Wednesday, March 6, 1996 Page 7
Mitch Sherman
Nee deserves
an opportunity
to douse fires
Danny Nee took center stage
Tuesday afternoon in a room that
has served as a platform for more
Ilian its share of bad news and sol
emn coaches over the past few
months.
Nee fought hard to protect the
integrity of a basketball program
under fire, defending himself
against claims that if proved true
would certainly cost him his job.
On Monday, the Houston
Chronicle, which ranks among the
nation’s most reputable newspa
pers, told the story of Christopher
Pond, who has hurled momentous
allegations in Nee’s direction.
Accordingto Pond, he was given
$8,400 by Nee in the spring of
1992. With that money, Pond said
he was instructed by Nee to bring
Osita Nwachukwa to Lincoln.
That s totally incorrect, Nee
said. “That never happened. Pe
riod. There’s no doubts about that.
There’s no questions about that. It
just didn’t happen.”
If what Pond says is true, Nec is
gone. Athletic Director Bill Byrne
confirmed that Tuesday without
blinking an eye.
In a year of turmoil on and off
the Comhusker hardwood, this has
the potential to be the worst blow. It
could become the biggest disaster
in the history of the Nebraska Ath
letic Department.
But Nee deserves a chance.
In fact, he deserves more than
just a chance.
On one side of this story, we
have Nee, Nebraska’s coach of 10
years. In that time, he has graduated
almost all of his players and never
has been proved guilty of a single
NCAA violation, all while recruit
ing athletes to battle in one of the
most competit ive con ferences in the
country.
Nee s teams have had their short
comings. But that is no reason to
believe he gave thousands of dol
lars to some guy from North Caro
lina who is a sel f-proclaimed coach
of Nigerian basketball players.
Pond’s story may be true. In all
likelihood, however, it is not. Why
did Pond wait four years to tell his
scandalous story of Nebraska bas
ketball to a newspaper in Houston?
“We don’t have a dam tiling to
hide,” Byrne said. “There isnoproof
of anything.”
No athletic department money
could have been given to Pond in
1992 without showing up on audit
records. Byrne said the audits were
clean, leaving one question.
Why would Nee — or some
booster—spend $8,400 ofhis own
money to lure an unknown player
never seen by a coach in the United
States?
Until the answer to that question
is known, Nee shouldn’t have to
worry about Pond. The coach and
his embattled team deserve a chance
to simply play basketball.
Sherman Is a Junior news-editorial
major and the Dally Nebraskan sports
editor.
Nee denies recruiting allegations
By Trevor Parks
Senior Reporter
Danny Nee will lose his job as
Nebraska’s basketball coach if a North
Carolina man can prove that Nee gave
him more than $8,000 to lure a poten
tial recruit to Lincoln, Athletic Direc
tor Bill Byrne said Tuesday.
If Nee did anything in violation of
NCAA rules to entice a player to come
to Lincoln, Byme said, according to
Nee’scontract, he would bcdismissed.
All ofthis came to light after aMonday
article in the Houston Chronicle.
Nee denied the allegations in the
story, in which Christopher Pond of
Raleigh, N.C., said he received $8,400
from Nee to bring Osita Nwachukwu,
a Nigerian basketball player, to Lin
coln to play basketball for the
Comhuskers.
uWe can’t figure out any way that Danny Nee or
any of our booster clubs would have been able to
provide that amount of cash in any form. ”
BILL BYRNE
Nebraska athletic director
Pond said he originally contacted
former Nebraska assistant Lynn
Mitchem in 1992 and told him about
Nwachukwu and three other African
players. Mitchcm then passed the word
on to Nee, and Nee got in touch with
Pond. That is when the trouble began.
According to the newspaper, Nee
offered Pond $8,400 in cash to bring
Nwachukwu to the United States. Nee
said he did not give Pond any money.
“I’ll tell you now, that is totally
incorrect,” Nee said. “That never hap
pened. Period. There’s just no doubt
about that. There’s no question about
that. It didn’t happen.”
Nee said Pond wanted money so lie
could go to Nigeria, but Nee refused to
pay for the trip.
An internal audit conducted by UNL
supports Nee’s statement that he didn’t
give money to Pond, Byrne said.
“We can’t figure out any way that
Danny Nee or any of our booster clubs
would have been able to provide that
amount of cash in any form,” Byrne
said.
Byrne said Nee also would allow
the university to check the coach’s
personal bank records.
“That’s a heck of a lot more than
Danny Nee takes home in a month,”
Byme said. “That’s a lot of money,
and that just doesn ’t make any sense to
me.”
Pond received four Airborne Ex
press packages from Nee over an eight
week period in the spring of 1992. Nee
said media guides, newspaper clip
pings and information about admis
sion to Nebraska were included in the
packages.
See NEE on 8
Jay Calderon/DN
Wyoming shortstop Ron Cincera dives back into first base as Nebraska first baseman Jason Fry
takes a pickoff attempt Tuesday afternoon at Buck Beltzer Field. Nebraska and Wyoming spin
the doubleheader.
NU splits
pair with
Wyoming
By David Wilson
Staff Reporter
A crowd of less than 40 people
showed up to see the Nebraska base
ball team split a doubleheader with
Wyoming in 30-degree weather at
Buck Beltzer Field Tuesday afternoon.
The Comhuskers won the first game
4-1 and the Cowboys took the second
game 8-1.
“The elements didn’t bother them
as much as they bothered us,” Ne
braska coach John Sanders said. “They
obviously played better than we did.”
The split moved Nebraska to 4-11
on the season. Wyoming is now 7-6.
Nebraska junior rightfielder Francis
Collins singled to open the first game
and advanced to third on sacrifices
from freshman Corey Miller and se
nior Matt Meyer. Collins scored on a
grounder by senior outfielder Mel
Motley that went between the legs of
Wyoming third baseman Lawrence
Norris.
See SPLIT on 8
Patton is
named as
CU coach
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Colo
rado interim basketball coach Ricardo
Patton was hired to coach the Buffa
loes on a permanent
basis Tuesday.
Patton, elevated
from assistant coach
to interim head
coach on Jan. 16
following the resig
nation of Joe
Harrington, guided
the Buffaloes to a 4
8 record in 12
“Over the past seven weeks,
Ricardo’s approach to the job and the
way the players reacted to him were
very impressive,” Marolt said. “He
has the team playing hard and believ
ing in themselves. We’ve gotten better
and better every game.”
Initially, Marolt said he hoped to
hire a permanent coach by mid-March.
When it became apparent Patton was
his choice, Marolt waived the forma
tion of a search committee.
“It’s something you dream about,”
said the 38-year-old Patton, who is in
his third season at Colorado. “I’m not
one to make promises, but I will prom
ise you this. We will no longer be the
team that everybody expects to beat.”
Big 8 teams fight for bids
By Vince D'Adamo
Staff Reporter
With Selection Sunday less than
one week away, as many as four Big
Eight teams are still jockeying for
position to earn
at-large NCAA
r n a mre n t
* ,
into
’s
Big Eight Tour
nament, Kansas
and Iowa State
are locks to make
Qomns/in thc 64-team
Sampson field Al 17_n
with an 8-6 conference record,
Oklahoma’schancesarcgood. Kan
sas State and Oklahoma State are
on the bubble, and Missouri prob
ably needs at least two moire wins,
league coaches said this week.
Since the NCAA Tournament
field expanded to 64 teams in 1984
85, every Big Eight team that has
finished at least 7-7 in league play
with 17 or more Division I wins has
made the NCAA Tournament.
Every year since 1985, the Big
Eight has sent at least three teams to
the tournament. In 1992 and 1993,
six conference schools qualified.
The league has sent five teams three
times, four schools four times and
three teams twice.
This weekend’s Big Eight Tour
Final Big Eight Standings
Team Conference Overall
Wins Losses Wins Losses
■■■■■■■' t
Iowa State 9 5 20 8
Kansas State 7 7 16 10
Missouri 6 8 16 13
Colorado 3 11 9 17
nament in Kansas City, Mo., fig
ures to play a major role in deter
mining which teams advance.
Nebraska, called the best sev
enth seed in the nation by Okla
homa coach Kelvin Sampson, is
16-13 overall and 4-10 in the con
ference. The Huskers’ only chance
to make the NCAA Tournament is
to win the conference champion
ship, which they did two years ago.
“I’m a company man,” said
Sampson, whose third-seeded
Sooners beat Kansas on Saturday
to improve their record to 17-11
and 8-6. “I hope the Big Eight gets
as many teams as possible. We’re a
hot team right now. I think we should
be in the tournament.”
Missouri, Oklahoma’s first
round opponent Friday, is 16-13
and 6-8. The Tigers have advanced
to the second round of the Big Eight
Toumamentsixofthepast lOyears.
Coach Norm Stewart said he knew
his team would have to do some
damage if it hoped to squeeze into
the NCAA Tournament.
See BIG 8 on 8
Patton
games.
