster told his family that he wanted to transfer back to his old school. After relatives pressed him for a reason, the 17-year-old described sexual contact with the coach, the lawyer said.

On Oct. 31, the boy’s uncle, enraged, went to Dominguez and demanded to speak with Athletic Director Willie Donerson, according to lawyers for both sides and a school district official. The uncle complained that Otis “had been messing” with his nephew, according to Levine. Donerson pledged to look into it, and called the coach in. Donerson and Otis then went to the boy’s home, where they talked with the uncle, mother and grandparents, lawyers for both sides agree.

What was said, however, is in dispute. The boy’s lawyer maintains that Otis pleaded with the family not to report the abuse. But Levine, the coach’s lawyer, says the boy denied any sexual encounters with Otis and accused his family of pressuring him. The boy said the coach had, on one occasion, made him uncomfortable by asking if he had ever been with another man, Levine said.

The conversation broke off around 5:30 p.m. The next day, both lawyers say, the family took its story to the sheriff.

On Nov. 2, sheriff’s detectives moved quickly to arrest Otis. At their request, he was brought into the Carson station by the Compton school police chief. He refused to be interviewed and was released on $100,000 bail. The school district immediately placed him on paid administrative leave.

Sheriff’s investigators say they are examining allegations of two incidents of sexual contact involving the 17-year-old during September and October.

The boy’s lawyer says that Otis used promises of cash, cars and a credit card to win the boy’s trust. “The coach and the young man seemed to have spent an inordinate amount of time together at the coach’s residence,” McMurray said.

Levine said there were no such lures. He argued that the player wanted a transfer for his own reasons and made the allegation only after Otis opposed it.

In the days since the arrest, Otis’ coaching colleagues from Nike camps and colleges voiced their disbelief of the allegations and their support for the coach. Closer to home, his friends spun out theories that Otis was being set up by unscrupulous pro agents or jealous competitors. According to one popular explanation, Otis might have gotten in the way of agents who want to sign Chandler if he decides to bypass college and turn pro. By destroying Otis, the theory goes, such agents might be trying to free Chandler from his control.

Levine echoes this view. “The coach is concerned as to why such accusations would be made,” the attorney said. “Did anyone put him up to it?”

The coach’s accuser is no longer attending Dominguez. He is undergoing psychological counseling, his lawyer said.

With Otis out, his three assistant coaches are officially running the team. But the coach retains considerable power. He continues to talk with his assistants and players, friends say. Nike, aware of the arrest, is maintaining his contract.

“We at Nike have always had a policy of innocent until proven guilty,” said communications manager Eric Oberman. “And certainly, with the long-standing relationship we’ve had with Coach Otis and Dominguez, we support the coach and his family, the school, the athletes and the community.”

Local prosecutors consider Otis’ lawyer, Levine, a formidable adversary. During the O.J. Simpson murder case, he commented on the tactics of Cochran and others for television. He also was the defense attorney in the 1980s Twilight Zone cases and the lawyer for the doctor accused of killing Doris Duke. Both Levine and the boy’s lawyer expect any investigation to last weeks.

“I think they will find that these allegations have come out of nowhere,” Levine said.

If Otis is cleared, district officials would be obliged to take him back. Players and parents say they would like to see him return.

“I want to play for him. I think the world of him,” said Chandler, the probable future NBA player, on homecoming night. “I don’t know what we would do if this doesn’t go away--I’m trying not to think about what could happen to the program.”