
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 6, 1990                   TAG: 9003062254
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: COLLEGE PARK, MD.                                 LENGTH: Medium

MARYLAND WILL APPEAL

An appeal is planned by the University of Maryland over penalties it considers too severe against its men's basketball program.

The NCAA imposed a two-year ban on postseason play and three years of probation against the basketball program, but Maryland president William E. Kirwan accused the NCAA of failing to account for Maryland's cooperation with the investigation and the school's previously unblemished record.

"Because we feel so strongly that the sanctions imposed are more severe than our infractions warrant, we intend to appeal several of the penalties," Kirwan said during a news conference Monday.

Maryland must officially notify the NCAA of its appeal within 15 days. School officials will use that time to decide which sanctions will be contested, Kirwan said.

For current coach Gary Williams, who left Ohio State to accept the job at Maryland, the ban on postseason play is a bitter pill.

"I knew Maryland was going to have some sanctions against them coming in. So I took a bit of a risk in coming here," Williams said Monday. " . . . I'm a big boy. You have to live with the good and the bad, and there is a lot of good here. The guys who are playing for me now, the support of the students and the school, we've got it going here and we're going to keep going."

Maryland was cited for a lack of institutional control over the program which was found guilty of 18 rules violations during the three-year coaching tenure of Bob Wade.

The Terrapins will be barred from the 1991 and 1992 NCAA tournaments and will also be prohibited from appearing on national television next season, which apparently will prohibit the team from competing in the 1991 Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

Maryland must also return $407,378 in earnings from the 1988 NCAA tournament, in which the Terps advanced to the second round.

"The [NCAA Infractions] Committee imposed all but the most minor of the prescribed sanctions," Kirwan said. "And, it went beyond the prescribed penalties when it imposed a second year prohibition from postseason play and a third year of probation. . . .

"One is left to wonder how the sanctions could have been substantially different if we had repeated violations, been uncooperative, and failed to take decisive actions."

by CNB