THE WHOLE TRUTH

Buck Ortega thought it was his final interview.

It was, instead, his first class.

Lying 101.

Ortega, an all-state quarterback for state champion Miami Gulliver, was completing his official visit to the University of Miami.

It had gone well. He had orally committed to the Hurricanes in October and was not going to change his mind.

The only thing remaining was this one last chat with Coach Butch Davis.

It happened Sunday afternoon in Davis’ office.

“We’re going to have fun here,� Davis told him. “We’re going to accomplish a lot of things here. We’re going to be great.�

Ortega happily returned home.

Just in time for Davis to finish negotiations with the Cleveland Browns.

By Monday morning, Davis was gone.

So, forever, was a bit of the brightness in the eyes of a 19-year-old kid.

“I still can’t believe how many times he said, ‘we,’ � Ortega said in a phone interview Tuesday. “It was ‘we, we, we.’ Everything was ‘we.’ �

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Football coaches lie. They lie about injuries, they lie about strategies, they lie about anything they think will help them win.

We generally shrug at these lies because, well, they are only talking about a silly game.

But, increasingly, the lies are seeping into places closer to the heart.

Increasingly, football coaches are lying to kids.

They tell prospective players they are staying when they are going. They say they’re committed when they’re not.

Rising salaries have given bloom to quick, intense romances with coaches who are fearful of compromising stability at home.

So they compromise themselves.

The latest example of this is Butch Davis, whose new contract with the Cleveland Browns hopefully includes a bucket of water for his pants.

Liar, liar.

Davis ended months of denying he was interested in the NFL by embracing the NFL less than two weeks before all of next year’s recruits were officially scheduled to embrace him.

On Jan. 20, he said, “I will have a new contract, and I will be the coach at Miami next year.�

On Jan. 29, he wasn’t.

Before Monday, he said, “Never once have I said I ever wanted to go to the NFL. . . . There’s no interest at all.�

By Monday night, he was one of the league’s highest-paid coaches at about $3.5 million a year.

At no time in recent history has such a highly visible and popular coach--the Hurricanes were ranked second nationally this season--changed jobs with such questionable timing and morals.

Even Jimmy Johnson, who left Miami for the Dallas Cowboys in February 1989, never said he wouldn’t.

The most disturbing date of all is Feb. 7. That is national signing day, when all of those high school youngsters who agreed to play for Davis next year must make it official.

What do they do now?

If they change their minds, other schools that wanted them might be out of scholarships.

But if they stay at Miami, they don’t know who will be their coach, or if the confusion will end by the time they start school in the fall.

Wait, you say, a student shouldn’t pick a school on the basis of a football coach. Oh, but it’s OK for a clarinet whiz to pick a school on the basis of a music teacher.

It happens all the time, in every field. Kids attend school where they feel there are teachers who will give them the best education.

Buck Ortega, among others, now understands that his field is filled with deceit.

Ortega was working out in his high school weight room Monday with another future Miami player when one of the coaches interrupted to tell them Davis had left for the Browns.

“I said, ‘No way, you’re joking, get out of here,’ � Ortega said.

The coach left to call a television news network. He returned to tell the boys that it had been confirmed.

“I was shocked, I couldn’t believe it, I just couldn’t,� Ortega said. “I was thinking, just yesterday. . . .�

Then he thought about a couple of months earlier, when the Washington Redskins’ job was vacant.

“My dad and I specifically asked him back then whether he was interested in the NFL,� Ortega said. “He told us, ‘I took this job to be my last job. I took this job to retire. I’m not going anywhere.’ �

It isn’t the statement that rankled Ortega as much as the depth of the statement.

“Why did he have to be that specific, why did he have to promise to stay here?� Ortega said. “He could have just told us he loved Miami and hoped to never leave. He could have been less specific.�

Of course. But then, Ortega might not have bought it. And if Ortega didn’t buy it, he might not have agreed to attend Miami.

And if Ortega doesn’t come to Miami, maybe some other offensive stars from around the state don’t come to Miami, and then . . .

Butch Davis spent the last several months covering his hide with no thought of how exposed his deceptions would leave others.

Certainly, a coach must have a chance to pursue better opportunities. And, indeed, although Davis was still under a Miami contract, there was a buyout clause that allows him to leave.

Nobody can argue with Davis’ decision to leave.

But knowing that coaches have much more freedom of movement than players under wrong-minded NCAA rules, didn’t he owe them at least a shred of honesty? Or at least an occasional “No comment�?

Once a recruit signs with a Division I school, he cannot change his mind and enroll at another Division I school without his previous school’s permission, or he loses a year of eligibility. Once he has begun attending a Division I school, he can’t transfer without losing a year of eligibility.

So while some say Davis did his recruits a favor by leaving before the signing date, if there is no coach at Miami by then, how much of a favor was it?

And this might not even be the worst thing to happen to the Hurricane players this year.

There was the story of Greg Schiano, defensive coordinator who passed out a preseason contract to his players. It was a pledge to stick together through the season.

Everybody signed it, apparently, except Schiano.

He was later named the coach at Rutgers, and abandoned the team before the Sugar Bowl.

Not that anyone is feeling sorry for Miami. Back when Johnson defected, several new recruits tried to change schools without losing eligibility, but Miami refused to set them free.

College sports. Sometimes the only thing worse is nothing.

Not that Buck Ortega is giving up.

He still plans to attend Miami next fall. One of the reasons is that he loves the school and believes in the program.

As for the other reason, well, let him tell you himself.

“I gave them my word,� he said, and maybe it’s a good thing he didn’t play for Butch Davis after all.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at his e-mail address: [email protected].