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

DATE: THURSDAY, April 26, 1990                   TAG: 9004260027
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: OVERLAND PARK, KAN.                                LENGTH: Medium

MARYLAND'S REQUEST FOR APPEAL HEARING REFUSED BY NCAA

The NCAA Division I Steering Committee on Wednesday turned down a request by the University of Maryland to hear a quick appeal of the school's basketball probation.

The announcement came in a news conference after the spring meeting of the NCAA Council, a 46-member policy-making group for the governing body of college sports. The Steering Committee is made up of council members.

No vote was announced in the Maryland case, but NCAA President Albert M. Witte said the discussion was "extremely full and fair" and lasted more than an hour.

Witte said Maryland's case would be heard at the council's summer meeting in August in Monterey, Calif.

The Steering Committee also denied appeals by former Kentucky men's assistant basketball coach Dwane Casey and by North Carolina State player Avie Lester.

In the Maryland case, the athletic department had asked for a special meeting before the committee in May because the university said waiting until the next meeting in August would do "irreparable harm" to the school.

William E. Kirwan, president of Maryland's campus in College Park, has said the sanctions would cost the school nearly $4 million over the next two years and might require Maryland to drop some non-revenue sports.

The NCAA ruled in February that Maryland had committed recruiting violations from 1985 through 1988. The program also was cited for a lack of institutional control under former coach Bob Wade.

The NCAA imposed a three-year probation, a two-year ban on postseason play beginning in 1991 and barred the school from appearing on television next season.

Lester, a starter at N.C. State in 1988-89, appealed for an additional year of eligibility. He played last season in the first exhibition game, which made him enter the records as having begun the season as a fourth-year senior. He then sat out the rest of the season because he failed to meet the school's new academic requirements. Had he not played in the game, he would have been able to sit out the season as a redshirt.

by CNB