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Monday, August 26, 2002, 01:23 a.m. Pacific
UW Men's Basketball
Washington under scrutiny: NCAA checks out basketball recruiting
By Bud Withers
Seattle Times staff reporter
Coaches at the Division I basketball programs in eastern Washington will be interviewed today by NCAA officials regarding allegations of recruiting violations by Lorenzo Romar's new staff at Washington.
Gonzaga Coach Mark Few was to meet with two
NCAA officials this morning in Spokane, followed several hours later by a meeting between the officials and Ray Giacoletti of Eastern Washington. As time permits, the NCAA staffers will gather with Paul Graham of Washington State.
All three coaches are upset over what they allege to be multiple instances of illegal contacts by Romar's staff, particularly assistant coach Cameron Dollar, during "quiet" or "dead" recruiting periods.
Romar, the former Huskies guard hired in April to succeed the fired Bob Bender, told ESPN.com yesterday, "This is unbelievable."
Later, UW released a statement quoting Romar as saying, "We look forward to telling our side of the story. We're going to cooperate with the NCAA enforcement staff as they look into these allegations."
Among several specific allegations of misconduct by the Huskies is that the Huskies attended practices at Rainier Beach High School in June during a quiet period, in which coaches cannot recruit off campus.
Rainier Beach is the home of the highly regarded Stewart twins, Lodrick and Rodrick, who told the Seattle Times on Saturday night they planned to attend Washington as freshmen in the fall of 2003, before reversing themselves last night and announcing for USC. The NCAA will likely be looking into whether there were irregularities in Washington's recruitment of the twins.
For the Huskies, it's a bit of distasteful déjà vu that they experienced some 3-1/2 years ago. A month after football coach Rick Neuheisel took the job, several members of his staff were found violating an NCAA "quiet" period.
UW Athletic Director Barbara Hedges said last night she had been out of town until this weekend and had only sketchy information.
"I have absolute and complete confidence" in Romar, she said.
Coaches at North Carolina and Arizona State are also known to be concerned about the alleged violations. North Carolina was represented in an open-gym workout of highly regarded prospect Marvin Williams of Bremerton when Dollar is alleged to have had a 45-minute conversation with Williams' mother, which would be improper under NCAA rules.
"Outside of paying guys," one coach told the Times, "this is the most serious thing you can do. I've never seen anything like this before. It's out of control."
Some coaches consider potential illegal contacts egregious because a coach can establish an early relationship with a prospect that may be meaningful during the recruiting process.
ESPN.com quoted Robert Lowden, coach of the AAU Gary Payton Pinnacle All Stars Elite, that several schools, including Washington, attended practices during quiet periods, "viewing us when they shouldn't have been." That team practiced at Rainier Beach.
Another allegation involves junior-to-be Josh Heytfelt of Clarkston, who told ESPN.com Dollar was in his eastern Washington town 10 days ago when he was working out. Heytfelt didn't confirm whether Dollar witnessed the workout.
The father of a committed recruit to Gonzaga, junior David Pendergraft of Brewster, told ESPN.com Dollar called to confirm the Pendergrafts' address. The senior Pendergraft said Dollar was "feeling me out to see how committed we were."
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