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Court filing accuses Pruett of wrongdoing in NCAA violation
Former MU head football coach Bob Pruett is the subject of allegations filed Friday by ex-compliance officer David Ridpath.
Purchase this photoHUNTINGTON -- Criticism of former Marshall University football coach Bob Pruett is the latest development in a five-year-old lawsuit filed by Marshall University's former compliance officer.
The incidents go back to NCAA violations involving grades and money earned by players. The violations were discovered in 1999 and the university served its punishment, but the case has lingered as the ex-compliance officer, David Ridpath, tries to right his reputation.
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Ridpath alleges he was singled out as a scapegoat, and he used Friday's filings to point blame at Pruett. The filings accuse Pruett of being dishonest and not disclosing full details about actions that led to his team violating NCAA rules.
Attorneys for Pruett and Marshall University worked Monday on reactions to Ridpath's accusations. Those responses are scheduled to be filed this week, said attorneys Edward M. Kowal Jr. and Vaughn T. Sizemore. The matter is scheduled for trial in October, and both attorneys anticipate resolving the case by the end of the year.
Pruett's attorney, Kowal, said some of Ridpath's allegations involve the NCAA investigation from several years ago. The attorney said Pruett would not give any comment regarding the case.
"Coach Pruett looks forward to a conclusion of the legal proceedings, so that all of the facts and all of the issues can be addressed," he said.
Defense attorneys have asked U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers for summary judgment. Such a ruling would end proceedings due to the lack of evidence.
Ridpath responded by filing the most recent accusations Friday. Those documents say that Pruett instructed players not to tell the compliance office about their employment at an off-campus job.
Former players Charles Tynes and Sam Goines are quoted in affidavits. Tynes said he does not recall orders against talking to compliance, but both players said talk of their employment was to stay "in the football family."
The NCAA discovered the players earned $25 per hour. Tynes and Goines said they were forced to sign documents, which stated their pay rate at $12.50 per hour, to restore their eligibility.
"I knew the $12.50 an hour figure was wrong but signed anyway because I wanted to play," both said in separate affidavits.
An affidavit signed by former conditioning coach Michael Jenkins accuses Pruett of involvement in an academic scandal. Jenkins states that Pruett and others initiated a plan, which gave advanced copies of a final exam to certain athletes. He recalled Pruett assuring his staff certain football athletes "were guaranteed to get A's" in a specific class.
Ridpath also alleges that Pruett played an instrumental part in convincing others to transfer Ridpath out of the athletics department.
In February, U.S. Magistrate Judge Maurice G. Taylor Jr. ordered Ridpath to return any privileged documents and copies of privileged documents that he obtained from the university.
Defense attorneys had accused Ridpath of taking five bankers' boxes full of university-owned documents. They believed Ridpath intended to use the documents to further his lawsuit and author a book -- "Tainted Glory: Marshall University, the NCAA, and One Man's Fight for Justice."
Sizemore said he believes the case will be resolved by then end of this year.
The university served four years probation, lost 15 scholarships in a three-year period and temporarily discontinued recruitment of academic non-qualifiers for two years.
It is unclear whether the NCAA will start a new investigation after the statute of limitations expired, according to CBSsportsline.com. The Web site said the NCAA Manual states that a notice of allegations shall be limited to possible violations occurring "not four years before the notice of inquiry is forwarded ... "
The NCAA states the following are not subject to the four-year limitation: Information that indicates "a pattern of willful violations ..." or "a blatant disregard for" NCAA rules and "an effort to conceal the occurrence of the violation," according to the CBS Web site.
Ridpath eventually resigned from Marshall University. He is now employed at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.
Pruett retired from Marshall, but he is now an assistant football coach at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va.
