UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, March 6, 1996
3B
Nebraska denies recruiting violations
NCAA investigating payment allegations
The Associated Press
LINCOLN, Neb. — The NCAA is questioning Nebraska about its 1992 attempt to recruit a Nigerian basketball player, the Houston Chronicle reported.
Coach Danny Nee has denied any wrongdoing. Nee specifically denied an allegation that he sent $8,400 to a North Carolina man for his help in recruiting the African player, the Omaha World-Herald reported.
"It's not true," Nee said. "I'm not budging. I know what's right. We didn't mail any $8,400 to a guy in North Carolina."
"... You're telling me I talked to a guy on the phone who I've never met and I mailed him $8,400 in cash to bring a seven-foot African to Lincoln? I mean, c'mon," Nee told the World-Herald.
Al Papik, Nebraska's senior associate athletic director for rules compliance, acknowledged the NCAA had inquired about Nee's involvement with Ossita Nwachukwu (pronounced WA-SHOO-ku), the Chronicle reported Monday. Nwachukwu is now a senior at the University of Wisconsin.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Papik and athletic director Bill Byrne could not be reached by The Associated Press. Nee, Nebraska's coach since 1986, also could not be reached.
The Chronicle detailed a series of events during a two-month period in 1992 involving Nee, a former Nebraska assistant basketball coach and Christopher Pond, a former Peace Corps volunteer who had steered Hakeem Olajuwon to the United States.
The newspaper said Pond had called Lynn Mitchem, then an assistant Husker coach, to tout the Nigerian player.
"He said he had (a player with) size," the newspaper quoted Mitchem as saying. Mitchem said that he had talked with Pond because the Huskers were looking for a big player.
"I listened to what he had to say and passed it on to my head coach," Mitchem said. "The rest was out of my hands."
Mitchem is now an assistant at Loyola of Chicago. A message left at Loyola's basketball office Monday night was not returned.
What transpired during the next two months between Pond and Nee
According to the Chronicle, Pond claims Nee wanted him to travel to Nigeria on Nebraska's behalf and sent him cash to pay for the trip. Pond said he eventually backed out of the trip but kept the cash.
is a matter of dispute.
The newspaper reported that Papik said the school believed Nee's contacts with Pond were "within the regulations" but conceded he had been unaware of Pond's allegation regarding the money until the newspaper questioned Nee about it.
The Chronicle said Nee told the newspaper that he had discussed several African players with Pond, including Nwachukwu, but never sought Pond's help in recruiting the players or sent him money.
"We were looking for big kids anywhere we could get them," Nee was quoted as saying, "but we weren't going to do anything illegal."
Pond said he began corresponding with Nwachukwu in 1991 after learning the player was trying to come to the United States.
Pond said he had told Nee that he would be going to Nigeria and that Nebraska would have to pay for the trip, the Chronicle reported. Pond said Nee had seemed nervous but was agreeable.
Pond said two Airborne Express packets were sent to his home in
Raleigh, N.C., from the Nebraska athletic department. The payments arrived several weeks apart and totaled $8,400.
The newspaper said records for University of Nebraska overnight courier accounts, obtained by the Chronicle, indicated Nee had sent four packages to Pond's home in 1992.
Nebraska phone records showed 15 calls to Pond's home number were made from Nee's office extension or charged to the coach's university credit card between March 23 and May 26.
According to the Chronicle, Nee said Pond had talked of bringing Nwachukwu and three other Nigerians to the United States and had mentioned needing money to do it. Nee said he told Pond no funds would be provided.
Nee told the Chronicle that the Airborne Express packages sent to Pond contained recruiting information and media guides.
Papik told the World-Herald that an internal study of the matter had turned up no major violations. The study will be sent to the NCAA.
"Any allegation such as the one Mr. Pond made against us is of concern to us, but our position is that we really don't feel there is substance to it," Papik said.
CBS analyst says remark wasn't race-oriented
NEW YORK — CBS basketball analyst Billy Packer said he spoke with Rev. Jesse Jackson by telephone yesterday morning about his use of the term "tough monkey" to describe an African-American player, and he admitted that he might be naive.
The Associated Press
On Sunday, Packer used the term to describe Allen Iverson of Georgetown, and his comment immediately drew criticism from African-American leaders.
In Washington, Jackson, president of the National Rainbow Coalition, suggested that Packer's response to criticism showed him to be naive or insensitive.
Packer originally told The Washington Post he was not apologizing for what he said, because what he said had no implications to do with Iverson's race.
After his telephone conversation with Jackson, Packer said, "He gave me some good advice, and I respect him. He asked me to understand that people are sensitive, and I understand that.
"In my mind, it was an endearing comment. He brought it to my attention that some people don't think so." he said.
At the same time, he said "the word naive is probably a pretty good word" to describe him.
"I've never looked at people as
Black or white since I was a kid," he said. "I am absolutely not a racist, and anybody involved with me knows that. I apologize to anybody who is sensitive to what I said, but I'm not apologizing for people thinking that I'm a racist."
Packer made his most recent statements at a round-table discussion of CBS Sports broadcasters gathered to map out the network's NCAA tournament strategy. Both former coach George Raveling and former NBA player Quinn Buckner, both of whom are African American, were at the seminar and threw their support to Packer.
"I've known Billy since I've been at CBS, and in no way shape or form do
I think he intended that as a racist remark, "Buckner said. "I know the remark can be interpreted as insensitive, but Billy Jack is a fair man."
Raveling, who played against Packer in college, said that for "anyone to suggest Billy is a racist is a joke. There's probably nobody in this room who hasn't said or done something they wouldn't change if they had an Aladdin's lamp. Was it ill advised? Probably. We all make some mistakes along the way. I wasn't offended, just concerned."
Raveling said that in his work with the Black Coaches Association over the years, "I don't know anybody who was more supportive than Billy."
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