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Tuesday, June 08, 1999 By Bob Smizik, Post-Gazette Sports Columnist
The news of the early spring seemed too good to be true. It signaled a new beginning and the possible return of a once-proud tradition. The potential for long-term success, almost unheard of, loomed.
But this is about the Duquesne University basketball program so, of course, it was too good to be true.
Most of Duquesne has been a pleasing success story in recent years. Under Dr. John Murray, Duquesne has experienced a period of profound growth in terms of students, academic prestige and fund raising.
Under Athletic Director Brian Colleary, the school's sports programs also have flourished. The football team has been a rousing success; the baseball team has had a player selected in the draft the past two seasons; the women's basketball team has sent the great Korie Hlede to the pros; the university has been the host of an NCAA basketball tournament round and within the next four years will be the host for two more.
Everything is a go -- except men's basketball. Duquesne's signature athletic program, the one that brought it such glory decades ago, has been a miserable failure.
Nothing Duquesne has attempted has been able to revitalize the basketball program. The successful coach for a rival program was hired. He failed. A hot-shot assistant, not far removed from the national championship game, was hired. He failed. A successful coach from a lower Division I program, with a resume that reeked of success, was hired. He failed.
A new facility was built. Nothing changed. The recruiting budget was increased. Nothing changed. Coaching salaries were increased. Nothing changed.
Then along came Darelle Porter, a Pitt man who was hired because he was willing to work cheap. And what's that they say about you get what you pay for? The Dukes were 5-23 under Porter last season.
But the record was an inaccurate barometer. Porter was building a program, not striving for a winning record. When center Kevin Shand, a 6-10 post player of more than moderate skills, became a problem, Porter suspended him in January -- for the rest of the season.
When the season concluded, Porter invited four players to transfer. All accepted the offer and Porter and his staff went to work. Eight new players were signed. The quality of the recruits was something Duquesne hadn't had in years.
"I was ecstatic," Porter said yesterday. "I thought we did a great job in recruiting. We got involved with people no one thought we could. We definitely made strides in the right direction."
It was this grand recruiting news that inspired such hope.
And then it all came apart. The news hit the papers late last week, but the investigation had been under way for months. Two transfers who would have been eligible in January, Simon Ogunlesi and Jamal Hunter, and senior Devone Stephenson were indicted last week on charges of trying to defraud PNC Bank of nearly $36,000.
The news was devastating to Duquesne fans who sensed a rebirth of the school's winning tradition. You could almost hear it: Jailbird U.
But there are those at Duquesne who have not given up on these young men and see the arrests as a temporary roadblock, not a permanent detour.
All three players are first-time offenders. There is a belief they were pawns of an older man who had worked a similar scam at other schools. Of course, they did wrong. But if they cooperate with authorities, it they make full disclosure, the possibility exists they will come out of this with what amounts to a slap on the wrist.
If that happens, they'll receive the same justice thousands of other first offenders, particularly those involved in non-violent crimes, receive.
Then it rests with Duquesne, a fine Catholic institution that has a history of punishing its athletes who stray. That would be too bad. Not just for the basketball program, but for the young men involved.
But should it come to that, no one should be surprised. After all, this is Duquesne basketball.
Bob Smizik can be reached at bsmizik@post-gazette.com.
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