University issued warnings to merchants about contact

The school's report said there is no proof athletes received any gifts.

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Concerns over improper gifts to college athletes prompted the University of Missouri-Columbia to repeatedly warn local car dealers, restaurants, health clubs, hotels and other businesses to keep their distance, an internal audit shows.

A draft report to the NCAA obtained by The Associated Press under Missouri's public records law shows no evidence of such gifts, but the athletics department issued warnings as recently as March after at least three previous notices since 2000.

"There is no proof" that any athletes received gifts, said Rex Campbell, a University of Missouri-Columbia professor of rural sociology who helped compile the 146-page draft report. "But there is suspicion."

The report, part of a standard certification review of Division I schools done every 10 years, also shows that the overall graduation rate for athletes has declined the past two years and remains lower than the rate for nonathletes. The audit also outlines steps taken by Missouri to tighten its recruitment practices following NCAA sanctions levied against the basketball program in November 2004.

From compliance with gender equity laws to details on how sports boosters are monitored, the report offers a rare public window into the operations of a campus entity that has seen its budget nearly triple, to $37.06 million in annual operations, since the last such review eight years ago.

University officials on Wednesday called the report's findings preliminary and subject to change.

"This document is very much a work in progress right now," athletics spokesman Sam Fleury said in a prepared statement. "Any substantive comment would be premature at this point."

Fleury responded on behalf of athletics director Mike Alden and basketball coach Quin Snyder, who didn't respond to verbal and written interview requests from The Associated Press.

The university's review process includes soliciting comments from alumni groups, faculty members, boosters and local business leaders. At the same time, the report notes that "every attempt should be made to avoid any public disclosure of [NCAA] violations, particularly when student-athletes are involved."

According to the report, Alden asked an assistant athletics director and an unnamed local attorney in September 2000 to visit "prominent local restaurant, bar and dance club owners in an effort to educate them on rules regarding extra benefits to current and prospective student-athletes."

That outreach was extended in March 2001 to local clothing stores, rental housing managers and restaurant owners, who received a letter and a copy of the "MU Guide to NCAA Rules for Alumni, Fans and Friends and of MU Athletics."

A similar letter was sent in November 2001 to Columbia car dealers, with subsequent warnings issued in December 2004 to area hotel managers and in March of this year to local gyms and athletics facilities, the report states.

Campbell said that athletics officials, in particular director of compliance Mary Austin, worked diligently to determine if any Tiger athletes received improper gifts.

"They did a very good job of chasing down all the leads," he said. "Exploring every possible charge, every rumor."

Campbell commended athletics officials for "trying to do a good job." But he noted that graduation rates for athletes as a whole, and black male athletes in particular, are "distressingly low."

The overall graduation rate for Missouri athletes declined from 72 percent in 2002 to 62 percent in 2003 and 58 percent in 2004. The rate for nonathletes, by comparison, increased from 65 percent to 66 percent over the same time.

The graduation rate for Missouri's black male athletes stood at 39 percent in 2004, up from 27 percent three years earlier.

The audit calls the overall 2004 graduation rate for athletes an "aberration" that reflects football and basketball coaching changes several years earlier. Comparing graduation rates for a four-class average is more accurate, university officials say, pointing out that the overall rate for athletes and non-athletes using that measure is virtually identical: 64 percent for nonathletes in 2004 versus 63 percent for athletes.

The audit makes only passing mention to reforms made in the aftermath of the basketball program violations found last year, which resulted in the NCAA reducing the number of basketball scholarships for the next two years, banning all recruiting trips by Snyder and his staff for one year and placing Missouri on three years probation.

The sanctions came after the 2003 arrest of point guard Ricky Clemons on domestic assault charges. Clemons subsequently accused a Tigers assistant coach -- who has since resigned -- of paying him cash, charges the NCAA investigation failed to substantiate.

Basketball coaches are now required to log in writing every phone call made to a prospective player, said Campbell. The practice was previously in place but not regularly adhered to by the basketball program, he added.

The university must submit its final self-evaluation to the NCAA by Oct. 15. A peer committee's response is expected by November, with a decision on certification due in April 2006.