Michigan’s mandated 10-year dissociation from Chris Webber ends Wednesday, but that doesn’t mean the university immediately will welcome him back.
The NCAA’s 2003 infractions report said the dissociation “shall be for at least 10 years.” Athletic director Dave Brandon told mlive.com he had “nothing new to discuss on this topic.”
But in a Tuesday interview with the Associated Press, Brandon indicated a willingness to talk to Webber, Louis Bullock and Maurice Taylor. The fourth player implicated in the Ed Martin scandal, Robert Traylor, died in 2011.
"I've never met any of those guys and I am looking forward to meeting them,” Brandon told the AP. "If any of those guys are interested in meeting with me that would be great."
A federal investigation found the now-deceased Martin gave the former basketball players more than $600,000 when they were Michigan students. Brandon did not discuss the process for rapprochement, including whether the players would have to apologize.
"I wasn't around when all of this happened," he told the AP. "I've never had an opportunity to interact with them to talk about anything and I am hopeful that opportunity will present itself."
Webber pleaded guilty to lying to a grand jury about taking money from Martin. No other Fab Five members got caught up in the scandal, which led to the school forfeiting Final Four appearances in 1992 and 1993 among other banners.
For the past decade, the school has been barred from having Webber on campus in an official role.
But when Michigan played in the national championship game last month, Webber showed up wearing a UM hat. CBS Sports National Columnist wrote then that "for better or worse, Chris Webber is a Michigan man."
