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Nevada athletic director Cary Groth announced today that NCAA investigators have cleared the program of the most serious allegations that sparked a 10-month-long probe of the school, including issues related to gambling.
Groth says nothing will be final until the NCAA's Committee on Infractions acts on the investigative report. But she says the investigators who visited the campus last year and this determined the school has "no lack of institutional control and no issues related to gambling."
Those claims had been leveled by former women's soccer coach Terri Patraw, who maintains she was fired last year in retaliation for reporting such violations.
Patraw claimed -- among other things -- that sports bets had been placed in violation of NCAA rules in Reno-area casinos by Nevada men's golf coach Rich Merritt, who since has resigned.
Groth said today she doesn't anticipate any additional personnel changes at the school as a result of the probe. She suspended Merritt for three matches last fall after an internal probe found he had provided free meals to athletes and exchanged a frequent-flier airline ticket with an athlete.
Groth said at the time the school had self-reported those incidents to the NCAA. She said today that NCAA officials informed her last week about the investigators' findings regarding the additional allegations regarding gambling and lack of institutional control.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
