Clem Haskins
Encyclopedia
Clem Smith Haskins is a retired American college and professional basketball
player and college basketball
coach. He and star player Dwight Smith became the first black athletes to integrate the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball
program in the fall of 1963. This put Western Kentucky at the forefront to integrate college basketball in the South. He served 13 years (1986–1999) as head coach of the University of Minnesota
's men's basketball team, but was forced to resign due to one of the worst academic fraud scandals in the history of NCAA sports. He was effectively blackballed from coaching college basketball for seven years, one of the most severe penalties handed down by the NCAA to an individual.
, the fifth of eleven children of Charles Columbus and Lucy Edna Haskins, who were sharecroppers. He spent his freshman and sophomore seasons at the all-black Durham High School, and in 1961 Haskins attended Taylor County High School, the first African American to do so.
two years in a row. Haskins was the Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year in 1966. In the 1966 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
, the Hilltoppers were 2 points away from defeating Michigan and meeting the University of Kentucky Wildcats in the Mideast regional final. A controversial foul called against Smith during a jump ball put Cazzie Russell on the free throw line for Michigan, where he scored the tying and winning baskets. In 1967, Haskins had broken his wrist in a game against Murray State on February 6. The team still won the Ohio Valley Conference again. In the 1967 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
, the #3 ranked Hilltoppers lost to eventual national runner-up Dayton in overtime in the Mideast quarterfinals.
in the first round of the 1967 NBA Draft
and by the Kentucky Colonels
in the American Basketball Association
draft. Haskins went on to play nine years in the NBA with three teams (the Bulls, the Phoenix Suns
, and the Washington Bullets). He retired in 1976 due to knee injuries, having tallied 6,743 career points.
in 1997, winning the Clair Bee Coach of the Year Award
in the same year. He also led Minnesota to National Invitation Tournament
titles in 1993 and 1998. Haskins was known for sitting on a four-legged stool at Minnesota home games. Williams Arena
has a raised floor which was hard on Haskins' knees, and ordinarily the team sits off the floor. He joined Lenny Wilkens
' staff to coach "Dream Team III" to the gold medal in Basketball at the 1996 Summer Olympics
.
. The St. Paul Pioneer Press
reported allegations by Jan Gangelhoff, the manager of the school's academic counseling office, that she had written more than 400 pieces of coursework (including theme papers, homework assignments and take-home tests) for 18 Golden Gophers players from 1994 to 1998, including the Gophers' run to the Final Four. The Gophers suspended four then-current players, including two starters, for the school's first-round game against Gonzaga
(which the Gophers lost). At the time, it was not known whether Haskins was involved, and the Pioneer Press was harshly criticized for the story's timing. However, Haskins was forced to resign after the season. Minnesota also withdrew from postseason consideration for the 1999-2000 season, docked itself 11 scholarships from 2000 to 2004, and imposed other sanctions on the basketball program. Despite the serious NCAA violations on his watch, Haskins pocketed $1.5 million as a settlement and buyout of his contract.
During a school investigation, it emerged that Haskins paid Gangelhoff $3,000 to write papers for the players. Haskins had initially denied making the payment during his interview in June 1999, only to admit it a month later. In October 2000, the Golden Gophers program was placed on four years' probation by the NCAA, and stripped of its wins in the 1994, 1995 and 1997 NCAA tournaments, as well as its NIT wins in 1996 and 1998. A few days later, the Big Ten Conference stripped Minnesota of the 1997 conference title and forced it to vacate every regular season game it played from 1993-94 to 1998-99. Officially, Minnesota's record for those years is 0-0. If not for these vacated games, Haskins' 242 wins would place him second on the Golden Gophers' wins list.
The NCAA also slapped Haskins with a seven-year "show-cause
" order, meaning that Haskins would have to accept sanctions from the NCAA if he ever wanted to coach again, unless his new employer could convince the NCAA that he'd served his punishment. The penalty, the harshest that can be imposed on a coach, came because the committee found Haskins had lied about making the $3,000 payment, and—more seriously—he'd told several of the players involved to lie to the NCAA. Since most schools will not even consider hiring a coach with an outstanding "show-cause" on his record, Haskins was effectively blackballed from coaching until 2007.
where he raises cattle. He also does color commentary for Western Kentucky basketball home games.
&Official record at Minnesota is 111-100 (42-76 Big 10) not including vacated games.
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
player and college basketball
College basketball
College basketball most often refers to the USA basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III....
coach. He and star player Dwight Smith became the first black athletes to integrate the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball
Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball
The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers Basketball team is the men's basketball team that represents WKU in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The Hilltoppers currently compete in the Sun Belt Conference. The team's most recent appearance in the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament was in 2009...
program in the fall of 1963. This put Western Kentucky at the forefront to integrate college basketball in the South. He served 13 years (1986–1999) as head coach of the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
's men's basketball team, but was forced to resign due to one of the worst academic fraud scandals in the history of NCAA sports. He was effectively blackballed from coaching college basketball for seven years, one of the most severe penalties handed down by the NCAA to an individual.
Early life
Haskins was born in Campbellsville, KentuckyCampbellsville, Kentucky
Campbellsville is a city in Taylor County, Kentucky, United States. The population within city limits was 10,498 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Taylor County, and the home of Campbellsville University...
, the fifth of eleven children of Charles Columbus and Lucy Edna Haskins, who were sharecroppers. He spent his freshman and sophomore seasons at the all-black Durham High School, and in 1961 Haskins attended Taylor County High School, the first African American to do so.
College career
He was a teammate of star basketball player Dwight Smith on the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers team that won the Ohio Valley ConferenceOhio Valley Conference
The Ohio Valley Conference is a college athletic conference which operates in the midwestern and southeastern United States. It participates in Division I of the NCAA; the conference's football programs compete in the Football Championship Subdivision , the lower of two levels of Division I...
two years in a row. Haskins was the Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year in 1966. In the 1966 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
1966 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 1966 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 22 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 7, 1966, and ended with the championship game on March 19 in College Park, Maryland...
, the Hilltoppers were 2 points away from defeating Michigan and meeting the University of Kentucky Wildcats in the Mideast regional final. A controversial foul called against Smith during a jump ball put Cazzie Russell on the free throw line for Michigan, where he scored the tying and winning baskets. In 1967, Haskins had broken his wrist in a game against Murray State on February 6. The team still won the Ohio Valley Conference again. In the 1967 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
1967 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 1967 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 23 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 11, 1967, and ended with the championship game on March 25 in Louisville, Kentucky...
, the #3 ranked Hilltoppers lost to eventual national runner-up Dayton in overtime in the Mideast quarterfinals.
NBA career
After a successful college career, Haskins was selected by the Chicago BullsChicago Bulls
The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago, Illinois, playing in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was founded in 1966. They play their home games at the United Center...
in the first round of the 1967 NBA Draft
NBA Draft
The NBA Draft is an annual event in which the thirty teams from the National Basketball Association can draft players who are eligible and wish to join the league. These players are usually amateur U.S. college basketball players, but international players are also eligible to be drafted...
and by the Kentucky Colonels
Kentucky Colonels
The Kentucky Colonels were a member of the American Basketball Association for all of the league's nine years. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky colonels. The Colonels won the most games and had the highest winning percentage of any franchise in the league's history, but the team did...
in the American Basketball Association
American Basketball Association
The American Basketball Association was a professional basketball league founded in 1967. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger in 1976.-League history:...
draft. Haskins went on to play nine years in the NBA with three teams (the Bulls, the Phoenix Suns
Phoenix Suns
The Phoenix Suns are a professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association and the only team in their division not to be based in California. Their home arena since 1992 has been the US...
, and the Washington Bullets). He retired in 1976 due to knee injuries, having tallied 6,743 career points.
Coaching career
After his NBA career, Haskins returned to Western Kentucky University, first as an assistant coach and then as head coach. In 1986, Haskins was hired by the University of Minnesota to rebuild the school's men's basketball program. He led the Gophers to a school-record 31 wins and the Final FourNCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single-elimination tournament held each spring in the United States, featuring 68 college basketball teams, to determine the national championship in the top tier of college basketball...
in 1997, winning the Clair Bee Coach of the Year Award
Clair Bee Coach of the Year Award
The Clair Bee Coach of the Year Award honors the active men's NCAA Division I basketball coach who has made the most significant positive contributions to his sport during the preceding year...
in the same year. He also led Minnesota to National Invitation Tournament
National Invitation Tournament
The National Invitation Tournament is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. There are two NIT events each season. The first, played in November and known as the Dick's Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off , was founded in 1985...
titles in 1993 and 1998. Haskins was known for sitting on a four-legged stool at Minnesota home games. Williams Arena
Williams Arena
Williams Arena, located on the Twin Cities main campus of the University of Minnesota is the home of the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers men's and women's basketball teams, and the men's and women's hockey teams until 1992, when the hockey teams received their own buildings...
has a raised floor which was hard on Haskins' knees, and ordinarily the team sits off the floor. He joined Lenny Wilkens
Lenny Wilkens
Leonard Randolph "Lenny" Wilkens is a retired American basketball player and coach in the NBA...
' staff to coach "Dream Team III" to the gold medal in Basketball at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Basketball at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Basketball contests at the 1996 Olympic Games were held from July 20, 1996 to August 4, 1996. Games took place at the Morehouse College Gymnasium and the Georgia Dome. For the second straight Olympic games, the American men's team composed almost entirely of NBA players won the gold medal...
.
Minnesota academic scandal
However, his legacy will be forever tarnished by a scandal involving academic fraud, which broke on the day before the 1999 NCAA Tournament1999 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 1999 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 11, 1999, and ended with the championship game on March 29 at Tropicana Field in St....
. The St. Paul Pioneer Press
St. Paul Pioneer Press
The St. Paul Pioneer Press is a newspaper based in St. Paul, Minnesota, primarily serving the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Circulation is heaviest in the eastern metro region, including Ramsey, Dakota, and Washington counties, along with western Wisconsin, eastern Minnesota and Anoka County,...
reported allegations by Jan Gangelhoff, the manager of the school's academic counseling office, that she had written more than 400 pieces of coursework (including theme papers, homework assignments and take-home tests) for 18 Golden Gophers players from 1994 to 1998, including the Gophers' run to the Final Four. The Gophers suspended four then-current players, including two starters, for the school's first-round game against Gonzaga
Gonzaga Bulldogs
The Gonzaga Bulldogs are the athletic teams at Gonzaga University; the term applies to any of the school's varsity teams. Gonzaga University is a member of the West Coast Conference, which participates in the NCAA Division I...
(which the Gophers lost). At the time, it was not known whether Haskins was involved, and the Pioneer Press was harshly criticized for the story's timing. However, Haskins was forced to resign after the season. Minnesota also withdrew from postseason consideration for the 1999-2000 season, docked itself 11 scholarships from 2000 to 2004, and imposed other sanctions on the basketball program. Despite the serious NCAA violations on his watch, Haskins pocketed $1.5 million as a settlement and buyout of his contract.
During a school investigation, it emerged that Haskins paid Gangelhoff $3,000 to write papers for the players. Haskins had initially denied making the payment during his interview in June 1999, only to admit it a month later. In October 2000, the Golden Gophers program was placed on four years' probation by the NCAA, and stripped of its wins in the 1994, 1995 and 1997 NCAA tournaments, as well as its NIT wins in 1996 and 1998. A few days later, the Big Ten Conference stripped Minnesota of the 1997 conference title and forced it to vacate every regular season game it played from 1993-94 to 1998-99. Officially, Minnesota's record for those years is 0-0. If not for these vacated games, Haskins' 242 wins would place him second on the Golden Gophers' wins list.
The NCAA also slapped Haskins with a seven-year "show-cause
Show-cause penalty (NCAA)
In the National Collegiate Athletic Association , a show-cause penalty is an order saying that for a set period of time, any NCAA penalties imposed on a coach involved in major rules violations at a university's athletic program will remain in force if he is hired by any other NCAA member institution...
" order, meaning that Haskins would have to accept sanctions from the NCAA if he ever wanted to coach again, unless his new employer could convince the NCAA that he'd served his punishment. The penalty, the harshest that can be imposed on a coach, came because the committee found Haskins had lied about making the $3,000 payment, and—more seriously—he'd told several of the players involved to lie to the NCAA. Since most schools will not even consider hiring a coach with an outstanding "show-cause" on his record, Haskins was effectively blackballed from coaching until 2007.
After coaching
As of March 2008, Clem is no longer coaching basketball. He has a 750 acres (3 km²) ranch near Campbellsville, KentuckyCampbellsville, Kentucky
Campbellsville is a city in Taylor County, Kentucky, United States. The population within city limits was 10,498 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Taylor County, and the home of Campbellsville University...
where he raises cattle. He also does color commentary for Western Kentucky basketball home games.
Awards
- High School Scholastic All-American, 1963
- Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year, 1966
- Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year, 1967
- First team All-American, 1967
- Ohio Valley Conference Coach of the Year, 1982
- Associated Press Coach of the Year, 1997
Head coaching record
% Entire seasons, including tournament appearances, vacated due to an academic fraud scandal.&Official record at Minnesota is 111-100 (42-76 Big 10) not including vacated games.
External links
- NBA Stats @ basketball-reference.com
- The Clem Haskins Story @ Minnesota Public Radio
- Brief 6-30-1999 from the University of Minnesota
- NCAA panel to decide on basketball team sanctions from The Minnesota Daily; includes admission of payments