Saturday, March 6, 1999
Nebraska
puts off decision
on Tagoai
Cornhuskers coach
By Pat Bigold
Frank Solich will wait to see if
the St. Louis star is found
guilty of threatening
his teacher
Star-BulletinNebraska football coach Frank Solich yesterday told a reporter for the Lincoln Journal Star that he will wait to see if St. Louis School defensive lineman Tamotu Tagoai is convicted of threatening his teacher before he decides what, if any, action will be taken against him as a Cornhusker recruit.
The 6-foot-3, 280-pound Tagoai, who was a Star-Bulletin all-state selection, was arrested Thursday between classes at the dean of discipline's office.
He will be arraigned Tuesday morning in District Court on second-degree terroristic threatening charges.
The teacher, Gerilyn Tolentino Corpuz, is also seeking a temporary restraining order against Tagoai.
"We have been in contact with the people at the school," Solich told Journal Star sportswriter Ken Hambleton, "and we are not hearing there is a feeling that threats were made. I don't know that any threats were made ... And we have heard from a number of different people about the situation."
Corpuz, an honors graduate in biochemistry from Boston College working in her first teaching job, said that on Feb. 8 she held Tagoai and three other football players after her physics class to discuss their poor academic performance and disruptive class behavior.
She said Tagoai took exception to her admonition that she might write a letter to Nebraska about his "lack of academic performance and character."
Corpuz said that Tagoai rolled up his sleeves and looked at her. In her written report to dean of students, Charlie Hall, she quoted Tagoai as saying, "I have two words to say ... Tony Tata. If any teacher did that, I'd have to pull a Tony Tata."
Tata, who was successfully recruited last year by Nebraska, was barred from his St. Louis graduation ceremonies last May for smashing the windshield of a teacher's truck.
Corpuz said Tagoai's remark caused her concern for her personal property.
St. Louis athletic director Cal Lee told the Journal Star that he had spoken with Tagoai.
"He told me he was responding because he knew he could be held out of graduation ceremonies and that's very important around here," said Lee.
The Journal Star reported that St. Louis officials said Tagoai has a 3.75 grade point average. But Corpuz said the player was nearly failing her class.
She said she sought disciplinary support from Hall (who is also a junior varsity football coach), principal Burton Tomita and school president, Rev. Mario Pariante, but had no reason to believe that any action was taken against Tagoai.
Tomita insisted there was a "consequence" to Tagoai's remark but would not say what it was.
Corpuz tendered her resignation on Feb. 23, citing what she called, "the school administration's failure to provide the proper support for faculty members and its unwillingness to take appropriate action to protect faculty against student malfeasance."
She taught her last day of classes yesterday.
Pariante, in his letter accepting her resignation, dated Feb. 24, said that "the administration spent countless hours" supporting Corpuz and advising her "how to handle future situations."
Corpuz said she decided to call police after an incident on Monday in which Tagoai allegedly made a menacing gesture toward her with a yardstick during class.
She said there has been a systematic pattern of favoritism for football players on the St. Louis campus, and that "a lot of teachers have had the same problem."
