NCAA Management Council OKs Plan to Pay Settlement

The NCAA will ask each of its 310 Division I member schools to share the pain in the $54.5-million settlement in the restricted-earnings case.

Under a plan approved this week by the management council in Overland Park, Kan., payments into the settlement fund would range from a low of about $77,000 for small schools, many of which had few restricted-earnings coaches, to around $200,000 for each of the big-time institutions.

The NCAA faced a potential revolt from its money-making Division I schools if they had been asked to shoulder the entire amount, which will be distributed among roughly 2,000 coaches in various sports whose salaries were unlawfully capped by the NCAA at $16,000 per year.

The smaller schools argued they should have to pay little if anything. The major schools noted that the small schools voted for the rule and also receive money from the men’s basketball tournament while rarely contributing much to it.

“I think what they’ve come up with shows Solomon-like wisdom,” said Patty Viverito, associate commissioner of the Missouri Valley Conference. “It was a compromise in the truest sense of the word.”

The plan calls for the NCAA to use about $18 million in cash reserves. Most of the rest will come from future funds to be distributed to schools from CBS’ television contract for the men’s basketball tournament.

Using the reserves and the projected future distribution, the amount each school actually will pay by May 7 will be far less than its total bill. Atlantic Coast Conference schools, for example, will ultimately be responsible for the highest amount, $239,989 each, according to NCAA figures.

But each ACC school will have to pay up front only $50,533. The most any school must pay up front will be about $57,000.

The plan, which goes to the NCAA’s board of directors for final approval, was agreed upon during the management council meetings, and after what one representative of small schools described as a “subtle threat.”

The NCAA must submit the full cash payment of $54.5 million to lawyers for the restricted earnings coaches by May 7.

*

The state Supreme Court set aside a ruling allowing the Oakland Raiders to sue the NFL over the commercial use of their colors and insignia.

The court put the case on hold in San Francisco until it resolves an arbitration dispute in another case. The Raiders also want to avoid arbitration and go to court with claims against the NFL.

*

A federal appeals court in Cincinnati threw out a lower court ruling that former Vanderbilt football coach Gerry DiNardo had to pay the school $281,886 in damages for quitting before his contract expired to become coach at Louisiana State.

At issue was whether a two-year contract extension that Vanderbilt gave DiNardo in August 1994 was valid and enforceable. That could affect the amount of damages DiNardo may ultimately be required to pay.

Appeals Judge John Gibson said it was unclear whether DiNardo’s brother and attorney, Larry DiNardo, had to approve the contract extension before it became enforceable and whether Larry DiNardo’s failure to object to the terms amounted to approval of the extension.

The case now goes back to U.S. District Judge Robert Echols in Nashville to resolve those issues.

DiNardo’s original contract, signed in 1990, included his agreement to reimburse the university if he left before his contract expired.

College Basketball

Elton Brand, a 6-foot-8 sophomore center who won just about every individual honor a college player can, officially became the first Duke player to quit school early to join the NBA.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski, recovering from hip surgery at home, joined the Durham, N.C., news conference by telephone and called the decision by the Wooden Award winner a “no-brainer.”

Luke Recker, Indiana’s leading scorer last season, has decided to transfer, becoming the third starter in the past two years to leave Bobby Knight’s program.

The 6-foot-6 sophomore swingman said in Indianapolis that he hasn’t decided which school he will attend next season.

Unlike the other recent transfers, however, Recker said the reason was his own lack of development as a player, not any personal conflict with Knight.

Tennis

Pete Sampras withdrew from the Conde de Godo tournament in Barcelona because of back spasms and is expected to be sidelined a week to 10 days.

Sampras’ withdrawal came on the same day Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia was beaten by Franco Squillari of Argentina, 6-2, 6-4, and Carlos Moya downed Spanish compatriot German Puentes, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, despite an infected blister on his right thumb.

Second-seeded Andre Agassi withdrew from the Japan Open in Tokyo without playing because of an aching shoulder, which first bothered him in the semifinals of a Hong Kong tournament he eventually won on Monday.

Michael Chang, seeded No. 9, was beaten by Jens Knippschild of Germany, 6-3, 6-4, in a second-round match.

Boxing

New York State Sen. Roy Goodman turned over evidence of what he says is possible criminal conduct in the judging of the disputed March 13 heavyweight fight between Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis to Manhattan District Atty. Robert Morgenthau.

Miscellany

Two months after being forced out of ABC’s “Monday Night Football” booth, Dan Dierdorf was hired by CBS, the network he left in 1987. CBS will team Dierdorf, 49, with Verne Lundquist as its No. 2 NFL broadcasting team. Dierdorf is expected to make about $1 million a year at CBS, a significant pay cut from the $1.75 million he earned with ABC. . . . Michelle Kwan, the three-time U.S. figure skating champion, says she will enter UCLA this fall. Kwan, 19, will continue competing in her sport’s most prestigious events. . . . Ron Newman resigned as coach of Major League Soccer’s Kansas City Wizards after an 0-4 start. Assistant coach Ken Fogarty was appointed interim coach. . . . Warming up for the Copa America, Ecuador and Mexico played a scoreless tie in Monterrey. . . . Harvey Postlethwaite, a leading figure in Formula One race car design and engineering, died of a heart attack Tuesday night in Barcelona. He was 55. . . . Oregon cornerback Rashad Bauman will be sidelined for the 1999 season because of a knee injury suffered Tuesday afternoon in a non-contact drill.