Weber St. Calls Foul On Itself School Orders Two Years’ Probation, Pay Cut For Men’s Basketball Coach For Ncaa Violations

Two years’ probation and a 25-percent pay cut have been ordered for Weber State basketball coach Ron Abegglen under self-imposed sanctions proposed by the school for NCAA rules violations.

Weber president Paul H. Thompson, who flanked Abegglen at a news conference Wednesday, said the coach’s penalty - yet to be approved by the NCAA would amount to $22,000 a year.

“We have not been easy on ourselves,” Thompson said. “These are major sanctions, but we feel they are justified and necessary for the success of our program.

“I’m disappointed to find this out (and) … I’m embarrassed to find coaches and athletes have broken the rules. These infractions have hurt the university.”

Abegglen has a 97-50 record with the Wildcats in five seasons. Weber lost the Big Sky Conference Tournament title game to Montana State in March after winning the tournament the previous year.

Sanctions against the coach also include required attendance at an NCAA rules compliance seminar, after which he would conduct rules-education training sessions for the rest of his staff.

“I need to apologize to the administration, family members and everyone concerned in supporting what we’ve been trying to accomplish at Weber State,” a somber Abegglen said. “We’ll just do our best from here on in. We still have a big hurdle to go with the NCAA infractions committee.”

The school’s proposed sanctions also call for not replacing assistant coach Mark Coffman, who resigned July 23. Coffman served under Abegglen for five seasons.

The NCAA last spring opened an investigation into WSU’s men’s basketball program over allegations that it had violated recruiting rules.

Charges included that Abegglen gave cash to at least one player, coaches bailed another out of jail and Coffman used the credit card of an assistant’s relative to pay a $600 bill for a player’s correspondence courses.

Under the advice of school attorney Doug Richards, Thompson and Abegglen would not discuss specifics of the allegations, pending a hearing in Atlanta before the NCAA’s infractions committee Sept. 20-21. The panel is expected to take two to six months before issuing its findings.

The committee also will consider separate reports, still being developed, by NCAA investigators, and Abegglen.

Thompson said school officials had interviewed more than 100 people as part of their probe, which found that “about 75 percent of the infractions are accurate.

“(But) it is never acceptable to break the rules. We’ve had some infractions and we want to prevent them in the future,” he added.

Abegglen agreed, though he characterized the violations as “some serious, some circumstantial and some without knowledge of breaking rules.”

Other sanctions imposed by the school included a two-year probation for the team, which will be closely monitored by rules and athletic review personnel; reduction by two of the number of expense-paid visits for prospective student athletes for one year and a one-visit reduction for the following year; limiting off-campus recruiting to one coach for the next year and not replacing Coffman for one year.

Thompson said the school also has ordered corrective actions including appointment of a full-time compliance officer, a new faculty athletics representative, a new athletic academics advisor and formation of a compliance monitoring committee.

In April, the NCAA sent Weber State a list of eight “major” allegations against the basketball program. The sanctions were drafted after Thompson met with the school’s trustees on Monday. When it meets next month, the NCAA infractions committee can accept Weber State’s own sanctions, reduce or add to them.