Ex-Hawai'i man part of Neuheisel's defense
Advertiser News Services
Rick Neuheisel's legal team is pinning a key part of its case on a former graduate assistant coach who alerted investigators to gambling on the NCAA basketball tournament by Washington football assistants.
However, Washington athletic director Barbara Hedges said yesterday it doesn't matter what Ikaika Malloe told anybody because he gave conflicting statements.
One of the next steps in Neuheisel's tug-of-war against the NCAA and his former employer will center on the credibility of Malloe, who told investigators he organized NCAA basketball pools in the Washington athletic department in 2001 and 2002 and identified assistant football coaches who took part.
Malloe was an All-State player and 1992 graduate of Kamehameha Schools.
"Mr. Malloe did not have to come forward. No one would have ever found out," attorney Bob Sulkin wrote in Neuheisel's 38-page response to a Pac-10 investigation released yesterday.
"However, he stated that he could not live with himself," Sulkin wrote. "And if he had to lie to keep his job as a coach at an NCAA institution, he would rather coach in high school."
Malloe, now a coach at Western Illinois, was a graduate assistant from 2000-02 under Neuheisel, who was fired last summer for participating in high-stakes pools on the NCAA basketball tournament.
Hedges announced disciplinary action yesterday against 12 athletic department employees, including new head football coach Keith Gilbertson and compliance officer Dana Richardson, for participating in college basketball pools.
The actions were included in the university's response to the Pac-10 investigation.
The NCAA has said all gambling by athletes, coaches and administrators is against its rules. Neuheisel, who is suing the NCAA and Washington over his firing, didn't take part in any of the football office pools, Sulkin said.
Gilbertson and four assistants received letters of admonishment for participating in $5 basketball pools in 1999.
A Pac-10 compliance enforcement committee can accept Washington's corrective actions or recommend others.
VOLLEYBALL
• Stanley leads U.S.: The U.S. men's volleyball team rallied past winless China yesterday at the World Cup in Tokyo.
Clay Stanley had 25 points for the Americans, who won 23-25, 25-20, 25-20, 25-19. Team USA raised its record to 2-1.
Twelve teams are competing in the round-robin tournament, with the top three advancing to the 2004 Athens Olympics.
Stanley, a Kaiser High and University of Hawai'i alum, scored 18 points on attack, four on blocks and three on serves.
