Download Suggested Headline

STEP CAREFULLY IN ATLANTA, BARBARA
Thursday, March 28, 2002
Section: Sports
Edition: Final
Page: D1 BY ART THIEL P-I COLUMNIST
AS THE FINAL FOUR approaches, it just wouldn't be college basketball without
some sort of scandal to trick up the joint.
Word of warning to Barbara Hedges: Step lightly in Atlanta. Slime is everywhere.
At almost the same time that the Washington athletic director fired coach Bob
Bender, the University of Michigan, long proud of its tradition of athletic integrity,
took a big dip in the goo when a U.S. attorney charged that former Wolverines star
Chris Webber received $280,000 from a booster who was indicted on federal
gambling and money-laundering charges.
The government claims the money was part of $616,000 paid to Webber, now
starring in Sacramento, and three other Michigan players by Ed Martin, a retired
Ford electrician, from 1988-93.
While his old school twists in the wind - the shame was such that Michigan officials
considered, but decided against, removing their Final Four banners from campus Webber has said little, other than he doesn't want to talk about it. His former
Michigan coach, Steve Fisher, now at San Diego State, was playing equally dumb
on an ESPN2 interview Tuesday.
Asked whether he knew what was going on, Fisher would not answer directly,
instead insisting that, "I have always run my programs with integrity and honesty."
So that would leave only one other explanation - ignorance of a sort usually found
in amoebas.
How a kid from the projects can pocket $280,000 without his coach taking notice
stretches credulity beyond the skills of the finest crafters of Pinocchio's nose.
But that's what most college coaches must master - hiding the truth. It's what
Hedges must consider as she listens to the coach-hunt rhetoric this week at the
Final Four.
Fisher's non-denial denial came up around the same time that one of Hedges'
candidates, Missouri's Quin Snyder, reversed himself even before he had a
chance to interview. After telling one reporter that he made a promise to stay at
Missouri, he recanted the next day, saying he has a rule to never make promises,
and was given permission to talk with Hedges.
While Snyder, a former Mercer Island High School star who played four years at
Duke, is a popular choice among some in Seattle, his image in the college coaching
fraternity is somewhat less popular.
Snyder is a longtime friend of one of the more controversial figures in the game,
Atlanta attorney Bret Bearup. College fans here with long memories may recall that
Bearup was a sophomore forward on the Kentucky team that was part of the
rousing 1984 Final Four at the Kingdome.
In recent years, Bearup, 38, has become a financial advisor to a number of NBA
stars, including Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Elton Brand and Nick Van Exel.
He also has created a secondary job for himself as a peddler of top high school
talent to high-profile college programs. The dubious enterprise used to be the
province of AAU coaches such as the since-jailed Myron Piggie of Kansas City,
Mo., and various shoe-company sleazoids.
But Bearup has no business affiliation with shoe companies. Neither is he a certified
agent nor a booster of a specific school. So he slips between the cracks of
whatever minimal regulation exists in this basketball middle earth.
The three big-time coaches closest to the Bearup pipeline are said to be
Cincinnati's Bob Huggins, Florida's Billy Donovan and Snyder. Huggins and
Donovan have long been nearer the Tarkanian end of the coach-conscience scale,
although the length of that scale is much shorter than most Division I coaches care
to acknowledge.
"I would say Bret, in a very intelligent, innovative way, has carved a niche in doing
something nobody else had done," Donovan told a reporter recently. "With the way
the rules are set up right now, he is somebody who has developed a relationship
with kids over a long period of time. Once they get out of school, he's going to
represent them, invest money for them."
Said Bearup: "I pride myself on my knowledge of the game, and of players who
have what it takes to get to the top level. It's just good business sense to identify
those people early."
Every summer, Bearup's company takes 10 top high school players on a trip to
Europe. The gig has NCAA approval, but his critics charge that he uses the trip to
point players toward his favorite coaches, figuring that he will benefit by increasing
his client base once the kids go pro.
Sporting News, in its annual listing of sports' 100 most influential figures, puts
Bearup on a list of 12 up-and-comers who might soon arrive on the list.
Since Bearup is beyond NCAA regulation and has never been charged with
anything, friendships with him can hardly be considered a crime.
But linkage with Bearup will certainly signal an entirely different approach to
basketball than anything Washington has done before. The Huskies may well be on
the ragged edge of a seamy sport, where tournaments and trouble often go hand in
clandestine hand.
Ask Michigan.
If Hedges is prepared to take such risks, it's a little surprising she hasn't shown
interest in one of the premier basketball-qualified people for the job - nine-year
Sonics assistant Dwane Casey.
It's been 14 years since Casey was the fall guy in allegedly shipping money to a
recruit while an assistant at the University of Kentucky.
Even though he's never been banned from college coaching, he seems to have been
effectively blackballed. Hedges has not called him, not even for a courtesy chat
about his extensive knowledge of the national coaching scene.
"Nobody's contacted me," Casey said before last night's game. "You never want to
say never to a coaching opportunity, and it's flattering to hear your name
mentioned. But I'm sure Barbara Hedges is going to get a quality coach to turn
things around."
It was clear that not only is Casey not a candidate, he really isn't interested in being
one. He's seen the college basketball world. He'll wait for a top pro coaching job
to become available.
Meanwhile, Hedges gets to wade through the goo to find someone who will be
more help than hurt. In the absence of consultation from people such as Casey, she
could use some turtleneck hip-waders.