The Chronicle of Higher Education, March 10, 2003
St. Bonaventure U. President Resigns as Tumult Over Basketball
Program Continues
By LAWRENCE BIEMILLER
The president of St. Bonaventure University, Robert J.
Wickenheiser, resigned Sunday afternoon at the request of the
university's trustees, who met to discuss a burgeoning
basketball scandal that had the president at its center.
Mr. Wickenheiser's resignation capped a tumultuous week in
which he had acknowledged taking part in a decision to admit a
player who did not meet the National College Athletic
Association's eligibility requirements (The Chronicle, March
5).
The board also put the university's athletics director, the
head basketball coach, and an assistant coach -- Mr.
Wickenheiser's son -- on administrative leave while a new
committee investigates the basketball program. It named an
interim president, Brother Dominic Monti, as well as an
interim senior vice president, Sister Margaret Carney, whose
task will be to remind members of the university community of
its religious roots. St. Bonaventure, located in western New
York, is affiliated with the Roman Catholic Order of St.
Francis.
Last week, Mr. Wickenheiser said he took responsibility for
St. Bonaventure's decision to admit the player, Jamil Terrell,
a 6-foot-8-inch junior who transferred to St. Bonaventure last
year from Coastal Georgia Community College. The Buffalo News
reported on Sunday that Mr. Terrell had earned a certificate
in welding at the community college, rather than an associate
degree, as NCAA rules on the eligibility of junior-college
transfer students require.
The News article also said that St. Bonaventure officials had
asked the community college's registrar to overstate Mr.
Terrell's academic credentials -- which the registrar declined
to do -- and that in deciding whether to admit Mr. Terrell and
allow him to play on the team, Mr. Wickenheiser "overrode the
recommendations" of university officials charged with
monitoring compliance with NCAA regulations.
At their emergency meeting on Sunday, the trustees named a
special committee to review the men's basketball program, and
said in a statement that "there may have been an irregularity
involving the grade record of an athlete, and a change in that
record." The board said it would forward information about the
possible irregularity to the new committee, which is to submit
a report to the board by April 15.
The board also hired a former director of enforcement for the
NCAA, Richard Hilliard, as an independent counsel "charged
with early fact-finding." Mr. Hilliard is a partner in Ice
Miller, an Indianapolis law firm.
Those placed on administrative leave were Gothard Lane, the
vice president for athletics and athletics director; Jan van
Breda Kolff, the head basketball coach; and Kort Wickenheiser,
one of two assistant basketball coaches. The other assistant
coach, Billy McCaffrey, was named interim coach.
Following their meeting, the trustees released a statement
thanking Robert Wickenheiser for "taking responsibility for
some decisions that have brought us to where we are today."
The trustees also praised his "many contributions and
important successes" during his nine years as president.
In a statement issued by the university last Monday, after the
revelations about Mr. Terrell's apparent eligibility surfaced,
Mr. Wickenheiser said: "My own involvement in the original
decision to accept Jamil was founded on my desire to help him.
I made this decision and I accept full responsibility for this
turn of events."
"Throughout this process, I made a series of well-intentioned
decisions based on a series of assumptions and
interpretations," he said in the statement. "The NCAA has come
to a conclusion different from the one I reached."
Mr. Wickenheiser's interest in the university's high-profile
basketball program has proven controversial before. In
December 2000, he attempted to fire a sociology professor,
Joseph F. Greer, with whom some basketball players had clashed
(The Chronicle, April 20, 2001).
After the university said it was punishing itself by
forfeiting six games it had won, giving the team a 1-and-13
won-loss record, the Atlantic 10 Conference voted to exclude
St. Bonaventure from postseason play. The team's players then
decided not to play their final two regular-season games,
which were to have taken place last week. The players'
decision, and the fact that St. Bonaventure officials seemed
to endorse that decision, brought a barrage of national
criticism on the university this week.
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Copyright 2003 by The Chronicle of Higher Education
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