Is Penders in or out at Texas?
By CHIP BROWN
Associated Press
AUSTIN - Tom Penders will not coach the Texas Longhorns next year, a source close to the university told The Associated Press Wednesday night.
Penders is considering an outside opportunity that would take him away from coaching or will be reassigned at Texas, possibly as early as Friday, the source said.
Penders has four years remaining on a five-year contract extension he received last year at roughly $550,000 per year.
Penders, the winningest coach in Texas history, said that if he's out, he hasn't heard about it.
"I have not had one phone call from (Texas athletic director) Mr.(DeLoss) Dodds, who is my boss," Penders said. "I haven't heard anything about my job status changing."
Dodds said he won't comment until the completion of an investigation by the school into the release of Texas basketball player Luke Axtell's confidential academic progress report to an Austin radio station.
Patricia Ohlendorf, vice provost and counsel to the president, said Wednesday that administration officials had not reached a conclusion to their probe, which she said would likely be completed Friday.
"When we look at policy violations and law violations, we have to look at all the surrounding information, and we haven't reached any conclusions," Ms. Ohlendorf said.
Penders is 208-110 in 10 years at Texas, including eight trips to the NCAA tournament and two losing seasons. The Longhorns were 14-17 this year.
Texas assistant coach Eddie Oran on Sunday took responsibility for releasing Axtell's grade report.
Axtell, granted a transfer release after being suspended by Penders on March 17 for academic reasons, has an attorney who says she is waiting to see how the investigation unfolds before taking legal action.
UT school officials have been investigating if Penders, who was vacationing in the Caribbean at the time Axtell's academic report was released, had anything to do with the incident.
Penders has said repeatedly that he didn't know anything about it.
"If Eddie had called me, I would have said, 'No way,' " Penders said.
Penders, however, echoed his willingness to be reassigned on Wednesday.
"As I've said many times, I have a contract that has four years remaining," Penders said. "There is a reassignment clause in there, and they could reassign me for any reason. If they want to do that, that's their prerogative.
"I love the University of Texas, and if they decided to reassign me because they wanted to make a change, I would probably work for them and raise money or whatever they want me to do," he said.
Penders said he was busy recruiting Wednesday and practicing his golf swing for a tournament he is helping sponsor this week called, "Coaches Against Cancer."
The firestorm surrounding the Texas basketball program ensued after four Texas players, including Axtell, went to the home of Dodds on March 9 to discuss their unhappiness playing for Penders.
Penders said he never heard from Dodds about the March 9 meeting with the four players. When he called the athletic director five days later, Penders said, Dodds told him he "was busy" and didn't get a chance to call.
Axtell, sophomore forward Gabe Muoneke - both starters - and Anthony Goode, a backup sophomore point guard, have indicated they will transfer.
Freshmen Chris Mihm and Bernard Smith, who also went to visit Dodds along with Axtell and Muoneke, have said they will wait to see if others follow through and transfer before deciding if they will stay or go.
On March 17, Penders suspended Axtell for academic reasons, adding that Axtell wasn't going to study halls or tutorial sessions. Axtell responded by accusing Penders of verbal abuse, lying and of retaliating against him for going to Dodds.
Oran on Sunday faxed a release, sent from a Kinko's, saying that he was responsible for sending Axtell's grades to Austin radio station KVET-AM, an apparent violation of federal laws protecting a student's privacy.
"I took it upon myself to let the local media know the truth ... I was never ordered to do this action and never discussed it with anyone until after being interviewed by the (UT) attorneys," Oran said.
Early Monday, junior co-captains Kris Clack and Chico Vazquez sent releases from the same Kinko's announcing a news conference. In the release, Vazquez's name was misspelled.
The players announced their support for Penders, then abruptly ended the session after seven minutes by refusing to answer questions about who organized the news conference.
Penders held a news conference at his house Monday afternoon after being told he couldn't convene the press on campus while the investigation was still pending.
With his assistant coaches at his side, Penders denied ever verbally abusing a player. He held a team meeting Monday night.
"It was a very good meeting, about 25 minutes long," Penders said. "We talked a little bit about everything going on, and I said if anyone would like to talk to me one-on-one that my door was open."