ROANOKE TIMES 

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

DATE: TUESDAY, July 24, 1990                   TAG: 9007240098
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: GAINESVILLE, FLA.                                LENGTH: Medium

FLORIDA: CONTROLS DO WORK

Despite admitting major rules violations in its football and basketball programs, the University of Florida insists a compliance program in place since 1984 is working.

"It's like the IRS [Internal Revenue Service]," school president John V. Lombardi said Monday. "You can't prevent people from doing the wrong thing."

Florida acknowledges in an 1,100-page response to an official letter of inquiry from the NCAA that former coaches Galen Hall and Norm Sloan ran afoul of the rules. It denies, however, that infractions occurring from 1985 to 1988 demonstrated a lack of institutional control over the football and basketball programs the coaches ran.

Lombardi said documents made public Monday offer a step-by-step account of the wrongdoing and clearly show the school has appropriate checks and balances to maintain control "although from time to time people will stray from the straight and narrow."

The president emphasized that swift corrective action, including forcing Hall and Sloan to resign when violations were discovered, as well as a strong compliance program that is updated constantly, show Florida has tried to do things the right way since being placed on probation for football violations six years ago.

As a repeat violator, the Southeastern Conference school is a candidate for the NCAA's so-called "death penalty" - the temporary suspension of either or both sports.

"We don't think, if you review the evidence, that you will find any justification for the death penalty," he said.

Florida was placed on probation for two years in 1984, and the football program is still feeling the effects of scholarship restrictions imposed as part of the sanctions. The team also was prohibited from appearing on live television and barred from bowl games in 1984 and 1985.

The infractions acknowledged by the university include Hall giving improper salary supplements totaling $21,000 to two assistant coaches and the former football coach providing cash to help a player pay a delinquent child-support debt. 


 by CNB