Columnist Steve Carp: Harter does right thing with Keon

Steve Carp

Tuesday, Sept. 9, 1997 | 9:59 a.m.

I AM NOT SURE what Carol Harter weighs. And any man with half a brain knows you never ask a woman for such delicate information. But whatever weight the UNLV president has, she's prepared to use it to get an underweight basketball player back on the court quickly.

UNLV has appealed star center Keon Clark's 11-game suspension after Clark had accepted a trip to Florida in March from a friend of teammate Kevin Simmons -- the friend was a sports agent at the time. That is a big no-no and the NCAA busted the two Rebels last week.

And while nobody is saying the two didn't take the trip, which was stupid in and of itself, the school argues that Clark was duped into the trip, that he had no knowledge that an agent was footing the bill and immediately severed his ties to the whole thing once he got wind of it.

Furthermore, Clark was not the architect of this spring-break getaway, so why should his punishment be in the same ballpark as Simmons', who made all the arrangements and was busted for 14 games?

Normally, university presidents stay out of such messes. Who wants NCAA mud tracking the floors of those ivory towers? Besides, that's why you pay athletic directors and associate ADs.

But Harter believes this case is highly unusual and the punishment for Clark doesn't fit the crime. Furthermore, as someone who is on the NCAA's board of directors, she is not without a working knowledge of the organization and her help may prove to be valuable.

"I wouldn't do it unless the circumstances are so unusual," Harter said Monday of her willingness to get involved in the appeal. "Keon's involvement is so different from Kevin's. The motive is so different."

Harter also said Clark's loyalty to UNLV must be repaid. He made his decision to stay in school and pass on the NBA even though he knew he could get busted by the NCAA.

"Keon Clark is the kind of student-athlete we want to play for us," she said.

And Harter is the kind of boss coach Bill Bayno is glad to work for.

"For Dr. Harter to step to the plate means a lot," he said. "A lot of people would let me handle it on my own. But she's not afraid to speak out and right a wrong."

And Harter believes Clark was wronged by the severity of the penalty.

"In my opinion, his involvement doesn't warrant missing 40 percent (of the games)," she said.

The question is, will Harter's involvement ultimately lessen the blow?

It certainly can't hurt UNLV's cause to have someone from the board of directors address the panel that will hear the appeal in the next 10 days.

Whether they buy her arguments remains to be seen. But it's nice to know she is willing to go to bat for her students.

"It's about righting a wrong," she said. "Keon had a 2.75 cum (grade-point average). He's going to graduate in 4 1/2 years. He's a decent human being who wants to do the right thing. Why wouldn't you want to help someone like that?"