New Evidence Suggests Haskins Told Players to Withhold Information

Black Issues in Higher Education, Dec 9, 1999

MINNEAPOLIS -- Recent interviews with several University of Minnesota men's basketball players have changed what investigators know about alleged misconduct, the Star Tribune reported last month, citing an unnamed source.

Just days before university President Mark G. Yudof was to release a report on academic fraud, investigators began focusing on new information from three former players, the newspaper said.

Jason Stanford, Antoine Broxsie and Miles Tarver were originally questioned before they and a fourth player were suspended from the Golden Gophers' opening game of the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament in March in Seattle. The Gophers lost to Gonzaga.

A second source with direct knowledge of the questions that investigators have been asking told the newspaper that some recent questions have focused on whether former coach Clem Haskins urged players not to tell "the whole truth" when they were first questioned eight months ago about alleged fraud.

Haskins resigned under pressure in June and took a $1.5 million contract buyout in the face of the allegations. He denied knowing about any wrongdoing. A message left at Haskins' home in Minnetonka wasn't returned.

Yudof says that a draft of the investigative report, which he had read, could change because of "an important witness." He wouldn't elaborate except to say that the witness was not Alonzo Newby, a former academic adviser for basketball players who has been implicated in the investigation but has refused to be interviewed.

Broxsie is considered an important witness because he allegedly worked closely with Jan Gangelhoff, a former office manager in the academic counseling unit. She has said she completed about 400 pieces of course work for at least 20 players, including the four who were suspended, between 1993 and 1998. She has shown reporters about 30 papers with Broxsie's name on them.