this time at the University of Richmond. <img border="0" alt="[NoNo]" title="" src="graemlins/nono.gif" />
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">
Background discrepancies result in coach's firing
RICHMOND, Va. - The University of Richmond fired assistant basketball coach Mike Wilson because of inaccurate biographical information in media guides at other schools where he has worked.
New Spiders coach Jerry Wainwright hired Wilson from Auburn last month. Wilson's biography in the Auburn media guide says he was head coach at Pittsburgh's Bethel Park High from 1979 to 1981.
Red Ryan coached Bethel Park High's team from 1975 to 1998. Ryan said Wilson never coached or played basketball there.
"I guess he thought no one would ever check," Ryan told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which had questioned Richmond athletic director Jim Miller about the accuracy of Wilson's biographical information Thursday.
Errors regarding Wilson's age and alma mater have also been made in his media guide bios. Before working at Auburn for the past two seasons, Wilson was an assistant at Rhode Island, Baylor, UNC-Wilmington, Spartanburg Methodist College, McNeese State, Penn State and Slippery Rock.
Wilson said Friday that once incorrect information appeared in a media guide and he noticed it, he tried to correct it. He could not explain why the incorrect information moved with him from school to school.
Wilson told he never graduated from Southeastern Louisiana, though Richmond's announcement of his hiring states he did in 1986. Wilson said he attended Southeastern University in Washington.
"Richmond was aware of these things before I got here," Wilson said. "I was up front with them. There's a difference between a bio and a resume. I've never handed a resume in that was not accurate at any university, including the University of Richmond. I'm being terminated for a bio instead of resume."
Wainwright and Miller declined to comment on Wilson's firing.
The incident is the latest in a series of background-enhancement cases in sports. Notre Dame football coach George O'Leary, Dartmouth athletic director Charles Harris, Allegheny College football coach Blair Hrovat and U.S. Olympic Committee president Sandra Baldwin lost their jobs in recent months because of similar problems.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">
<small>[ June 29, 2002, 06:48 PM: Message edited by: Lucy ]</small>
