AUSTIN, Texas -- Although the NCAA has charged the University of Texas football program with 51 rules violations -- three by new Coach David McWilliams -- school officials say they are pleased the probe uncovered no 'major blemish.'
The university Monday released a letter from the NCAA in which investigators accused the program of rules violations in 20 categories between 1980 and 1986.
Athletic Director DeLoss Dodds told a news conference Texas will file a formal response to the charges on April 19 and meet with the NCAA Infractions Committee April 24.
'I am not pleased with the allegations covered in the NCAA's letter,' Dodds said. 'But I am especially glad to learn that ... most of the accusations of alleged UT violations which have made headlines in the recent past were not included among the NCAA's concerns.
Dodds referred to questions about the lease of an expensive car by former running back Edwin Simmons, the lease of apartments to some players and other allegations raised in newspaper reports.
However, he said the NCAA found no 'major blemish' on the Texas football program.
The NCAA allegations include charges that a player received financial support from a professional sports agent, complimentary tickets were sold for more than face value and former coaches and boosters provided improper loans and other inducements to players.
The NCAA also cited illegal contacts with recruits and offers of improper inducements for players to sign with Texas in its letter to the university.
Dodds said he agreed with an edict by university President William Cunningham that anyone who violates NCAA rules in the future will be immediately fired. Cunningham also said if any athlete knowingly violates an NCAA rule, he will no longer be eligible.
Asked why the rule was not applied retroactively, Cunningham said, 'Well, I guess it was just my personal decision.'
The NCAA said at least three violations were committed by McWilliams while he was an assistant to former Coach Fred Akers, who was fired in December after the Longhorns finished 5-6 in his 10th season at Texas.
McWilliams, who was head coach for one season at Texas Tech before returning to Texas in December, was accused of providing improper loans to players, arranging to pay a fine for a player and allowing players to use his car.
'I am aware what I did was wrong and I apologize for it,' McWilliams said. 'They (violations) are certainly serious because they're wrong. Certainly, I made a mistake on those things.
Dodds said the school was aware of McWilliams' violations when he was hired.
However, Dodds said the alleged violations were not 'flagrant' efforts to influence recruits or of the type that would 'place other institutions which follow the rules at an unfair disadvantage.'
Knox Nunnally, a Houston lawyer and former Longhorns player hired by the university to conduct an internal probe, said the largest amount of money involved was $200 for the selling of football tickets.
School officials would not speculate on what penalties the NCAA might hand down.
The NCAA investigation began in September 1985, Cunningham said, but was expanded after newspaper reports in March 1986 cited possible recruiting violations at Texas.
The reports quoted former players as saying they had received money, meals and special treatment from Longhorns boosters and sports agents.
Assistant Coach John Mize, former assistants Tommy Reaux, Dean Campbell and Mike Parker and assistant Athletic Director Ken Dabbs were accused of providing small amounts of money to players and other aid to players.
Akers, now head coach at Purdue, was accused of making improper contact with a recruit in June 1985. In a telephone conversation from West Lafayette, Ind., he said: 'I can assure you I have never been involved in any improper recruiting in any fashion.'
At the start of the 1986 football season, 25 Texas players lost all or some of their 1986 complimentary tickets because of improper use of the passes in 1985. The NCAA placed Texas on a year's probation without sanctions in October 1982 for recruiting and ticket violations.
Five other Southwest Conference schools -- SMU, TCU, Texas Tech, Houston and Texas A&M -- either are on NCAA probation or in the midst of internal investigations regarding violations of NCAA rules.
