Post by Bona799 on May 5, 2006 19:21:53 GMT -5
Business First of Buffalo Reports that Lane may write a book. That might be something.
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Ex-Bona AD closes 'cautionary tale'
Business First of Buffalo - May 1, 2006by Tim O'Shei Business First
After finding a job - on his 85th try - and after the leading collegiate sports entity found he didn't breach any lines in a story fraught with broken rules, Gothard Lane still sought one more thing -- vindication.
Last week, in a statement e-mailed to the media six minutes shy of 6 p.m. on a Friday evening, he got it.
The former St. Bonaventure University athletic director, who resigned in the wake of the school's 2003 basketball player-eligibility scandal, has settled his lawsuit against the school.
While the settlement terms are confidential, the university acknowledged in an April 21 statement that the National Collegiate Athletic Association "did not make any findings or impose any penalties" against Lane in a February 2004 report on the basketball scandal, which centered on the eligibility of a transfer player whose highest level of education was a welding certificate.
That acknowledgment is key to Lane, who levied the April 2004 libel lawsuit against his former employer seeking at least $1 million in damages.
"That's very gratifying because that's 180 degrees from what they said," he says, "and from what I begged them not to say."
An April 2003 internal review by St. Bonaventure claimed that Lane had violated NCAA rules. Lane says he pleaded with university officials on the morning of the report's release to leave his part out of it.
"You're wrong," he claims to have told them, "I haven't violated any rules."
To the contrary, Lane says, he had already warned university officials in 2002 that the player, Jamil Terrell, was not academically eligible under NCAA rules. Lane says he was overruled by then President Robert Wickenheiser, who also lost his job after news of the situation broke in March 2003.
Lane, who resigned from St. Bonaventure in May 2003 after learning his contract would not be renewed, says he applied for 84 jobs before finding his current position as director of championships for the Cape Cod-based Eastern College Athletic Conference. He says the internal Bonaventure report caused deep personal damage to him and his wife, Mary Lou. "There were days where the only words that came out of her mouth were about the (Bonaventure) situation," he says.
Though the 2004 NCAA ruling essentially cleansed Lane's name, he was clearly anxious to hear St. Bonaventure acknowledge his innocence.
At first, the April 21 statement from the Allegany-based school captured little media attention. Lane e-mailed Business First one day later - a Saturday - with the Bonaventure statement attached. He pointed out that the newspaper had covered the basketball situation extensively and asked for an update on his situation.
The vindication, he later acknowledged in a telephone interview, was important. He's even considering writing a book.
"It's a cautionary tale about college athletics," Lane says. "It's a story about a university president who lost his way. It talks about a board of trustees who wouldn't listen to a professional in the athletics department who knew what was going on."
*****************************************
Ex-Bona AD closes 'cautionary tale'
Business First of Buffalo - May 1, 2006by Tim O'Shei Business First
After finding a job - on his 85th try - and after the leading collegiate sports entity found he didn't breach any lines in a story fraught with broken rules, Gothard Lane still sought one more thing -- vindication.
Last week, in a statement e-mailed to the media six minutes shy of 6 p.m. on a Friday evening, he got it.
The former St. Bonaventure University athletic director, who resigned in the wake of the school's 2003 basketball player-eligibility scandal, has settled his lawsuit against the school.
While the settlement terms are confidential, the university acknowledged in an April 21 statement that the National Collegiate Athletic Association "did not make any findings or impose any penalties" against Lane in a February 2004 report on the basketball scandal, which centered on the eligibility of a transfer player whose highest level of education was a welding certificate.
That acknowledgment is key to Lane, who levied the April 2004 libel lawsuit against his former employer seeking at least $1 million in damages.
"That's very gratifying because that's 180 degrees from what they said," he says, "and from what I begged them not to say."
An April 2003 internal review by St. Bonaventure claimed that Lane had violated NCAA rules. Lane says he pleaded with university officials on the morning of the report's release to leave his part out of it.
"You're wrong," he claims to have told them, "I haven't violated any rules."
To the contrary, Lane says, he had already warned university officials in 2002 that the player, Jamil Terrell, was not academically eligible under NCAA rules. Lane says he was overruled by then President Robert Wickenheiser, who also lost his job after news of the situation broke in March 2003.
Lane, who resigned from St. Bonaventure in May 2003 after learning his contract would not be renewed, says he applied for 84 jobs before finding his current position as director of championships for the Cape Cod-based Eastern College Athletic Conference. He says the internal Bonaventure report caused deep personal damage to him and his wife, Mary Lou. "There were days where the only words that came out of her mouth were about the (Bonaventure) situation," he says.
Though the 2004 NCAA ruling essentially cleansed Lane's name, he was clearly anxious to hear St. Bonaventure acknowledge his innocence.
At first, the April 21 statement from the Allegany-based school captured little media attention. Lane e-mailed Business First one day later - a Saturday - with the Bonaventure statement attached. He pointed out that the newspaper had covered the basketball situation extensively and asked for an update on his situation.
The vindication, he later acknowledged in a telephone interview, was important. He's even considering writing a book.
"It's a cautionary tale about college athletics," Lane says. "It's a story about a university president who lost his way. It talks about a board of trustees who wouldn't listen to a professional in the athletics department who knew what was going on."
