most mysterious story in big sky basketball this year

[citygriz]

to me is the sudden demise of northern arizona. a perennial big sky basketball power, well respected coach in mike adras, they win one of their early games at arizona state--then adras mysteriously quits, and the team plummets to jokesville. there's a story here that hasn't been reported.

 

[BelierPeaux]

I remember seeing this thread a little while ago. It should have been in this forum, but you can get caught up here:

Former Northern Arizona men's basketball coach Mike Adras violated multiple NCAA and university regulations before he resigned in December, according to documents received by the Daily Sun.

An internal investigation also described a climate of "extreme fear" among players and assistant coaches if Adras were to learn they were cooperating with the probe.

Public records released by NAU documented the internal investigaton of Adras conducted last summer by athletic director Jim Fallis. Fallis concluded that Adras was responsible for multiple violations regarding basketball practice by the Lumberjacks, as players signed inaccurate time sheets to keep the permitted practice time within NCAA limits, according to the documents.

There are large portions of the released documents blacked out, including dates and names of parents sending e-mails to the NAU administration. NAU officials say the redactions are needed to comply with federal student privacy laws.

But the correspondence, which included Fallis, NAU President John Haeger and executive vice president MJ McMahon, details Adras' alleged transgressions.

Adras and Fallis failed to return messages seeking comment. None of the documents released appears to have been written by Adras.

PRACTICE LOGS INACCURATE

One parent described an instance involving the Lumberjacks recording 1 hour and 58 minutes on their practice log although the practice actually lasted 3 hours and 10 minutes.

"Players repeatedly provide their signatures on inaccurate or purposely misleading documentation that does not align with NCAA rules and regulations," the parent wrote. "Players are not pushing back on signing this paperwork due to the consequences they feel they may incur from the coaching staff."

In a letter sent from Fallis to Adras, the NAU athletic director admonished Adras for the violations.

"It is my belief that as head men's basketball coach you were aware of and involved in situations that involved athletically related activities that should have been countable under NCAA practice limitations but were not entered into appropriate practice logs," Fallis wrote. "Specifically, these activities involved selected student-athletes who were directed to participate in athletically related activities outside the team's regular practice schedule."

The men's basketball team also recorded inaccurate per diem expense sheets, which document funds issued to them to be used during traveling.

There was also an instance of a team booster attending a meal at Adras' house while recruits were present, which is an NCAA violation. Fallis then wrote that Adras directed one of his assistant coaches not to identify the booster in the official record of the event.

"There have been occasional meals at the Head Coaches (sic) house when prospective student athletes are there. While the meals are permissible under NCAA rules and the coaches, their families and the players can be there. It is not permissible to have boosters there," Fallis wrote. "There is documentation, turned in by the Head Coach, that fails to identify all the people in attendance, at least one being a booster, this a NCAA violation and it has been reported that the head coach directed an assistant coach not to identify all the attendees at the most recent such functions. This could be the most aggregress (sic) of NCAA violation, that when you know there has been a violation and not report it or try to hide it."

ENVIRONMENT OF FEAR

In his investigation, Fallis concludes that the players and the assistant coaches on the NAU men's basketball team work in an environment of threats and fear.

"The common theme is extreme fear by everyone I speak to and that is the fear that Mike Adras will find out that I spoke to them," Fallis wrote to Haeger updating him on the status of his investigation.

One parent described a son being pulled from study hall and then forced to run for an hour and half while teammates continued to study.

"(The players') plights appear to be systematically ignored and dismissed at every level," the parent wrote.

In a separate email, Fallis said he took care of that incident.

"I have told Mike to suspend the use of excessive running by players for the immediate future and we have agreed that the trainer will have the ability to stop ANY activity that may be detrimental to the health of the student athlete," Fallis wrote.

An unnamed observer went to a practice while Adras was coaching and made the following remarks, detailed in a log of a meeting that took place in McMahon's office.

"He was only there to observe and not pass judgment. (Name redacted) observed the coach to be very harsh and demeaning to the team. The coach was yelling and punishing the team which he perceived to be very abusive in nature. He would get frustrated and throw them out of drills and humiliated them on more than one occasion. ... (Redacted) thought maybe there were several allowances made to the players due to his presence."

ASSISTANT COACH TRIED TO HELP

The meeting log also detailed that at least one of the assistant coaches under Adras was trying to help the players and put his own job on the line.

"(P)arents receive the most feedback from Coach (redacted). They believe that he is the only person who has the best interest of the players at heart. The parents believe that Coach (redacted) is in a bad situation. He is knowledgeable of wrongdoings and tries to notify these cases to his superiors. Coach (redacted) has indicated that he receives no acknowledgment from Jim Fallis about grievances and concerns shared by parents and student athletes."

The documents, which were released to the Daily Sun after a formal request citing state open records laws, include a letter by Fallis to Haeger summarizing the actions he took based on his investigation of Adras. They included assigning a staff person to every practice to assure compliance with NCAA rules and plans to reduce practice times of the team and suspend Adras from some practices to make up for excess practice times in the past. Adras also was barred from hosting any meals attended by prospective players.

In the same letter, Fallis recommends that NAU hire an "outside firm" to review the violations before they are reported to the Big Sky Conference and NCAA. Fallis, characterized the violations as "minor" in an interview with the Daily Sun last month.

Adras resigned on Dec. 6 and received the remainder of his $120,000 annual salary and a letter of thanks from Haeger for his service to NAU.

Fallis was named last week one of four finalists for the job of athletic director at Northern State University in Aberdeen, S.D.



Read more: http://azdailysun.com/news/local/adras-under-fire-before-exit/article_a7cae745-9435-52e8-a1da-f0505f6cb20e.html#ixzz1nVTwpMln" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That thread was here:

http://www.egriz.com/grizboard/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=55891&hilit=adras&p=734792&view=show#p734792" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[cclarkblues]

http://azdailysun.com/sports/basketball ... 963f4.html

I have a bro-in-law who is a vice-provost at NAU. Talking to him last week, he said there were some real anger issues involved with the coach. Also the AD is leaving because of the writing on the wall. Other non-athletic adminstrators have also resigned apparently. Strange situation.

 

[GrizLA]

to me is the sudden demise of northern arizona. a perennial big sky basketball power, well respected coach in mike adras, they win one of their early games at arizona state--then adras mysteriously quits, and the team plummets to jokesville. there's a story here that hasn't been reported.

NAU is cleaning a dirty house.

 

[MT Jack]

Sad situation. Adras' players graduated and generally stayed out of trouble.

I'm sure there are penalties coming soon for NAU mens hoops. I don't expect the NCAA to look away like a la Auburn (Cam Newton) and Calipari's chronic slimy recruiting behavior. Things will get worse in Flagstaff before they get better. I doubt that Adras being removed, the Athletic Director recently giving his intent to leave two months later and other administrators leaving around the same time are all merely coincidence.

There was a mention last night during the Fox Sports coverage of the Oregon State-Oregon game that an OSU assistant - Grace - was receiving interest for the NAU job. Two other coaches with west coast and Pac-12 ties receiving interest also. Link follows below:

http://www.blogger.com/northernarizonanews.com/blog/2012/02/21/nau-needs-to-make-big-splash-with-mens-hoops-hire/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



Jon also had this to say over @ bigskybball.com.

http://www.bigskybball.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Northern Arizona Coaching Search
Not much has come out of Northern Arizona regarding their search for a new head coach, but there was a nice article by Brett Murdock on Northern Arizona News.


So far, there have been three names to pop up in recent weeks — ASU assistant Scott Pera, Oregon State assistant David Grace and current Grand Canyon University head coach Russ Pennell.

All three have their merits: Pera has been at ASU for five years now and recruited current NBA player James Harden to the Sun Devils, Grace is in his fourth year at OSU and has been a successful head coach at every stop he’s made and Pennell took over for Lute Olson at Arizona during the 2008-09 season, leading the Wildcats to a Sweet 16 appearance before being hired at GCU.
There is no doubt that NAU brought in Dave Brown as a stopgap for the rest of the season to try to soothe some of the bad wounds left from previous head coach Mike Adras. From all accounts, Brown is the opposite in almost every way as a coach from Adras.

But as Murdock mentions, Brown obviously has no chance to have the interim tag removed from his title. NAU will be going in a different direction, and it is good to see at least some names emerge. While this season has been very bad, NAU certainly will have some talent on the roster for whoever becomes the new head coach.

Follow me on Twitter @bigskybball
Posted by Jon at 11:02 AM 0 comments
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[GrizPony]

It always struck me that Adras seemed like a ranter. His little man disease finally caught up with him and he found out he wasn't the toughest guy on campus I guess.

 

[Grizbacker1]

to me is the sudden demise of northern arizona. a perennial big sky basketball power, well respected coach in mike adras, they win one of their early games at arizona state--then adras mysteriously quits, and the team plummets to jokesville. there's a story here that hasn't been reported.

it is ONLY a mystery to you citay, and well, probably Pickle Boy Steve dill too

 

[Growler1]

to me is the sudden demise of northern arizona. a perennial big sky basketball power, well respected coach in mike adras, they win one of their early games at arizona state--then adras mysteriously quits, and the team plummets to jokesville. there's a story here that hasn't been reported.

it is ONLY a mystery to you citay, and well, probably Pickle Boy Steve dill too

Obsessed with me much, pencil dick? It's clear to everyone on this board that I own your sorry ass!

 

[GRZFTBL]

to me is the sudden demise of northern arizona. a perennial big sky basketball power, well respected coach in mike adras, they win one of their early games at arizona state--then adras mysteriously quits, and the team plummets to jokesville. there's a story here that hasn't been reported.

it is ONLY a mystery to you citay, and well, probably Pickle Boy Steve dill too

Obsessed with me much, pencil dick? It's clear to everyone on this board that I own your sorry ass!

Clear as mud. :thumb:

 

[firstdown-montana...]

The most mysterious story in big sky basketball this year is - "Where the hell are the kids from Montana? Selvig was the only MT kid in the Griz/sCat game ???" :lame: :lame: :lame: :lame: :lame: :lame: :lame: :lame: :lame: :lame: :lame:

 

[EverettGriz]

The most mysterious story in big sky basketball this year is - "Where the hell are the kids from Montana? Selvig was the only MT kid in the Griz/sCat game ???" :lame: :lame: :lame: :lame: :lame: :lame: :lame: :lame: :lame: :lame: :lame:

They're playing NAIA ball. At a level comparable with their talent.

Look, I love seeing Montanans play as well. But I'd rather by 14-1 and be considered among the best Griz teams in history. You won't be doing that with 5 Montana kids on the roster. Sorry, but the truth hurts sometimes.

 

[grizpack]

I think there were only 2 this year with legit DI talent in the state. Robison out of Billings West (supposedly committed to the Cats), and Bradshaw out of Corvallis.

There is a 6'11' kid out of Glacier that is growing into his body too. He is becoming a force, and will definitely get some looks next year (Junior this year).

 

[griz71]

The most mysterious story in big sky basketball this year is - "Where the hell are the kids from Montana? Selvig was the only MT kid in the Griz/sCat game ???" :lame: :lame: :lame: :lame: :lame: :lame: :lame: :lame: :lame: :lame: :lame:

They're playing NAIA ball. At a level comparable with their talent.

Look, I love seeing Montanans play as well. But I'd rather by 14-1 and be considered among the best Griz teams in history. You won't be doing that with 5 Montana kids on the roster. Sorry, but the truth hurts sometimes.

And to include the football equivalent--Oregon hasn't reached the FBS upper echelons with a lot of Oregonian athletes---check out their roster with all those players from California, Arizona, Washington, Florida. I'm sure those Duck fans (think what you may of them) would love to have more in-state kids there also. Everett is right---would you rather be terrible or at best mediocre with just in-state kids or have a consistent winning/contending program with a blend of talent from many locations--it is what it is today in the college athletic landscape and simply because of the numbers, Montana obviously just doesn't have the population to provide them..sad but true and spoken by a native.

 

[BelierPeaux]

Wouldn't it suck to have hardly any MT kids playing on your team and you still had a piss-poor team? Yeah, that would suck.

 

[AllWeatherFan]

Speaking of former NAU coaches...

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=ap-ucladisarray" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;