A Storm Seattle Won’t Forget : Analysis: First the sanctions, then Don James quits, it was a tough day in Washington. But the Pac-10 believes it had good reasons for what it did.

MILLBRAE, Calif. —  Barbara Hedges, athletic director of the University of Washington, seemed visibly shaken Sunday morning before criticizing the harsh penalties levied against the Husky football program by the Pacific 10 Conference.

She complained conference officials went too far in banning Washington from postseason bowl games for the next two years and taking away a projected $1.4 million in television revenue for the upcoming season.

Hedges said conference officials did not give Washington credit for making an effort to find out what was wrong with its football program.

“We don’t believe we were heard,” Hedges said.

The Huskies were heard, but not always believed.

According to sources involved in the process, Washington’s response to Pac-10 allegations received careful consideration, but did not sway conference officials.

The Pac-10 Council, which recommended the sanctions after a daylong meeting Saturday, simply did not consider Washington administrators to be as forthright as they wanted everyone to believe.

“There was a perception that they circled the wagons around Don James early on,” said a Pac-10 Council member who asked not to be identified. “He was going to be completely clean and uninvolved.”

The member said there was a sense of frustration in trying to determine what school officials and coaches really knew about the NCAA rules infractions.

Some of those violations included an unsecured loan of $50,000 to then starting quarterback Billy Joe Hobert and the payment of thousands of dollars to Los Angeles-area football and men’s basketball players for little or no work by an L.A. booster.

“Like it happened but no one is responsible,” said the council member. “Like the system did it. There was the (question) that in these booster things, who was handling the recruiting?”

Said another conference official: “The council just didn’t think Washington got it. Washington had a problem in its football program and the more they defended themselves, the more they perpetuated that.”

In a surprising move, the Pac-10 Council, which considered the recommendations of the conference’s compliance committee, found the committee’s suggestions too lenient. The conference’s presidents and chancellors agreed Sunday when they ratified the revised penalties.

The compliance committee had recommended Washington be placed on one-year probation with the loss of television revenue for two years. But the council unanimously decided upon a two-year probation with a one-year loss of TV revenue.

Washington games will be televised but the Huskies must give up their conference share of profits. The money will be placed into a special trust and its use will be determined later, said Jim O’Fallon, faculty representative for Oregon and head of the compliance committee.

The council made the crucial change, members said, because they wanted to target the football program instead of other Husky teams.

Although several penalties were given, the council members thought the strongest punishment would be taking away the possibility of a bowl game.

Even though Washington loses as many as 10 football scholarships in each of the next two academic years, the Huskies might not have that many to offer with returning players and other considerations.

The conference also cut in half the number of paid visits recruits can take, but officials said few schools as strong as Washington bring in 70 prospects a year, as allowed by the NCAA.

In Washington’s response to conference allegations, school officials pointed out none of their staff was specifically charged with wrongdoing. Hedges said that was one reason she openly rejected the sanctions.

Hedges and other school officials also said they could not understand how they could receive stiffer penalties than high-profile programs sanctioned by the NCAA Infractions Committee.

Auburn, for instance, was given a two-year probation and one-year TV ban by the NCAA last week after an investigation of allegations that coaches gave money to players.

“Cases involving the University of Oklahoma, Texas A&M; and Auburn University did not involve sanctions of this magnitude,” Washington President William P. Gerberding said in a letter to conference presidents and chancellors.

The council member said officials thought Auburn got off lightly, and as a result, did not base penalties on that case. He said the Pac-10 holds itself to a higher standard, and does not use the NCAA Infractions Committee as a guideline.

The member said Washington failed to realize many of those schools dismissed coaches over wrongdoings. For instance, Pat Dye of Auburn was forced to step down after former player Eric Ramsey’s allegations became a national scandal.

“Here, that never happened,” he said. “There was a sense that all of these violations were true but no one was responsible.”

James said he resigned in protest of the strict penalties, and because he thinks the school has been treated unfairly by the conference.

But Washington was put on notice a year ago when it was reprimanded for compliance violations, including a minor recruiting infraction that dealt with a graduate assistant and a recruit, Pat Kesi. The Huskies lost a scholarship because of the violation.

“They had been warned,” an official said.

And thus, when presented with the latest evidence of wrongdoing, the Pac-10 Council, with the blessing of college presidents, was ready to take serious action.

* SANCTIONS: Washington Coach Don James resigned after the Pacific 10 Conference levied stiff penalties against the football program for numerous rules infractions. A1

* WINNING LEGACY: Don James, 60, was the nation’s eighth-winningest active college football coach, and only three others won more bowl games. C8

* REACTION: Don James’ resignation elicited almost universal surprise from football coaches across the nation. C8