Ex-Good players probed by NCAA

Steve Addy

Thursday, Feb. 24, 2000 | 10:39 a.m.

It hasn't been a good year for some of UNLV assistant coach Max Good's former players at Maine Central Institute.

Freshman DerMarr Johnson, the third-leading scorer for No. 3 Cincinnati, was suspended for one game Wednesday for violating NCAA rules on amateurism stemming from his playing days at MCI, the New England prep school where Good coached from 1989-99.

Bob Goin, Cincinnati's athletic director, said Johnson accepted money from his AAU basketball coach to help pay tuition at MCI.

Earlier this year, the NCAA also suspended Oklahoma State's Andre Williams for accepting money from AAU coaches or boosters to pay his MCI tuition ($22,500). St. John's guard Erick Barkley is being scrutinized for the same possible violation of amateur guidelines.

Good said he hasn't been contacted by NCAA investigators in any of the cases.

"I wish they would call me. I would help in any way I can," Good said.

"My policy at MCI was that a (potential player) couldn't come out for the team until all of his tuition paperwork was approved by the (admissions office). That was the safest policy."

Williams sat out five games from Dec. 18 to Jan. 14 and was ordered to repay $20,000 and donate $5,000 to charity. Johnson was suspended for one game, sitting Wednesday night against Southern Mississippi, for accepting $7,000 in aid from his AAU coach. His repayment is being negotiated.

Barkley is being investigated for possibly receiving MCI tuition help from the Riverside Church AAU program in New York in 1997-98.

As for the latest situation involving Johnson, Goin says Cincinnati and Johnson are innocent.

"This relationship occurred prior to us knowing DerMarr," Goin said.

"This is not a university issue, this is not a basketball issue; this is an amateurism issue. There is no culpability on the part of the university."

The NCAA told the university to sit Johnson down for a game, Brian McCann, the school's associate sports information director, said.

The Bearcats, who have clinched the Conference USA regular season championship, beat Southern Mississippi 95-69 Wednesday night.

Johnson, a 6-foot-9 guard from Riverdale, Md., has been averaging 13 points a game.

Goin said Johnson accepted about $7,000 his senior year for academic expenses not covered by his scholarship to Maine Central Institute.

"DerMarr didn't do anything wrong," Goin said. "He got nothing in his pocket."

The amount Johnson will have to pay back was being negotiated, Goin said, but Johnson was eligible to return to the Bearcats after Wednesday night's game.

The Associated Press contributed to this report