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Sunday, March 29, 1998

Penders: 'Somebody's behind this'

By CHIP BROWN / AP Sports Writer

AUSTIN (AP) -- Texas basketball coach Tom Penders told a Dallas television station Friday he believes someone is trying to get him fired and he knows who it is.

In an interview with KDFW-TV, Penders blamed the current controversy swirling around his program on a man with unknown motives.

"Somebody's behind this. There's somebody talking to these kids, somebody orchestrating this," Penders said in an interview in his hotel room in San Antonio, where he is attending the Final Four. "I know who this person is, and I hope, in the end, this person will be exposed."

The university is investigating the release of a basketball player's academic progress report. The release of Luke Axtell's grades occurred after Penders suspended Axtell for academic reasons on March 17, and the freshman guard responded by accusing the coach of verbal abuse, lying and retaliation. Since then, sources have told The Associated Press that Penders is out as coach.

Asked if he thought someone was after his job, Penders said: "I don't think, I know. There is a person, and I'm not even going to say he's affiliated with the university, who is spending time in the dormitories, and he's hanging around the kids, and this is something that will come out eventually. I don't want to say names."

Penders said he "absolutely" expects to be back next season.

The university has pushed into next week the findings of its investigation into the release of the academic records.

The official conducting the school's investigation said Friday it is nearly over, but a report isn't likely until at least Monday.

Patricia Ohlendorf, vice provost and counsel to the UT president, said earlier in the week that she had hoped Friday would be the day to release the findings.

"We're not able to do that today," she said. "We'll be doing it soon. The best case scenario would be Monday afternoon."

Ohlendorf said several UT officials were traveling Friday and that made finishing her written report impossible.

A high-ranking university source told The Associated Press that Penders is out as coach, adding that if Penders doesn't voluntarily step down, he'll be reassigned. He has four years remaining on a contract that pays him $550,000 per year.

Penders is the winningest coach in Texas history with a 208-110 record and eight trips to the NCAA tournament in 10 seasons. He has said he doesn't plan on stepping down but would agree to be reassigned if that's what the university wanted.

In San Antonio along with Penders this weekend is Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds. The two have not been talking during the investigation, Dodds said, because of school policy.

On Thursday, Axtell's attorney Sherry Rasmus said the player and his family were looking for "some formal action" by the school showing that Axtell was wronged.

Texas assistant coach Eddie Oran has taken responsibility for releasing Axtell's grades to a local radio station, an apparent violation of federal law protecting student privacy.

On Friday, Ohlendorf offered an apology to Axtell and his family.

"The investigation has taken longer than we anticipated," Ohlendorf said.

"We hadn't said anything publicly except to express our concern. I wanted to go ahead say the university apologizes to Luke Axtell and his family that his grades and academic information were made public. We regret it very much."

Axtell, freshmen Chris Mihm and Bernard Smith as well as sophomore Gabe Muoneke had met with Dodds at his home on March 8 to say they couldn't play for Penders any longer.

Mihm told the The Daily Texan, the student newspaper, "We've all been left in the dark about this whole thing. None of us are really sure about what's going to happen.

"I wish this wouldn't have gotten so ugly. Luke is a good player and a good person, and all he did was stand up for himself. I feel for him."