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University of New Mexico assistant football coaches investigated by NCAA

By Iliana Limón
Saturday, September 15, 2007

Video

Athletics Director Paul Krebs discusses the NCAA's allegations of violations by the UNM football program (video 1 of 2).

Athletics Director Paul Krebs discusses the NCAA's allegations of violations by the UNM football program (video 1 of 2). Watch »

Video

Athletics Director Paul Krebs discusses the NCAA's allegations of violations by the UNM football program (video 2 of 2).

Athletics Director Paul Krebs discusses the NCAA's allegations of violations by the UNM football program (video 2 of 2). Watch »

TUCSON, Ariz. — The name Fern Zahlen could haunt the University of New Mexico football program for years.

Zahlen and the Lobos were never supposed to meet.

She lives in California and boasts elite teaching credentials.

She has a happy-go-lucky voice and seems like an accessible instructor eager to help her students.

Her background belies the tangled web of deceit she is accused of sewing with three Lobos football assistant coaches.

UNM revealed Friday it is under investigation by the NCAA, the body that oversees intercollegiate athletics and enforces rules designed to protect students. The NCAA is alleging major rules violations by three Lobos assistant football coaches charged with helping four prospective players and one athlete who was enrolled at UNM obtain fraudulent course credit.

Two of the five players the NCAA says were involved in the incident eventually played for UNM. None of the athletes are currently in the football program.

Zahlen is at the center of the controversy.

The NCAA's notice of allegations ties her to the three assistant coaches, two of whom are no longer with the program.

According to the NCAA's notice of allegations dated Sept. 6 and released Friday by UNM, the coaches entered into an inappropriate relationship with Zahlen while she was affiliated with Fresno Pacific University in Fresno, Calif., during the 2005 and 2006 academic school years.

The NCAA's allegations redacted the players' and coaches' identities, but named Zahlen as a major player in the controversy. The statement outlined the following allegations:

• The coaches provided benefits to four prospective players and one athlete already in school by arranging for them to enroll in and receive "improper" course credit from Fresno Pacific University.

• They lied about their involvement in a scheme to register players at Fresno Pacific and offers to pay for the courses.

• The coaches provided "false and misleading" information to UNM and the NCAA enforcement staff about the connection to Fresno Pacific.

• A coach provided his university-issued telephone number as the phone number for a player enrolling in correspondence courses at Fresno Pacific.

• Athletes told investigators that a coach said they would receive credit for a Fresno Pacific course without having to complete any work.

• A coach denied "he had registered or had any knowledge of other coaches registering prospective student-athletes in Fresno Pacific correspondence courses when, in fact, the coach had registered or assisted . . . them in their Fresno Pacific courses."

• A UNM coach told enforcement investigators that he had never communicated with Fresno Pacific instructors when phone records revealed he had placed at least 17 calls to instructor Zahlen between February 2004 and January 2006.

UNM Athletics Director Paul Krebs, along with other school officials, said Friday the Lobos are cooperating with the NCAA investigation. The school plans to respond to the NCAA in writing by Dec. 7.

Krebs said if school officials learn through their own investigation UNM has violated any NCAA rules, it will self-impose sanctions with the hope of appeasing the NCAA.

"I think the message we want to send loud and clear is if those allegations prove to be true then the first step will be for us to self-impose sanctions on our own program," Krebs said. "There's a lot of territory that could be covered . . . We are going to do what we think is right based upon our fact-finding."

He said the fallout from the allegations could be vast and painful for the football program and entire Athletics Department.

"Without getting into the specifics of our case, it can be anything from loss of visitation, limiting the number of official visits, limiting the number of scholarships," Krebs said. "The ultimate is loss of TV and bowl bans and that sort of thing. There's a wide range of things that could occur here."

School officials were quick to point out none of the allegations involve head coach Rocky Long and the NCAA does not allege any lack of institutional control, the measuring stick the organization uses as a sign of gross misconduct that triggers its stiffest penalties.

The current allegations trigger memories of Lobogate, a transcript-fixing scandal in the late 1970s that rocked the UNM men's basketball program.

Greg Remington, associate director of athletics media relations, pointed out the NCAA has leveled four allegations of impropriety against UNM tied to this incident - a paltry number compared to the 34 counts the school faced during Lobogate. He also pointed out federal investigators indicted several school officials on criminal charges in the vast conspiracy.

While Krebs defended the current operation of the athletics program, he also emphasized any sort of allegations of impropriety were unacceptable.

"Intentional violations of NCAA rules is simply something that no athletic program can tolerate," he said. ". . . The goal is to win, but the goal is to win the right way."

Jaime Koch, president of the UNM Board of Regents who was traveling with the football team, said he is confident Krebs and university President David Schmidly will handle the matter swiftly and appropriately.

"Right now, they are just allegations," Koch said. "I know our leadership will handle it appropriately and always have the interest of the student athletes and the university at heart."

Long declined to comment about the NCAA allegations, adding he would not discuss the issue until after the football season in December.

UNM officials did not address any of the NCAA allegations, but Fresno Pacific representatives were quick to defend their institution.

The California school paints Zahlen as a rogue instructor who veered destructively away from her teaching assignment.

Zahlen, who is now a part-time faculty member at California State University at Long Beach, did not respond to numerous phone messages and e-mails from The Tribune.

Diana Mock, a spokeswoman for Fresno Pacific, said Zahlen worked as an independent contractor for the school. Zahlen was the instructor of an elite set of professional development courses for teachers. Students in her classes signed agreements indicating the seminars were not intended to be used for credits toward a degree.

"They were designed to help teachers get pay raises, but when some undergraduates tried to transfer credit from her classes a lot of schools accepted the credits because her syllabus was so rigorous," Mock said. "She had really impressive education credentials, and most people believed anyone who passed her course deserved the credit."

Mock said Zahlen's workshops were very popular and lucrative for the school, but they were never supposed to be taught online or be part of undergraduate curriculum.

"We were contacted by the NCAA a few years ago and told that athletes were taking her courses as undergraduates," Mock said. "They told us she was offering online courses and wanted to know more about her background. As soon as we realized she was operating improperly, we terminated her contract with the school. She never had our authorization to be involved in any teaching of undergraduates, especially students barely seeking junior college degrees.

"We had no idea any of this was happening, and it's our understanding that we are not responsible for anything."

The Tribune's James Staley contributed to this report.