Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 12, 1993 TAG: 9305120117
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A special investigator's report concluded Schultz knew about some of the loans; Schultz, Virginia's athletic director from 1981-87, maintains he didn't. But he will step down rather than risk tarnishing the NCAA's image.
Schultz, on a telephone conference call Tuesday, said that if he remained in office, echoes from the Virginia case would hinder the NCAA's enforcement procedures.
"Personally, I don't buy the logic, but I can see how others would," Washington and Lee athletic director Mike Walsh said.
Maryland athletic director Andy Geiger rued the loss of Schultz, who has headed the NCAA since 1987.
"I'm disappointed and sad," Geiger said. "Dick Schultz did a masterful job. He's a man of his word. To have him resign on an issue that involves integrity is almost bizarre."
The NCAA's executive committee, after reviewing the report of independent investigator James Park, had voted not to depose Schultz. That wasn't enough to keep the 62-year-old from stepping down. Had Park cleared Schultz, Geiger said, "I would think it might have come out differently."
Virginia Tech president James McComas wishes it had.
"I would not have expected him to resign, and my inclination was that he should not," McComas said. "I had anticipated he not be asked to resign, and I would have supported that."
Tech athletic director Dave Braine, who served for a time under Schultz at Virginia, praised Schultz for helping him "get along" in his career. However, Braine admitted the case's publicity would have been hard for Schultz to overcome.
"The credibility would have been very hard to re-establish," Braine said.
Big East Conference commissioner Mike Tranghese agreed.
"It probably was the best thing," he said. "We're putting people on probation, scrutinizing . . . Dick was going to take some real shots. The [enforcement] process was going to be absolutely stonewalled."
Duke athletic director Tom Butters released a seething statement to the media that said in part: "From day one Dick Schultz said he knew nothing of the loans. He spoke the truth. . . . Forty years of his honesty tells us that. And yet we, as a society, couldn't wait to see him leveled. We could wallpaper heaven and hell with the unused stories and editorials that have been prematurely written had Dick done anything other than what he did today. How sad."
Wake Forest president Thomas Hearn Jr. could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Last Thursday, when the NCAA penalized Virginia for its infractions, Hearn said, "Everything that I know about Dick Schultz suggests to me he has had nothing to hide in this whole matter. I will be surprised and certainly disappointed if Dick is not exonerated."
Virginia athletic director Jim Copeland said the school had decided to let UVa president John Casteen speak on its behalf. Casteen had no comment.
McComas said Schultz leaves the NCAA in good shape and called Schultz's unforced resignation a "classy" move. Geiger said he believed Schultz could have continued effectively as the NCAA's director had he chosen to remain.
"I think we're in an age where we deal with style points and perceptions and don't deal very well with substance," Geiger said. "The man has a stellar record, and he says he didn't know."
by CNB