UNLV awaits call on Clark

Steve Carp

Friday, Sept. 12, 1997 | 9:39 a.m.

It's going to be another week of waiting for UNLV and star center Keon Clark.

The school will go before the NCAA's Subcommittee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement via teleconference call at 11 a.m. next Friday as UNLV's appeal of Clark's 11-game suspension handed down last week by the NCAA is heard.

Clark, a 6-foot-11 all-conference senior center and the team's leader in blocked shots, rebounds and field-goal percentage, was penalized for 11 games and teammate Kevin Simmons for 14 after they accepted extra benefits in late March from two former Florida sports agents.

UNLV President Carol Harter will address the committee and Clark will also get an opportunity to be heard. Once all the questions have been asked, UNLV should learn Clark's fate later that day.

The hope is that the committee will reduce Clark's penalty. Right now, Clark's first game wouldn't be until Jan. 10 against Air Force at the Thomas & Mack Center.

The NCAA's initial actions came as the result of a self-report by UNLV of the violations. The school learned that David Rodriguez, a longtime friend of Simmons' who at the time was a certified sports agent with the players' associations of both the National Football League and the National Basketball Association, provided the players with airfare, hotel accommodations and meals in late March after the Rebels were ousted in the NIT quarterfinals by Arkansas.

The trip was a violation of NCAA rules and the association has beefed up the penalties in recent years for athletes who accept money and/or services from agents while still eligible to compete in intercollegiate athletics.

Simmons' trip was valued at more than $2,200 while the NCAA determined that Clark's expenses were valued at a little more than $1,500. Both must make restitution to an NCAA-sanctioned charity of their choice before they can apply for reinstatement.

UNLV's contention is that Clark did not know at the time that Rodriguez and his partner, Mark Nejame, were sports agents and he was merely along for the ride. Simmons had planned the trip and asked Clark to come along.

UNLV is not appealing Simmons' suspension. The 6-8 junior forward will not be eligbile until late January.

Athletic director Charles Cavagnaro remained optimistic the appeal would do Clark some good.

"If we didn't think we had a good case, we wouldn't be pursuing it and wasting everyone's time," he said. "We believe very strongly, from Dr. Harter all the way down the line, that the punishment doesn't fit the crime in this instance and that Keon had no prior knowledge of what was going on."

But Cavagnaro admitted all appeals are a gamble.

"An appeal in and of itself means you're playing from behind," he said. "It's up to us to convince the NCAA to make a change."

With Harter taking the lead in presenting UNLV's case, the NCAA may be more apt to listen.

Harter, a member of the NCAA's board of directors, said she is not in the habit of addressing appeals committees.

"I have not done it in the past," she said. "But I think there are unusual and mitigating circumstances here and I feel very strongly about what has happened."

Harter will present UNLV's case and the appeals committee will ask questions. Once that process has run its course, the committee will deliberate, then contact UNLV and render its decision.

"It can take 15 minutes or it can take 2 1/2 hours," Cavagnaro said of the process. "I've been on both sides of the fence and it depends on how many questions the committee asks and it depends on the length and the depth of the questions."