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Friday, March 27, 1998

Penders not considering TV job, wife says

By CHIP BROWN AP Sports Writer

AUSTIN (AP) - Tom Penders' wife said Thursday her husband isn't considering a television job and that she would be shocked if the University of Texas asked him to step down as basketball coach.

A high-ranking university source told The Associated Press that Penders has been mulling a broadcasting job or being reassigned, following the release by an assistant coach of a player's grade report to a radio station.

Penders won't be back as coach at Texas next year, the source said, adding that if he doesn't decide to leave voluntarily, he'll be reassigned within a few days.

Four years remain on a five-year contract extension Penders received last year that pays him roughly $550,000 per season.

Penders, at a charity golf tournament in San Antonio that he helped organize to raise money for cancer research, declined to comment Thursday.

"I don't have time," Penders said. "I'm here for the cancer deal."

But Penders' wife, Susie, said in an interview that she was unaware of any possible TV job.

"That is always something that many people in the media industry have told him he would be great at when he was ready to retire from coaching," she said. "He has many network contacts ... But he loves coaching. That's who he is."

Susie Penders said she would be stunned if the university would oust her husband, the winningest coach in Texas history with a 208-110 record, eight trips to the NCAA tournament in 10 seasons and three conference championships.

"I would think unless there was a valid reason, the university wouldn't have any interest in removing him from a job he has done so well," she said. "I would be shocked if someone asked him to voluntarily step down from a job he loves to do."

Yolanda Chevannes, mother of Vohn Hunter, a Texas signee and one of the top high school players in New York City, said her son probably would reconsider if Penders wasn't the coach.

"Coach Penders came to our home in the Bronx, and Vohn just fell in love with him," Ms. Chevannes said. "We got a sense of family from him and his coaching staff. If Coach Penders isn't there, I don't think my son would want to go there."

The high-ranking university source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, cited Penders' confrontational stance surrounding UT's probe into the release of freshman guard Luke Axtell's academic progress report.

The fact that four starters went to the home of Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds on March 8 and said they no longer wanted to play for Penders also was a major factor in deciding the coach should go, the source said.

"It wasn't just one player, it was four players," the source said.

Penders and his attorney, Roy Minton of Austin, who has been in discussions with UT officials conducting the investigation, said Wednesday that they were both unaware of any move to oust the coach.

Dodds' office on Thursday reiterated that the athletic director won't comment until the completion of an investigation into the release of Axtell's academic progress report, an apparent violation of federal law protecting student privacy.

Texas assistant coach Eddie Oran earlier this week said he released Axtell's grade report.

Patricia Ohlendorf, vice provost and counsel to the president, said no conclusion to the probe had yet been reached and that no findings would be made public until Friday, at the earliest.

While Dodds declined to comment on the investigation, he did attempt Thursday to clarify a statement by Penders, who said that Dodds didn't contact him in the days after meeting with the four players privately on March 8.

"Several players asked to meet with me individually after we met as a group and asked me not to tell coach until we had met," Dodds said. "I kept my word to the players.

"I told them that once we had met individually, I would tell coach everything they said. I told them individually to go see coach and tell Tom the same things they were telling me.

"I contacted Tom as soon as I finished meeting with the players individually," Dodds said.

In the past 18 years, Penders has taken teams to the postseason 15 times - five NIT berths at Fordham, an NIT and NCAA berth at Rhode Island and eight NCAA berths at Texas.

The Longhorns were 14-17 this year.