UCLA on Thursday asked the Pacific 10 Conference to investigate allegations of wrongdoing by its basketball program.
The allegations came in the form of an anonymous e-mail sent during the NCAA tournament to Arn Tellem, Bruin Coach Steve Lavin's agent, and to three senior UCLA administrators, including Athletic Director Peter Dalis. The Times has obtained a copy of the letter.
In a conference call Thursday with reporters, Dalis said he has investigated the allegations and cannot substantiate them.
Still, he turned over the e-mail and school phone records to Dan Coonan, the Pac-10's assistant commissioner for governance and enforcement.
"It appears to me it's someone trying to damage the program and Coach Lavin," said Dalis, adding that he e-mailed a reply to the original e-mail requesting a face-to-face meeting with the sender but got no response.
It's not known if Dalis provided the Pac-10 with Lavin's personal phone records. The coach typically uses his own cell phone, a UCLA source said.
Coonan said the conference plans to investigate the situation.
"We'll be looking into it," he said. "Beyond that, we really don't comment."
Among the allegations against Lavin: He paid players and purchased cars for them; he had illegal contact with recruits; he provided a player with a personal trainer; and he bought a car for an independent academic tutor working with recruits. The allegations, all potential NCAA violations, involve eight players or recruits during a three-year period.
Dalis said he met with Lavin about the allegations Thursday and was "satisfied with his responses."
Lavin has hired a Bay Area attorney to determine the origin of the e-mail and pursue legal recourse, an athletic department source said. He has been instructed by Dalis not to speak publicly about the matter.
In its Thursday edition, the Los Angeles Daily News quoted two players recruited by UCLA as saying they had contact with Bruin coaches at a time of the year when such contact is prohibited by NCAA rules.
The story said that Errick Craven, a senior at Torrance Bishop Montgomery High, said Lavin met with him around March of last year in his high school coach's office. Jamaal Williams, a senior at Corona Centennial High, was quoted in the article as saying UCLA coaches contacted him "all the time" during his junior year.
