NCAA Sanctions Press Conference -- Marvin Krislov
5/8/2003 12:00:00 AM | General
Comments from U-M Press Conference
Regarding NCAA Infractions Committee Report
Marvin Krislov, U-M General Counsel
On whether appeals are effective ... "There certainly are precedents where postseason bans have been vacated upon appeal, particularly when they consider the consequences for innocent student-athletes. The LSU case in 1998 is one of those instances. To our knowledge, there really is not an alternative either. The ban is there or it's not there. We think that the players have done a great job this year of accepting the ban and playing through it. The ban is disproportionate, we think, and it is inconsistent with the NCAA principles to impose another year."
On the facts about the case ... "We've accepted the fact that the amount of the loans that Ed Martin gave over these number of years was very significant. Of course, every case is very unusual. The NCAA infractions committee chair said today that this is a very unusual case. A lot of the relationships were developed before these players ever came to the University of Michigan. They involved personal relationships where the benefits were given as loans and Ed Martin's attorneys told us very clearly that he never attempted to recruit for Michigan or steer players to the University of Michigan. This case has a lot of unusual aspects. The amount of money was large and we accept that, and that's why we took the steps we did in November of 2002 in terms of imposing our sanctions."
On how the appeals process will progress ... "Well, this is what's going to happen. We are sending in our appeal letter today, and after it's acknowledged we'll have 30 days in which to file our appeal and then the NCAA will have 30 days to file its appeal. The committee will file its response and then there will be a 14-day period for us to file a rebuttal. The sanction hearings will be sometime probably in August or September and then we would hope to hear within a month after that. We're hopeful that by the start of the basketball season that this affair will truly be behind us. Tommy Amaker, Bill Martin and everyone who talked today want the coaches and players to move on and focus on basketball. The lawyers and some of us will focus on the appeal."
On whether the appeal will be successful ... "It's very hard to say. Some appeals have been successful while many others haven't. We're doing this because we think it's the right thing for our student-athletes. In any event, we have a great tradition and Tommy (Amaker) has really rebuilt this program and we're very proud of him."
On what it means to disassociate the former players that were involved ... "It means that he is not given any special consideration at all. I suppose he could be considered a member of the general public who walks in off the street, but he can't get any special benefits, so he can't be honored by us and his records and accomplishments are vacated because he got them illegally. He's considered persona non grata, that's what the NCAA committee chair said. What Bill Martin said is that the players have so far refused to talk to us. If they want to come forward and talk with us and they have something important that we should pass on to the NCAA, we'll certainly do that. For the moment, we are under order to disassociate them and we will do so promptly."
Contact: Bruce Madej (734) 763-4423
