The Coach Fouls Out

By Jeffrey Kluger

Coaches' corner: If you're a man with a reputation to protect, it's not a good idea to meet a woman at a strip club, then leave her alone in your hotel room while you play a round of golf. That ought to be an easy one to remember, yet it's one that recently hired--and recently fired--football coach Mike Price of the University of Alabama apparently forgot.

Lately, other coaches have forgotten other rules. There's ex-basketball coach Larry Eustachy of Iowa State, who forgot the one about not getting drunk and canoodling with coeds. There's Jim Harrick, ex-basketball coach of the University of Georgia, who forgot the one about not permitting athletes to receive bogus class credits. There's Jan van Breda Kolff, ex-basketball coach of St. Bonaventure University, who forgot to require a transfer student to have a two-year degree, not a certificate in welding.

In the world of college sports, where millionaire coaches are the true big men on campus, winning always trumps sinning. But scandals--faked resumes, sexual harassment, paying athletes--are piling up so fast that head-coach heads have begun to roll. In the Southeastern Conference, which includes Arkansas, Georgia and Alabama, six of 12 schools are either on probation or under NCAA investigation, mostly as a result of coaching misdeeds. "Coaches have a high calling," says Charles Bloom, associate commissioner of the Southern Conference. "They are subject to a standard equal to or higher than anyone on campus."

By that measure, Price and Eustachy--whose self-made messes were Clintonesque in their carelessness--flunked school. Price, who had previously coached at Washington State, already had something of a reputation for wild living and had reportedly been warned once. Nonetheless, on April 16, prior to a Pensacola, Fla., golf outing, he is said to have spent much of the day drinking at a local strip club. That night, according to SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, two women he met there joined him in his hotel room. Price admits to one woman but claims she merely helped him back to the hotel. No matter why she was there, the next morning, while he was golfing, she teed up $1,000 of room service. When the story got out, Price was sacked, forfeiting a seven-year, $10 million contract. Miami Dolphins quarterback coach Mike Shula--son of NFL nobleman Don Shula--was hired last week to replace him.

Eustachy's self-destruction took longer than Price's. His smoochy, beer-fueled evening occurred in January, but it was on April 28 that the Des Moines Register published pictures sent in by a student. Eustachy held a contrite press conference, pleading alcoholism. But he got no second chance.

The Harrick scandal at Georgia erupted when it was learned that the coach improperly paid some bills for one of his players and that other players had received credit for a coaching course--taught by Harrick's son and assistant--that they never attended. Harrick was fired from an earlier job--at UCLA--for expense-account irregularities.

Rhode Island University, which hired Harrick after UCLA but before Georgia, defends its decision. "[He] deserved another opportunity," says spokeswoman Linda Acciardio. Georgia was similarly forgiving: "We all make mistakes," says associate athletic director Damon Evans.

But it may be money that helps buy such mercy. Alumni open their wallets when the alma mater fields a champion. And the TV networks, which pay billions for college sports (CBS is paying $6 billion over 11 years to broadcast NCAA basketball) can make winners flush. The fact that Harrick won a national title at UCLA may have meant more to Georgia than his T&E arithmetic.

Then, too, there is the coaches' star wattage. At $1.1 million per year, Eustachy was the highest paid employee on the State of Iowa's payroll. A star on the sports pages is going to enjoy rock-star treatment--and rock-star latitude. The downside is, he'll also live in a rock star's bubble.

Some schools, including Georgia, are now hiring search firms to vet prospective coaches and give them a chance to come clean about potential problems. That may not be the kind of thing the coaches want to discuss at a job interview, but better there than at a press conference. --Reported by Paige Bowers and Greg Fulton/Atlanta

With reporting by Paige Bowers and Greg Fulton/Atlanta