Cover-Up Alleged at Colorado

Police authorities investigating an alleged sexual assault by Colorado football players and recruits have testified in sworn depositions that UCLA strength and conditioning coach E.J. “Doc” Kreis improperly helped some of the players cover up their involvement.

Kreis was the strength coach at Colorado at the time of the incident on Dec. 7, 2001. In his own deposition, taken in October at UCLA, Kreis denied doing anything more than telling one player to “tell the truth and get an attorney.”

Kreis was fired in April after 10 years at Colorado. Neither he nor Colorado Coach Gary Barnett would divulge the reason.

However, Kreis acknowledged in his deposition that he allowed Colorado athletes to fulfill court-ordered community service hours by lifting weights at the on-campus training facility, a practice conducted without the approval of Barnett or Athletic Director Dick Tharp.

Four Colorado players pleaded guilty in 2002 to contributing to the delinquency of a minor -- two recruits -- in connection with the sexual assault allegations. At least two fulfilled their sentence of community-service hours through the weightlifting program. Kreis wrote and signed notes to the court to that effect.

No sexual assault charges were filed against the Colorado players and recruits who admitted to having sex with a woman in her apartment after drinking large quantities of alcohol. The woman is suing the university, accusing it of violating her civil rights. The incident has recaptured headlines in recent days, because eight depositions prompted by her suit have been made public. They include those of Kreis, Barnett and two Boulder Police Department officers who investigated the alleged assault.

Boulder County Dist. Atty. Mary Keenan said in a deposition that Colorado’s football program has used sex to entice recruits, an allegation that Barnett and Colorado President Betsy Hoffman vigorously denied. The governor of Colorado and several state lawmakers have called for an investigation, and Keenan said she might rekindle the investigation into the players’ behavior.

Kreis’ role undoubtedly would come under additional scrutiny. A Boulder police officer said in a deposition that Kreis was “the point of contact for possible situations with athletes” at Colorado.

One officer testified he approached the apartment of a player to conduct an interview into the sexual assault allegations, the player quickly telephoned Kreis, then refused to cooperate.

Another officer testified he met with Kreis and a player four days after the incident and that Kreis pulled the player aside and gave him advice.

In the deposition, Kreis said he knew little about the incident, spoke to no one about it and believed the players had been found innocent of all charges. His only advice to players, he said, was to seek legal counsel.

“I tell all of them to get a lawyer, anybody,” he testified. “Anybody walks down the street, I tell them to get a lawyer.”

Kreis said that his “community outreach program” involved more than weightlifting, that athletes also fulfilled community service hours by walking people around the athletic facilities and instructing and demonstrating weight training.

Kreis, who did not return a phone call Wednesday, twice has been named national strength and conditioning coach of the year. Colorado players expressed disappointment when he was fired, and he is extremely popular with UCLA players.

During an interview with The Times the week of Colorado’s game against UCLA last fall, Barnett was asked whether he could explain why Kreis, 51, had been fired.

“No,” he said. “I will say that Doc Kreis is a person I really admire. I really like him as a person. That’s about all I can say.”

However, Barnett said in his deposition that the weight-training component of the community-service program was inappropriate.

UCLA administrators say that before hiring Kreis, they knew nothing of the community-service program and were not aware of allegations that he helped players under investigation.

The search for a strength and conditioning coach was conducted by a committee that included Athletic Director Dan Guerrero and associate athletic directors Betsy Stephenson and Glenn Toth.

Guerrero attended a University of California Regents function Wednesday night and was unavailable for comment, but a UCLA spokesman said one of the committee members spoke with a Colorado administrator and was told only that Kreis and Barnett had philosophical differences.

UCLA assistant football coaches Jon Embree and Eric Bieniemy also were on the Colorado staff at the time of the incident, but neither has been asked for a deposition.