John Maher AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Thursday, November 7, 2002 The University of Texas' national championship baseball program was tagged by the NCAA on Wednesday with two years of probation and the loss of a scholarship next season, but did not receive a ban on post-season play. The NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions also ruled that violations involving the off-campus employment of former volunteer baseball coach Richard "Trip" Couch were a major offense, rather than a secondary one as UT had contended. Texas could be subject to harsher penalties if it has another major violation in any sport in the next five years. "It just increases the stakes considerably. There's just another whole set of increased penalties that the NCAA membership has adopted in cases that involved repeat major violators," said Thomas Yeager, the committee chair and commissioner of the Colonial Athletic Association. UT men's athletic director DeLoss Dodds did not express concern about the five-year window of increased liability. "We don't have major violations around here. We just don't. This is a lesson learned," Dodds said. Texas has 15 days to appeal the decision, Dodds said, but hasn't decided if it will. "They're the boss in this deal," Dodds said of the NCAA. "My advice would be to take our medicine and get on down the road." As part of the NCAA penalties, UT's baseball program can have only one assistant coach recruiting off campus at a time until August. Couch's attorney, James Eloi Doyle, said in a statement, "Trip regrets that these events led to an NCAA investigation and this conclusion. He also understands and respects the NCAA's findings on this matter." Both UT and the NCAA said the case was unusual in that it did not involve any athletes or prospective athletes, recruiting inducements or academic improprieties. Instead, the NCAA found that Couch, who is no longer at Texas, received improper compensation while holding a $40,000-a-year job at Centex Beverage, a beer distributorship owned by former UT regent Lowell Lebermann. Couch had been a paid assistant coach at the University of Houston when he left to become an unpaid volunteer coach at UT in January 2001. With a wife and two children to support, Couch picked up a paying job, suggested by UT head baseball coach Augie Garrido, at Centex. But Couch did little work there. "It allowed him to devote his undivided attention to the university's baseball program," Yeager said. "It became of greater concern when in March 2001 the university petitioned the NCAA to allow the volunteer coach to replace the head baseball coach in off-campus recruiting due to the head coach's medical condition." In making recruiting trips, Couch might have allowed Garrido to rest his bad back, but he attracted the attention of other schools' coaches. In October of last year, the NCAA received a tip about Couch. An NCAA investigation was launched. Couch lost both his baseball position and his job at Centex. He took a job in Houston and later landed one as a scout for the Arizona Diamondbacks. In its own investigation and during an August hearing with the NCAA, UT claimed it had acted properly in its dealings with Couch. Garrido said again Wednesday he was not aware that Couch wasn't working. But Yeager said, "There was no effort on the part of the institution or the head coach to investigate the unusual circumstances which allowed the coach to spend all his time with the baseball team while ignoring his responsibilities to the business from which he was paid a salary. In fact, the committee heard testimony during the hearing that other members of the baseball coaching staff actually teased the volunteer coach about his job flexibility." Dodds said Garrido's pay would not be affected by the NCAA decision. "The volunteer-coach system is not a good system. The system is flawed," Dodds said. He said he would prefer that all coaches were paid for their work. Garrido, whose team will be allowed to defend its College World Series championship, said, "I'm excited that the players will not be affected."
Though it does not minimize what was done, this has been known for some time now. The "volunteer" who accepted the "job" off camous is actually now a coach at UH.
