Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 27, 1990 TAG: 9007270644
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B6 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: COLUMBIA, S.C. LENGTH: Medium
All along, McCulloch said that would be the top issue the NCAA Committee on Infractions would consider when taking up South Carolina's case. He was apparently correct.
"I think they have been impressed with the institution's concern, which is demonstrated by its response to problems," said McCulloch, who helped to write the school's response to the NCAA. "It's a two-part process - control and response.
"Things will inevitably go wrong under the Murphy's Law theory and the Committee on Infractions recognizes that. They want to know an institution is going to deal with things seriously, immediately and decisively."
While the football program escaped sanctions Thursday as a result of its steroid scandal, the NCAA still has minor concerns about the oversight of the athletic department.
But there was no question the NCAA's announcement lifted a cloud hanging over the school since a first-person article by ex-South Carolina defensive lineman Tommy Chaikin in October 1988 in Sports Illustrated. Chaikin, who played at South Carolina from 1983 to 1987, wrote that as many as half the players on the 1986 team used steroids.
"I feel the weight of the world has been lifted off of my shoulders," said King Dixon, who has had to deal with the steroid controversy since being named athletic director Oct. 27, 1988.
But the infractions committee didn't let the school off scot-free.
The committee extended by six months to February the two-year probation for the men's basketball program. The extension involves the entire athletic department because it concerns a 17-point compliance and monitoring plan for all sports begun after the basketball team was put on probation in 1987.
The probation was for rule violations that included a "well-organized and well-executed scheme" in which players sold complimentary tickets to boosters.
The violations occurred under former Coach Bill Foster from 1982 to 1985. Foster, now head coach at Northwestern, resigned after the 1985-86 season and was replaced by George Felton.
The infractions committee did not levy any sanctions against the football program despite the fact that in August three former coaches were sentenced to three-to-six months in halfway houses for their part in the steroid scandal. Two of the ex-coaches were sentenced for helping provide the muscle-building drugs to players.
Moreover, the committee also was made aware that a school task force found the university's own drug-testing program was a sham - a finding that led to the firing of Bob Marcum as athletic director in March 1988.
The infractions committee mentions the steroid scandal only in passing in its report. One reason for that is many of the events occurred beyond the four-year period in which the NCAA usually investigates possible violations, said David Berst, NCAA director of enforcement.
In its report to the NCAA, the university said that it uncovered a half-dozen possible rule violations and found "widespread experimentation" with steroids from 1983 to 1987. The report found at least two coaches paid for steroids for players on four occasions. It also revealed for the first time that two former players sold their complimentary tickets.
The report also said the school determined that Marcum and head coach Joe Morrison, who died Feb. 5, 1989, knew coaches might be supplying steroids to players and did not "take appropriate action."
by CNB