UNLV ready to sit athletes

Steve Guiremand

Wednesday, May 14, 2003 | 8:57 a.m.

UNLV student-athletes found to have taken part in the ongoing "Phonegate" probe will have some time to think about their actions.

Although NCAA rules mandate suspensions only if an athlete runs up charges of $100 or more, UNLV has a rule stating that any athlete making unauthorized phone calls must sit out a minimum of one game.

This means even a freshman football player who, according to sources close to the investigation, made a $2 phone call with an athletic department long distance pin number.

The investigation by UNLV campus police began April 28 and is not expected to conclude until well into the summer. More than $10,000 in long-distance charges were placed on the phone PIN.

According to sources familiar with the investigation:

What still isn't known is how the private seven-number athletic department PIN made it into circulation among the UNLV student body and for how long. Campus police have checked phone records to January, but sources told the Sun it is possible that the unauthorized phone calls could have begun as far back as Thanksgiving.

UNLV athletic director and head football coach John Robinson would neither confirm or deny a report that the PIN code belonged to a UNLV assistant football coach. Because of privacy laws, the school isn't releasing the names of athletes found to have taken part so far.

If the PIN was stolen from a UNLV football assistant coach, it's easy to see how it might happen.

Robinson and his staff mostly meet in a large meeting room in the center of their second floor Lied Athletic Complex offices. Meanwhile, most of their personal offices remain open and out of sight with little supervision. Assistant coaches routinely hold daily position meetings with players in their own offices.

It also isn't uncommon to see a player watching film on his own in an assistant coach's office. If a PIN was left unattended on a desk notepad or even in a desk drawer, it could be easily stolen.

One break for UNLV is that the seven-number pin can only be used on university phones. It does not work like a phone credit card and gives only long distance access on university lines, including those in the dormitories.

"I hadn't even heard about anything like this going on until I read the story on ESPN.com," Rebels junior linebacker Ryan Claridge said. "It was surprising that these people thought they could actually get away with something like that."