Clearing the Husky name - a recovery story

Not long ago the UW Athletic Department was visibly injured. Montlake, once a consecrated sanctuary to all things Husky, had become a purple and gold purgatory. The formerly inconspicuous Graves Building came to represent corruption and disappointment.

As scandal rocked the football and softball programs, public perception of UW Athletics turned bitter and sarcastic. Instead of sports, the program became associated with gambling and drugs.

National and local media teed-off on the whole institution. Multiple television crews set up camp each morning in front of the Athletic Department's offices in hopes of breaking the next sordid story.

"It was just not fun to come to work and have everybody just take shots at us publicly," said Facilities Manager Chip Lydum. "Some were deserved, some were not, but regardless every day was a new occurrence."

The public perception of Washington Athletics took a nosedive in 2003, when the heads of two successful programs, football coach Rick Neuheisel and softball coach Teresa Wilson were fired in the face of scandal.

The drawn out Neuheisel-gate was especially damaging inside and out. It began in Feb. 2003, when the Seattle Post-Intelligencer confirmed rumors that Neuheisel was secretly interviewing to coach the San Francisco 49ers.

Then-Athletic Director Barbara Hedges reprimanded Neuheisel, and the San Francisco job went to Dennis Erickson. For a moment, all seemed resolved.

But in June 2003, acting on an anonymous tip, the NCAA opened an investigation into Neueheisel's participation in a college basketball betting pool. Within a week, at the NCAA's behest, the football coach was fired. In the wake of Neuheisel's departure, more misbehavior in the Athletic Department came to light.

During the ensuing months, in the summer of 2003, Hedges and the Athletic Department remained on their heels. Faced with the task of handling the scandal, managing a wounded football team and still running 15 other sports, the Athletic Department was unable to ward off barrages of negative media coverage without looking entirely defensive and, at times, in over its head.

Meanwhile, in December, as the first of two disappointing football seasons under Keith Gilbertson came to a close, Washington fired softball coach Wilson in the face of evidence that she allowed a team doctor to dispense narcotics to players under bogus and non-University sanctioned prescriptions.

The doctor, William Scheyer, had his medical license suspended in October 2003 and had been treating the softball team specifically at Wilson's behest, despite the misgivings of Athletic Department officials.

These days, though, the only clouds hanging over Husky Stadium are seasonal, and scandal is in the rearview mirror. Due to the success of programs like basketball and volleyball, and a concerted effort by Athletic Director Todd Turner to institute changes in culture and presentation, Graves Building employees can now focus on running an athletic program, not deflecting criticism.

"What I found was a really competent group of coaches and staff that had assembled here and were about the right things," Turner said. "They were very unhappy that the perception of the athletic program externally across the nation had negative connotations to it."

But as the whole of Washington Athletics limped tenderly and meekly into 2004, an under-the-radar basketball program was beginning its unexpected ascent to national prominence [HTML_REMOVED] a dazzling rise that would help lift the entire department from its collective doldrums.

"When we got here the cupboard was not bare," said coach Lorenzo Romar. "But the chemistry was very poor and losing had become something that was accepted. There was not a whole lot of interest in Husky basketball."

Interest, however, picked up during the course of the 2003-04 season. Washington started slow, losing its first five conference games. After beating Oregon State on the road in overtime in mid-January, the basketball program never looked back.

The Huskies finished the regular season 14-4, and capped off their Pac-10 schedule by shocking No. 1 Stanford at home, handing the Cardinal their first loss that season. The performance earned them a berth in the NCAA Tournament, and they have advanced to the Sweet Sixteen in each of the two seasons since then.

Romar factors much of his program's dynamic improvement to the newly renovated Bank of America Arena and an energetic student fan base. But many students, fans and even Athletic Department officials credit the turnaround to Romar himself.

Turner, who is normally a thoughtful and practical speaker, borders on bubbly when talking about Romar, dubbing the coach a "rock star" and comparing him favorably to Duke's celebrated Mike Krzyzewski.

Fans and administrators alike understand the significance of Romar and the basketball team's success.

"It's been enormously important, particularly with football being down," Turner said. "It's given people encouragement, something to be excited about. It's put our logo on the map."

And perhaps more importantly from a practical perspective, the emergence of the basketball program has kept big boosters from becoming disenchanted with the Athletic Department.

"I think [the escalation of Husky Basketball] was real important," said John Connors, a former Microsoft executive and major donor to Washington athletics. "It was a great example of what a coach can do. It kept a lot of the Husky faithful engaged in a positive way."

But although a pleasant distraction from scandal, an improving basketball team could not single-handedly repair the broken image of the Athletic Department, or straighten out a disorganized football program whose attitude approached resignation, and for whom unity was a forgotten concept.

Change had to come from inside the Graves Building. It began in June 2004 when new UW President Mark Emmert hired Todd Turner to be his athletic director. Turner quickly took stock of the program, restructuring it from the inside and taking steps to recreate its image in a bolder and more fan-friendly light.

Reporter Eric Nusbaum: ericnusbaum@thedaily.washington.edu