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Tuesday, May 19, 1998

Montford says NCAA matters have cost Tech more than $3 million

By CHIP BROWN AP Sports Writer

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Texas Tech Chancellor John Montford said Monday an internal investigation and self-imposed penalties stemming from NCAA violations committed by the athletic department have cost the school more than $3 million.

Montford told The Associated Press Sports Editors Convention that he regrets spending so much on attorneys fees - roughly $1.2 million - but said the complexity of NCAA rules required experts to do the job.

"NCAA legislation could be rewritten and much more plainspoken, but right now you have to have experts on hand to handle everything," said Montford, who took over as chancellor nearly two years ago, roughly six months after the NCAA investigation had begun.

The $3 million includes attorneys fees and an extensive internal audit ($277,000) that found four Tech sports awarded too much scholarship money and 81 athletes had competed while ineligible from 1991-97.

The school also lost roughly $1.7 million in television revenues after removing the Tech football team from postseason play last year as part of self-imposed penalties.

According to Big 12 rules, any school that decides not to play in the postseason forfeits its cut of money earned by other Big 12 schools appearing in bowl games.

The loss is a considerable chunk of Tech's $14 million annual athletic budget.

"The self-imposed sanctions were very punitive and very expensive to us," Montford said, adding that the cost of the sanctions will likely grow as the impact of less scholarships is felt.

Because of the sanctions, football will lose 14 scholarships over the next two years, baseball will lose a total of 7 1/2 through 2002 and the men's basketball team will shrink from 13 scholarship players to 11 for the next three seasons.

Men's track and golf and women's basketball were hit with lighter scholarship sanctions. All six sports, along with men's tennis and women's volleyball, also forfeited every victory in which an ineligible athlete participated.

Tech hopes to learn next month whether the NCAA will accept Tech's self-imposed penalties or add to them, Montford said.

"The NCAA has been very fair with us," he said. "They gave us ample time to present our case."

Montford said the audit probably found some violations that the NCAA wouldn't have found.

"Some may say 'Why order the audit because the NCAA wouldn't have found all that?' " Montford said. "But that's not the test. You want to get your program cleaned up to do things right."

Montford said he is proud of a self-imposed rule Tech has put in place that would prevent any athlete from competing in postseason play without having passing grades in every class each semester.

"It's our own no-pass, no-play rule," Montford said. "I have taken a beating over this rule on some of the sports talk shows. But it's not asking a whole lot to pass modestly in each class. I hope other schools will follow suit."

Montford wouldn't comment when asked if the rule was imposed because of Byron Hanspard, the former star Red Raiders running back who played in the 1996 Alamo Bowl after carrying a 0.0 grade point average his final semester at Tech.

Montford said he doesn't believe the school has suffered in terms of support and fund-raising from alumni.

"On the prestige side, it has certainly been an embarrassment," Montford said. "But some have looked at it as a rallying point. We have had a very successful 18 months of fund-raising."