An attorney for Roburt Sallie said the Nebraska basketball recruit never knew he was enrolled in classes at NU in the fall of 2006. "He didn't know anything about it, and neither did I," Don Ja
BRIAN ROSENTHAL / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Tuesday, May 27, 2008 7:00 pm
An attorney representing Roburt Sallie said the Nebraska basketball recruit never knew he was officially enrolled in classes at NU in the fall of 2006.
For that matter, Don Jackson said, neither did Nebraska’s compliance staff.
It’s a mistake that Jackson believes NU officials only recently discovered, setting off a sudden chain of events that left coach Doc Sadler’s prized recruit ineligible to ever play for the Huskers.
“If I had to guess, I would say the decision to enroll him was probably an oversight,” Jackson told the Journal Star on Wednesday. “I don’t think anyone had any malicious intent.”
Jackson said he believes Nebraska’s academic services enrolled Sallie, and that Nebraska’s compliance department only recently learned that Sallie was in violation of league rules.
Nebraska requested a waiver of Big 12 Conference Rule 6.2, which states that any student-athlete who enrolls at a league institution, either part time or full time, must meet NCAA initial eligibility requirements. The Big 12 Council last Thursday denied the waiver.
Sallie, awaiting academic clearance by the NCAA, attended classes at Nebraska from Aug. 21 to Aug. 25, 2006, on his own accord, Jackson said, “based on the assumption that when he was cleared, he would then be enrolled in those classes and be eligible.”
When the NCAA academic clearinghouse declared Sallie ineligible, and denied three appeals, that made Sallie in violation of Rule 6.2.
Why, then, did Nebraska re-sign Sallie last November, if the only way he’d be eligible was through a waiver?
“I’ll tell you why,” Jackson said. “Because (Nebraska’s) compliance didn’t know that this mix-up had occurred.”
Gary Bargen, Nebraska’s assistant athletic director for compliance, won’t comment. He told the Journal Star all questions regarding Sallie should go through Nebraska faculty athletics representative Jo Potuto.
Potuto said Sallie was advised in the fall of 2006 that his enrollment could create a problem with Rule 6.2.
Potuto denied Jackson’s claim that Sallie was enrolled without knowing.
“I think that’s just not credible,” Potuto said.
Jackson, though, said he’s yet to see any records of Sallie’s enrollment or withdrawal. He began representing Sallie in the fall of 2006, but not until after Sallie had stopped attending classes.
Jackson said Sallie, who rented an apartment in Lincoln, didn’t purchase books, instead borrowing those of classmates. He didn’t know whether Sallie had paid for his academic hours.
Why would Sallie attend classes while believing he wasn’t enrolled? Jackson said Sallie wanted to keep up to date on the coursework, so that if the NCAA declared him eligible, he wouldn’t be behind, he could enroll full time and could play in the fall.
Nathan Fuerst, assistant director of admissions at Nebraska, said it’s possible for a student who’s not enrolled to still attend a class, but that the student would need permission from the faculty member in charge of the course. Even then, the student would be allowed to attend for only a brief time before having to enroll.
Jackson said he first learned of the waiver request last week through a source at another Big 12 school, and that Sallie knew nothing about the situation until Sunday.
“(The university) clearly knew I represented him the first time around,” Jackson said. “It would’ve been better off to put us on notice of what was going on.”
Potuto, who presented Sallie’s case to the Big 12 Council, said Sallie wasn’t contacted because he was busy with final exams, and that there was no further information needed from him in regard to the waiver request.
As for informing Jackson?
“I do not know Don Jackson,” Potuto said. “These are private matters, and we don’t, as an institution, inform individuals when things are proceeding.”
Sadler has been instructed to not comment on Sallie’s status. It’s unclear when Sadler learned of Sallie’s need for a waiver.
When asked if Sadler, who was hired in August 2006, knew about Rule 6.2 when Sallie enrolled, Potuto said, “I don’t know, you’d have to ask him.”
As for why Nebraska re-signed Sallie last November if it knew there was a potential problem, Potuto responded, “Well, I don’t know.”
The 6-foot-5, 195-pound Sallie, a guard from Sacramento, Calif., originally signed with Washington while he was at Laurinburg Institute, a prep school. When Sallie didn’t qualify academically, he spent another year in prep school at The Patterson School in North Carolina and first signed with Nebraska in April 2006.
Sallie, after being denied academic clearance by the NCAA again, sat out the 2006-07 season, then enrolled at City College of San Francisco in the spring of 2007. He played for City College last season and was named the California junior college player of the year.
Sallie has earned good grades, according to his coach, Justin Labagh, and is on the verge of completing his associate’s degree.
“What Roburt wants to do right now is see if there’s any recourse as far as getting eligible (at Nebraska),” Jackson said.
What are those odds?
“To be frank with you, I have to reserve judgment on that because no one in the athletic department has shared any information with me,” he said. “None.”
As for Sallie, Jackson said many schools have been contacting him, but he didn’t have any idea where he may go. Sallie is only eligible to participate at schools outside the Big 12 Conference.
“This is not something that he’s placing any blame on anybody for,” Jackson said. “He’s just merely disappointed.”
Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-7436 or brosenthal@journalstar.com.