Clem Haskins

Clem Smith Haskins (born August 11, 1943) 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.^[1] This put Western Kentucky at the forefront to integrate college basketball in the South.^[2] 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.^[3] 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.^[4]

Early life

Haskins was born in Campbellsville, Kentucky, 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 Conference 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.^[5] 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.

NBA career

After a successful college career, Haskins was selected by the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the 1967 NBA Draft and by the Kentucky Colonels in the American Basketball Association draft.^[6] 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.

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.^[7] He led the Gophers to a school-record 31 wins and the Final Four 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.

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 Tournament. 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.^[8] 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.^[9] 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.

After coaching

As of March 2008, Clem is no longer coaching basketball. He has a 750-acre (3.0 km²) ranch near Campbellsville, Kentucky where he raises cattle. He also does color commentary for Western Kentucky basketball home games.^[3]

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.

See also

• List of National Basketball Association players with most assists in a game

References

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