DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM
University of Hawaii athletic director Herman Frazier, with men's volleyball team members and other staff, faced the media yesterday about an NCAA ruling regarding a player and the loss of its national championship title.
UH to appeal
NCAA penaltyThe men's volleyball team
is stripped of its 2002 title
for using an ineligible player
The University of Hawaii has been aiming at a "moving target" in dealing with eligibility issues of foreign athletes, a UH attorney said yesterday.
She also hopes that the school's continual efforts at NCAA compliance will help as UH appeals the stripping of its 2002 men's volleyball championship.
NCAA rule at issue
Competition with Professionals: An individual shall not be eligible for intercollegiate athletics if the individual ever competed on a professional team, regardless of whether the individual knew (or had reason to know) that the team was a professional team. (Effective date: Aug. 1, 2002)
"This has been an evolving issue," Jan Gouveia said at UH's news conference yesterday announcing the NCAA sanction. "The NCAA changed its focus."
Yesterday, UH athletic director Herman Frazier announced that the 2002 national championship will be vacated by UH (runner-up Pepperdine does not get the title), and Hawaii must pay the NCAA a $5,000 fine for using an ineligible player. UH and the NCAA did not name the player, but the Star-Bulletin reported in July that it is star hitter Costas Theocharidis.
Frazier said UH will appeal the decision.
Prior to two years ago, the NCAA did not enforce a rule that has since had a profound effect on the eligibility of foreign athletes, including several at UH. The rule prohibits athletes from participating in events as a member of a professional team, even if the athlete in question did not get paid.
Since then, UH athletes Haim Shimonovich, Predrag Savovic, Tony Akpan and Pedro Azenha served suspensions for previous participation among pros.
This is what UH believes to be the situation with Theocharidis, the most decorated volleyball player in the Warriors' history.
UH officials and coaches have complained that the rules were not clear. The NCAA has countered by requesting more thorough information from UH about the foreign athletes' backgrounds.
"The NCAA has amended its bylaws to make it explicitly clear," Gouveia said.
Theocharidis was a four-time All-American and two-time national player of the year. He was also considered a star in the classroom and the community, as he was a recipient last spring of the Jack Bonham Award, given annually to the most outstanding all-around male and female scholar-athletes at UH.
But Theocharidis apparently lied or misled Hawaii athletic department officials about his participation among professionals before his UH career.
That is another reason UH thinks an appeal is plausible: The program was found to have committed a secondary violation, meaning the athletic department had no way of knowing or suspecting that Theocharidis had violated eligibility.
Frazier said yesterday that the school will appeal the decision to the full NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions, not the subcommittee that initially made the decision.
"It should be made clear that the NCAA classified this as a secondary (infraction), which means they acknowledged the fact that no one involved, including our coaches and staff, could have known about this ahead of time," Frazier said.
UH has 30 days from yesterday to submit the appeal. There was no time frame given for how long it might take the NCAA to render a decision on the appeal.
UH received notification from the NCAA on May 7 regarding Theocharidis' involvement with a professional team in his native Greece. Following an internal investigation, UH officials turned in the report to the NCAA on July 9.
Senior setter Kimo Tuyay was among several current and former Warriors players who attended the news conference.
"You work so hard, it's heartbreaking," Tuyay said of forfeiting the championship. "That's kind of in the past already, and we're starting a new season. It's kind of a distraction, but we can't really focus on that because most of the players on that team are already gone. So we've got a new season, and we've just got to focus on that."
The Warriors get to keep their championship rings, which were given to them by UH. But technically they are no longer national champions, and if the appeal is not successful, their championship banner will come down and their trophy returned.
Tuyay said the symbols of winning don't matter as much as knowing they did it.
"At that game, I mean, you know who won," he said. "And that's the whole point of playing, just the feeling of winning that game. And all the banners and rings is all something that comes along with it. But it's just another form of stripping away what we worked hard for the whole season."
Warriors coach Mike Wilton spoke at the news conference by telephone. He was in Utah attending a son's wedding.
His voice cracked when he spoke about Theocharidis.
"Most of all, what I'm feeling right now is compassion for a young man who made a mistake," Wilton said. "He's contrite. He's owned up to it. I forgive him, and I would hope that all Warrior fans, true Warrior fans, and his teammates and his coaching staff feel the same way."
Frazier was asked if he felt embarrassed for the university or the athletic department.
"No, not at all," said Frazier, who became UH's athletic director in August 2002. "We've done what we can possibly do in this situation. It's unfortunate that this had to happen to these student-athletes. That's who I'm concerned about more than anything else.
"These student-athletes have lost a dream."
Star-Bulletin reporters Kalani Simpson and Cindy Luis contributed to this report.
