NCAA’s inquiry of UH rolls on

The NCAA continues to investigate alleged point shaving by University of Hawaii football players last season, more than 10 months after the anonymous allegations were raised, a university source confirmed Thursday.

The UH source said the school contacted the NCAA recently to check on the status of the case. "They said that they don’t have a comment on the investigation," said the source, who did not want to be identified because of confidentiality and the wishes of the NCAA. "So we don’t know the status. But you can assume if the investigation was closed they would tell us."

NCAA associate director of public and media relations Stacey Osburn told the Star-Advertiser earlier this week that the organization cannot comment on "current, pending or potential" cases. But in an email Wednesday, she added, "Once a case has been closed, either the school or the NCAA could announce as much."

No such announcement has come from either entity.

When asked whether the university would have made an announcement if the matter had been resolved, the UH source answered, "Sure."

The source said no details were provided by the NCAA, which is the largest governing agency of college sports: "We asked the NCAA, and they repeated they have no comment."

Officially, a UH spokes­woman declined comment and referred all inquiries to the NCAA.

On Nov. 22, UH President M.R.C. Greenwood said the school had received an anonymous letter earlier in the month accusing some UH players of point shaving. Point shaving, a felony, is the act of not giving a full effort in order to help an opposing team beat the gambling point spread, thus helping gamblers who bet on the opposing team.

Greenwood said in November that UH officials immediately notified the Hono­lulu Police Department and the NCAA.

The HPD said it did not have enough information to investigate, but the NCAA released the following statement at the time: "We are extremely concerned by the point-shaving allegations involving University of Hawaii football student-athletes and have been in contact with the school since early November. We take any allegation of point-shaving very seriously as it is a crime that threatens two core NCAA principles — the well-being of student-athletes and the very integrity of intercollegiate sport."

Osburn said in an email Tuesday that the NCAA’s statement remains in effect.

The issue of investigations and UH football took center stage Monday when former athletic director Jim Dono­van told a state Senate panel that he had been instructed by the Board of Regents in December to get then-football coach Greg McMackin to resign and accept $600,000 of his $1.1 million guaranteed contract for 2012, the fifth and final year of his contract. Dono­van said he was instructed to tell McMackin that he would be put on leave and investigated if he did not accept the buyout offer.

Donovan also told the panel, formed to probe this summer’s Stevie Wonder concert fiasco, that the football program was being investigated internally by UH during the 2011 season.

But in a phone interview Thursday, Dono­van said that internal probe had nothing to do with gambling or point shaving. "It was another allegation involving players that was totally ridiculous," he said.

"Whatever came out in the news at that time (about the alleged point shaving), I can’t add to it. We can’t discuss anything of that nature regarding student athletes because of federal law," said Dono­van, who is still employed by UH after reassignment in August following the failed concert plan, which cost UH $200,000.

Special Agent Tom Simon of the FBI’s Hono­lulu office said Thursday the agency "can neither confirm or deny" whether it is investigating the point-shaving allegations.