Summer Programs Feeling the Heat

NCAA Viewed as Trying to Regulate Basketball Leagues, Coaches

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- The NCAA wants to make an example of Mark Komara. In April, when it issued the results of its investigation into the Auburn men's basketball program, the NCAA infractions committee made Komara the first summer league coach ever deemed a representative of a college.

While the intent was to limit Komara's influence by discouraging colleges from dealing with him, Komara gives no indication he will change his ways, and the immediate effects have been minimal. It illustrates the NCAA's difficulty of regulating summer league coaches, including some, the organization feels, looking to profit as middlemen between the top high school players and colleges searching for the next superstar.

"I'll tell you what: I invite NCAA representatives into my gym," said Komara, speaking publicly for the first time since the close of the two-year investigation. "They can sit down with my players and their parents and explain the NCAA rules to them. If I have to, I'd pay for the plane ticket."

The ruling in the Auburn case was viewed as the NCAA's latest attempt to regulate summer league basketball, which continues to be a source of frustration for the NCAA. Summer basketball competitions have few rules regarding who can coach a team and the conduct of those coaches, although no convicted felons are permitted.

But by labeling Komara an Auburn representative (or booster), a relationship established in part by the 1,100 phone calls made between Auburn's staff and Komara between 1999 and 2001, the NCAA stated that the school was responsible for his actions. Komara has denied accusations that he provided money and other gifts to two of his former players, both of whom Auburn had recruited. Auburn was put on probation and received minor sanctions.

Thomas Yeager, infractions committee chairman, said the committee wanted to debunk the notion that AAU coaches have "immunity" from NCAA rules. Yeager said following the ruling that he was not sure "why anyone would want to go back and recruit a kid off [Komara's] team or kids he's involved with." In the absence of any real way to regulate summer league coaches, the NCAA has attempted to discourage schools from dealing with them.

By all accounts, however, the ruling has done little to rattle Komara nor dampen his popularity. A married father of four, Komara splits duties as the owner of a Huntsville sports bar and the organizer of a usually star-studded summer team. He has many of the biggest coaching names in the business on speed dial; several have been in his bar. At least five called Komara in one day last week.

Alabama Coach Mark Gottfried, asked if he planned to shy away from any of Komara's players post-ruling, said, "I don't think you can."

Several summer league coaches around the country said they either were unaware of or unaffected by the ruling.

"No matter what the NCAA does, they are not going to stop [AAU basketball]," said Houston-based coach Hal Pastner, unaware of the ruling.

"Nothing is going to stop traveling teams. It's just the opposite. It's exploding because kids want to play year round and basketball is surpassing baseball."

Long ago, summer basketball competition was under the auspices of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), and even today, many people use the term AAU to refer to all summer leagues. But as interest in top high school players grew, shoe companies became involved, staging their own camps and competitions and increasing visibility.

Concerns have existed for more than a decade, though. As Texas coach in 1992, Tom Penders wrote a letter to the state's high school University Interscholastic League that said summer league coaches had gained too much influence over players. While the problem has only gotten worse, Penders, the University of Houston's new coach, said this week that "you have to get along with them. You have no choice. If you don't, you're cutting your own throat. You don't get involved with coaches who are marketing or selling their players."

Jim Harrick, the former Georgia and UCLA coach, said the first thing he did when he visited a recruit's home was ask who was involved in the decision-making process. Harrick, who had "no ambition" to cultivate relationships with summer league coaches, said recruits with stable, two-parent homes often relied less on summer league coaches during the process.