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

DATE: THURSDAY, May 6, 1993                   TAG: 9305060148
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

WHAT DID THE NCAA FIND?

Almost two years after Virginia informed the NCAA of possible violations involving interest-free loans to student-athletes, the NCAA Committee on Infractions will announce its findings in a news conference at 10 a.m. today.

"It's kind of a relief, relief that we will finally know something," UVa athletic director Jim Copeland said Wednesday afternoon, "but there's also a lot of trepidation because of the unknown.

"I'm just sitting here waiting [for the report]. I'm anxious to read it."

Copeland could not be reached for comment on a story circulating that the NCAA report arrived in Charlottesville early Wednesday evening. However, the NCAA has been known to notify the school only hours before a news conference, as it did when it sent a fax to Clemson's president in his office at 7:30 a.m.

"There have been only two leaks that I can remember," said Alan Williams, the UVa history professor who served as chairman of the infractions committee until September. "One involved the University of Oklahoma when a fax was sent to a local radio station by mistake."

The Washington Post on Wednesday quoted a source "familiar with the investigation" as saying the sanctions wouldn't be severe but "would be more than a slap on the wrist." Williams and others didn't put much credence in the story.

"Anybody can have an opinion at this point," said Dave Thompson, assistant commissioner and chief compliance officer for the NCAA, "but, if the source who provided the information is somebody who truly knows, then as far as I'm concerned we've got a fairly serious problem."

The public first became aware of possible violations when Virginia announced May 17, 1991, that it was forming an inquiry group. The findings of an internal probe were released in a 543-page report made public April 23, 1992.

UVa president John Casteen announced at the time that loans made by the Virginia Student Aid Foundation to student-athletes represented "clear violations" of NCAA legislation. In its response to a letter of inquiry from the NCAA, the school admitted violations in nine areas.

Casteen was among a group of 11 UVa officials who met with the infractions committee Feb. 8 in San Antonio, Texas. Preliminary indications were that a report would follow in four to six weeks, but the announcement follows the hearing by 12 1/2 weeks.

"I think the [Dick] Schultz matter accounts for the delay," Williams said.

Schultz, executive director of the NCAA, was athletic director at Virginia from 1981-87. The NCAA hired Lexington, Ky., attorney James Park to report on Schultz's involvement in the loan program.

"It's such an unusual case even without the Schultz [investigation]," Williams said. "What makes it distinct is here was somebody who was making loans and keeping records and not even thinking it was contrary to NCAA legislation."

VSAF made a total of 30 loans to student-athletes between 1982-90, although the NCAA enforcement staff has observed a four-year statute of limitations, meaning UVa could be held accountable for only the nine loans made between 1987 and the day of disclosure.

The infractions committee is not bound by the enforcement staff interpretation, "but," Williams said, "procedure would require you to inform the institution if [the statute] did not apply."

"One of the stories I read noted that it was unusual that the statute of limitations could apply to Virginia and not to Schultz, but you've got to realize there's no precedent at all for investigating the executive director," Williams said.

The Executive Committee and Joint Policy Board, the only NCAA group with jurisdiction over Schultz, is meeting this week in Monterey, Calif., where it awaits word on the Virginia case.

The loans to the student-athletes have received most of the publicity since UVa's original announcement, but they are only a small part of Virginia's response to a letter of inquiry, which dealt primarily with the payment of graduate-assistant football coaches.

The letter of inquiry also cited UVa for a lack of institutional control.

Disclosure of the NCAA report will signal the end of the case for Virginia, unless the school elects to appeal, which is unlikely.

Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.