Absolutely, the NCAA's investigation of Texas freshman forward Mike Williams is a witch hunt. Those are the words -- witch hunt -- that Williams' attorney uses to describe the NCAA's fascination with the real target of the Mike Williams saga: club coach Mark Komara.
But what if Komara really is, you know, a witch?
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| The NCAA says Mark Komara gave Mike Williams' parents plane tickets two years ago.(Getty Images) |
The NCAA has been after Komara for years. Thomas Yeager, chairman of the NCAA's Committee on Infractions, blasted Komara in April when the NCAA docked Auburn a scholarship and handed out two years' probation. Yeager even offered a chilling warning to college coaches, saying, "I'm not sure why anybody would want to go back and recruit a kid off (Komara's) team or kids he's involved with."
The NCAA said Komara was acting as a representative of Auburn when he gave Butler and Chadd Moore impermissible benefits, even though neither has played for Auburn; Butler signed with Tennessee before entering the 2004 NBA Draft, while Moore chose Cincinnati.
Now it's Texas and Williams in the spotlight, though this has nothing to do with Texas and precious little to do with Williams. This is about Komara and the NCAA's obsession with bringing him down. The NCAA says Komara gave Williams' parents plane tickets to watch their son play.
Williams, who was hours from making his debut Tuesday in Texas' exhibition opener when the NCAA advised Texas not to let him play, is the fifth player the NCAA has used to get to Komara since 2002. The others were Moore, Butler, Stone (at Louisville) and Brandon Robinson (Auburn). Stone missed three games in 2002-03. Robinson missed 13 games and two exhibitions that same season.
Throw in the "did not play" of Williams on Friday -- DNP-NCAA -- and the NCAA has taken 16 regular-season games and three exhibitions from Komara alumni. That's staggering considering the NCAA never announced violations involving Stone or Robinson.
That run will continue with Williams, says his attorney, Donald Jackson of Montgomery, Ala.
"There's nothing to find," Jackson says. "If there is a more decent, clean, hard-working, humble, polite kid in America than Michael Williams, I wish somebody would show him to me. I mean that very sincerely. This young man is the model for what the NCAA and NCAA basketball should be about."
Other than Yeager's startlingly blunt assessment in April of Komara, whom he said has a "blatant disregard for NCAA recruiting rules," the NCAA won't discuss him. In recent months Komara has declined numerous interview attempts, including several from SportsLine.com.
Jackson says the NCAA began looking into those plane tickets two years ago, and Williams' story was the same then as it is now: They repaid Komara with cash because they don't have a checking account or credit card.
