MPR: More Allegations Surface Against Haskins

More Allegations Surface Against Haskins
By William Wilcoxen
March 24, 1999

Some of the people who have leveled accusations of academic fraud and cash payments to players on the University of Minnesota men's basketball team have provided details of their allegations. A former university staff member told reporters she did class work for basketball players and a former team member described receiving cash payments from the coach.

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FOR THE LAST COUPLE OF WEEKS The controversy surrounding the U of M men's basketball team has centered on the allegations of a former staff member, Jan Gangelhoff, who says she wrote research papers and other assignments turned in by 20 or more players over a five-year period ending last year. At a press conference called by her attorney, Jim Lord, Gangelhoff showed copies of those papers to the media. Gangelhoff says she cannot prove that basketball coach Clem Haskins was aware she wrote the papers, but she feels certain that he did know.

Gangelhoff: There was a wall around men's basketball. And that was the retaining wall around the house. And you did not get past that wall unless you were allowed past by Coach Haskins. And I have said this before and I'll say it again: I personally - from being a member of the family - do not believe that there was anything that went on in that program that Clem Haskins did not know about; period.

Gangelhoff says she was never asked to write the papers, and she never told Haskins she was writing them. But she says it seemed implicit in conversations with the coach. Gangelhoff says Haskins would tell her, for example, that a certain player must get a certain grade to stay academically eligible for the team. She says she understood she was to do whatever was necessary to keep the player eligible, including writing papers.

Gangelhoff: Another thing that he said on a couple different occasions was "Just remember, Jan, these can't be too good, now."

For the five years during which Gangelhoff says she wrote papers for players, she was an office manager in the Academic Counseling Unit. For a portion of one school year, she was authorized to tutor one player. The university rejected her request to continue as a tutor but Gangelhoff says Haskins gave her $3,000 through an intermediary as payment for continuing to help that player.

Russ Archambault, who played for the Gophers until Haskins dismissed him from the team last year for disciplinary reasons, told reporters he received cash from Haskins on eight to 10 separate occasions. Archambault says the first such instance occurred when Haskins told him he would not be traveling with the team to a game at the University of Nebraska because he needed to stay in the Twin Cities and focus on some school work.

Archambault: The bus was about to leave. He said "Russ, you're going to have to stay home from this trip and get that test done and keep your grades in order." So I said "OK." Then he told me to follow him in the bathroom. I went in the bathroom and in one of the little stalls in the back - I could even point it out to you - we went in a stall in the back and he gave me $200 from a big wad of hundred-dollar bills.

Archambault says he does not know why Haskins gave him the money. But he says he subsequently asked Haskins for money, including at Christmas-time in 1996 and 1997. Archambault was asked if he knew whether other players received money from Haskins but he declined to comment.

Haskins has denied all of the allegations raised by Gangelhoff and by Archambault. In a statement issued through his lawyer this week, Haskins said he wonders why the allegations are being raised. He also reaffirmed plans to cooperate with investigators hired by the university to look into the allegations. Jim Lord, the attorney for Gangelhoff, says he thinks the investigators should interview witnesses under oath. Lord also says he thinks the university hired two law firms as investigators in an effort to minimize damage to the basketball program.

A U of M spokeswoman said the university would not respond to Lord's remarks. Earlier in the day university President Mark Yudof said he does not want to debate the matter through the media.

Yudof: I don't want to get into a war of words and I don't want the media to get into a game of one-upmanship in terms of reporting little facts. But I don't have any control over this, so I'll suffer quietly and whine a little bit, and it'll all work out in the end.

Yudof expects the university's investigation to last at least six months.

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