BY BOB HERTZEL
The Dominion Post
Closure, at last.
A West Virginia University basketball season born of high hope, ended in scandal Friday.
A two-month investigation came to an end with four players declared ineligible including freshman guard Jonathan Hargett, who, along with his mother, was accused of taking payments from an unnamed "mentor" hoping to become his future agent. The payments were said to have been made both before Hargett enrolled at WVU and after he arrived.
None of the players involved were named in the report made public by athletic director Ed Pastilong but Hargett has admitted to being the subject of the investigation while declaring he had done nothing wrong.
The violations involving the other three players were deemed minor by Pastilong, who says he will ask the NCAA to reinstate those players.
Hargett, however, is through at WVU and, perhaps, in college basketball.
"I have not talked with the player but the coaching staff has and he has pretty much accepted (the findings)," said Pastilong.
If Hargett is to transfer to another school, Pastilong said it would be up to that school to ask for his reinstatement by the NCAA.
Pastilong said he expects the NCAA to take no action against the school, proclaiming the university was ''completely insulated from and had no knowledge'' of the improprieties. The "mentor" was said to have no connection with WVU.
''We have always stood by the statement that we play by the rules,'' Pastilong said.
Pastilong was unsure if any of WVU's eight victories in last year's 20-loss season would have to be forfeited.
The in-house investigation found Hargett initially was introduced to the "mentor" a few years before the summer of 2001 when "the Mentor began consistently providing financial assistance to both the student-athlete and his Mother on an 'as needed' basis."
The investigation charged the money was sent via Western Union in varying amounts, large enough that Hargett should have realized it was a violation, Pastilong said.
''There is reason to believe that the mentor provided financial assistance to the student-athlete and his mother as incentive for the student-athlete to later employ the mentor's company to advise the student-athlete on issues related to his finances and investments if the student-athlete were to become a professional basketball player,'' the report said.
While West Virginia has recently passed a law under which the actions of the "mentor" could be illegal, Pastilong said no action was planned against this person.
Hargett, of course, was the reason this season was born of hope, being the most highly-regarded recruit in Gale Catlett's 24-year career at WVU. Adding him and other prized freshman Drew Schifino and Tyrone Sally to a team that returned three starters from 17-victory season was supposed to mean at trip to the NCAA.
When the season started at 7-2, with Hargett winning two games with last-second heroics, there was reason to rejoice.
But WVU was to win but one more game the rest of the way, Hargett was to become the centerpiece of the disintegration of the team, openly disregarding Catlett's directions.
In a stunning move, Catlett resigned after a devastating home loss to Virginia Tech, a team which had only one Big East win, and indicated his inability to control the team and Hargett was the prime reason for his departure.
From that point on things completely unraveled, with WVU seeming to be on the verge of hiring former team captain Bob Huggins, considered one of the nation's top coaches, only to have that fall through in the final seconds.
The school then held a press conference to announce Bowling Green coach Dan Dakich had been hired, only to have him leave eight days later, his contract still unsigned and the investigation into the improprities underway.
Now, WVU awaits a response from the NCAA as John Beilein, the new coach who ironically coached last in Hargett's home town of Richmond, Va., tries to rebuild out of the ashes of a season lost.
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Think Beilein is happy to be there now??
