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The Battalion
Page 3 • Monday, June 9, 2003
Newnham: Washington should fire coach
Neuheisel on ropes after gambling allegations
By Blaine Newnham
KRT CAMPUS
W hat if it had been one of
Washington's players caught
wagering in a high-stakes pool
on the NCAA men's basketball champi
onships?
Instead of its coach.
The player, even though he hadn't
paid attention when counseled about
the dangers of gambling, even though
the pool had nothing to do with ille
gal gambling, even though he played
football and not basketball, would
lose his eligibility.
Rick Neuheisel is about to lose his.
The NCAA will make a big deal out
of this even if many, including
Neuheisel, are shocked that it is.
Jack Sikma, the former Sonics great,
said he also was involved in the neigh
borhood auction pool on the 2002
NCAA basketball tournament.
"It was a kind of office pool, just
another way to go about it," Sikma said.
"I don't think any of us thought it was
inappropriate. We were just having fun.
"I'm totally stunned. I hate to see
Rick hurt by something like this."
He will be.
The NCAA is more concerned about
gambling in college athletics than it is
about recruiting violations. Its punish
ments have been swift and harsh.
A year ago, Florida basketball player
Teddy Dupay was declared ineligible
for his final season for gambling on col
lege sports.
A year before that, an assistant foot
ball coach was fired and suspended
from college coaching for two years
after he repeatedly gambled $200 to
$300 on college and pro games.
A head coach such as Neuheisel, and
especially someone already under
NCAA sanctions, will be treated at least
as sternly.
You can understand Sikma's confu
sion, and his compassion for a friend.
When does an office pool become
something sinister? It isn't illegal in this
state, it isn't run by the mob. It's just rich
guys having fun.
But when the money bet on a team is
in the thousands, which it apparently
was, when one college coach bets on
another college team, when inside infor
mation could be important, when play
ers could be influenced, then the NCAA
gets involved big time.
To his credit, Neuheisel didn't try to
sidestep the issue. Or lie about it. He
admitted involvement in the pool in
2002 and again this year. But the lat
ter came after the NCAA had sanc
tioned him and his university president
had told him to walk the straight and
narrow.
Even his boss, athletic director
Barbara Hedges, admitted last night
that he should have known the NCAA
rules, which don't differentiate
between organized gambling and an
office pool.
"You can't minimize this," Hedges
said. "The university will take this
seriously. I do believe Rick should
have understood the rules. He just did
n't relate them to the particular situa
tion he was in."
It shouldn't have escaped Neuheisel
that there is no office pool in the UW
athletic department for NCAA basket
ball tournaments.
Hedges might not have to decide
whether this is the straw that breaks her
coach's back, the culmination of prob
lems that began in Colorado and embar
rassingly followed him at Washington.
The NCAA may give her no option
but to find a new coach. Washington
can't conduct a program with a coach
who is suspended for a season or two.
Or would want to, given Neuheisel's
regrettable track record.
For many, the casual betting among
friends is less embarrassing to the uni
versity than Neuheisel's decision earlier
this year to lie about his interview with
the San Francisco 49ers.
But it all adds up, from the begin
ning when he didn't understand the rules
about when he could and couldn't
recruit athletes, to what may well be the
end, when he didn't realize that he
shouldn't be gambling on college sports.
He was more thoughtless than arro
gant about the rules this time, but the
stakes got so much higher when gam
bling was involved.
Hedges said all Neuheisel had to do
was ask for an interpretation if he was
confused about rules. He never asked
about gambling. Neuheisel seemed per
fect for college coaching, his ability to
relate to kids, his passion for the game
and all that surrounded it.
In the end, one mistake might take
him down, but it was an attitude, an
arrogance, that put him in the position
to take the fall.
RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION
What will Hedges do?
She seems to have no choice but to
fire Neuheisel, and, at this late date,
move to either replace him with offen
sive coordinator Keith Gilbertson, who
has head-coaching experience, or go
after another link to the past, Gary
Pinkel, the Missouri coach.
If she doesn't act, the NCAA will.
’Stros extend win streak to seven, Rangers lose again
Wagner collects team-record 200th save
HOUSTON (AP) — Billy Wagner set the
Astros’ record for saves and promptly thanked
Todd Jones.
“When I first came up, they wanted me to
start,” Wagner said. “If it hadn’t have been for
Todd Jones going on the DL that
year, 1 might never have gotten a
chance to close. Thanks to Jonesy
for getting me started.”
Wagner pitched a one-hit ninth
inning Sunday that completed
Houston’s seventh straight win, a
three-hit, 2-1 victory over the
Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
It was his 200th save, one more
than Dave Smith’s previous team
record.
Wagner made 72 starts in the
minors, but wasn’t all that interest
ed in starting.
“I tried to talk them out of it
when they first said I’d start,” he
said. “They told me it would be good for me to
work on my curve. But I never enjoyed starting. I
couldn’t stand that.”
Wagner has 19 saves in 20 chances, converting
his last 15 opportunities.
“He is, to say the least, a tremendous closer,”
Astros manager Jimy Williams said. “He’s a
standup guy who accepts responsibility for what
ever he does. Maybe that’s why he’s so good as a
u
He wants to be
out there with the
game on the line.
Thafs what it
takes to be an
outstanding closer.
closer. He’s like an everyday player. He wants to
be out there when the game is on the line. That’s
what it takes to be an outstanding closer.”
Tampa Bay was surprised by a slick pickoff
move Wagner made to throw out pinch-runner
, Jason Tyner for the second out of
the ninth inning.
“Wagner is slow to the plate, so
if you can read him right you, can
steal some bases,” Devil Rays
manager Lou Piniella said. “He
just didn’t read him right.”
Tim Redding (4-4) allowed one
run and two hits in seven innings,
struck out five and walked one,
retiring his final 18 batters. He has
won three straight starts.
Houston’s Geoff Blum was 2-
for-3 and drove in the go-ahead
run. The Astros matched their
longest winning streak this season.
Tampa Bay took the lead for the
third straight day. Rocco Baldelli singled in the
first, stole second and scored on a throwing error
by shortstop Jose Vizcaino, who was trying to
complete a double play on Travis Lee’s grounder.
Houston, which had six hits, went ahead in the
second when Lance Berkman doubled, Orlando
Merced tripled and Blum hit a sacrifice fly.
Astros second baseman Jeff Kent made a leaping
stab to catch Marlon Anderson’s liner in the sixth.
99
Texas loses ninth straight to Expos, 2-1
— jimy Williams
Astros head coach
By Josh Dubow
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Brad Wilkerson
made sure the Montreal Expos would leave San
Juan in a much better frame of mind than when
they arrived.
Wilkerson’s second run-scoring double broke a
tie in the eighth inning and helped the Expos send the
Rangers to their ninth straight loss, 3-2 Sunday.
The Expos started their 22-game trip away
from Montreal with eight losses in nine games,
including two blowouts against Anaheim in San
Juan. They finished their second Puerto Rican
homestand with four straight wins — all after los
ing All-Star Vladimir Guerrero with a herniated
disc in his back.
“It’s good to turn it around after such a disas
trous start to the road trip,” manager Frank
Robinson said. “We still have a lot of work to do.
But we’ll enjoy the off-day.”
The powerful Rangers were held to two runs
over their final 16 innings at cozy Hiram Bithorn
Stadium and are on their longest skid since also
dropping nine straight in June 2000. Texas fin
ished its road trip 2-10.
“We have an off-day to regroup and to think
about what is ahead of us,” Rangers manager
Buck Showalter said. “It was a long trip that was
not good for us. I’m very disappointed.”
GONZALEZ
The Expos went 10-6 in their first two trips to
San Juan, with the final six games coming in
September.
Despite the low-scoring finale, there have been
63 homers in the 16 games in San Juan and an
average of I 1.6 runs per game
compared to 7.9 in Montreal’s
other games.
Trailing 2-0, the Expos came
back to win the game in the
eighth innings.
The Rangers went ahead in
the fourth with consecutive
longballs that probably wouldn’t
have been out of any other major
league stadium.
Carl Everett and Juan Gonzalez both hit drives
to right-center for Texas’ fifth set of back-to-back
homers this season.
Gonzalez, playing in front of his home fans,
got a standing ovation, and the sellout crowd of
18,001 chanted his nickname, “Igor! Igor!” until
he took a curtain call and blew kisses to the fans.
Gonzalez moved within one RBI of Orlando
Cepeda’s career record for Puerto Rican natives.
But he couldn’t break the mark here as he struck
out in his final two at-bats.
“It was a dream to play in front of the home
crowd here in Puerto Rico,” Gonzalez said. “Even
when you try your best, sometimes you fall short.”
NEWS IN BRIEF
Texas A&M football
players in trouble
Texas A&M Head football
Coach Dennis Franchione
announced Friday that junior
linebacker Randall Webb has
been suspended indefinitely.
Franchione said that Webb vio
lated team policy but did not
elaborate on if or when Webb
could return to the team.
Franchione also said junior
defensive lineman Brandon
Johnson is ineligible to play for
the Aggies due to academics.
"It is unfortunate when these
things occur," said Franchione in
a statement released on Friday.
"We will move forward with the
players who are eligible to com
pete."
Webb had seven sacks and 61
tackles in 12 games last year.
Johnson recorded just seven
tackles and one sack in 2002.
Spurs beat Nets, 84-
79, lead series 2-1
EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ. -
Out of the Jersey swamps
emerged a horrific sight, a game
so ugly it was almost frighten
ing. They called it Game 3.
On a night that featured the
lowest-scoring first half in the
history of the NBA Finals, the
San Antonio Spurs didn't really
care how morose it may have
looked.
They took control of the game
with a 14-2 run to open the
fourth quarter, putting them
back in charge of the series with
an 84-79 victory Sunday for a 2-
1 lead in the best-of-seven
series.
Tim Duncan had a night that
was nothing too special by his
standards, scoring 21 points
with 16 rebounds — the 15th of
which was most crucial.
Qlniiieftsitij Simme
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9/tesenfs
IMMANUEL & HELEN OLSHAN
TEXAS
World Tour!
MUSIC
"(Russian icons' 1
FESTIVAL
Chamber Concert
JUNE 1 - JUNE 28, 2003
MOORES SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF
OF MUSIC HOUSTON
Monday, June 9, 7:30pm
Bush Conference Center
TICKETS!
845-1234
Chamber music of Russian composers,
performed by TMF artist/faculty, including
cellist Vagram Saradjian and mezzo-
soprano Katherine Ciesinski. Featuring
Tchaikovsky's great string sextet. Souvenir de
Florence, songs by Shostakovich, and more.
Student $5 - Regular $10
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