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Marsh, Robbins dropped from lawsuit 04/22/04 MIKE PERRIN News staff writer University of Alabama officials Gene Marsh and Marie Robbins have been dismissed from the Ronnie Cottrell-Ivy Williams lawsuit, according to papers filed in Tuscaloosa Circuit Court on Wednesday. "Several weeks ago, (Cottrell attorney) Delaine Mountain and I met with our clients and their wives and had an all-day meeting with Gene Marsh and Marie Robbins and their attorney, Tommy Keene," attorney Thomas Gallion said. "The meeting started off pretty poorly, but at the end of the day we reached a tentative agreement, after hearing their side of the story. "Although there are things they wish they had not done, the overall statements they made were that they were duped and things were misrepresented to them by Mr. (defendant/NCAA investigator Richard) Johanningmeier. "After hearing their story, I feel like - although there are some things I would not have done - we're all human and they should not remain in this lawsuit. They did tell the truth and they will tell more of the truth." Marsh and Robbins would not comment on the lawsuit. However, Keene said, "My reaction is I think it's wonderful that my clients have been dismissed and that the plaintiffs realized they did nothing wrong. I believe they were deservedly dismissed." In an affidavit accompanying the motion to dismiss, Marsh said that he, as faculty athletics representative, and Robbins, as a compliance officer, were concerned with Cottrell's actions as an assistant coach because he had four secondary violations. "While no one secondary violation is a problem, multiple secondary violations can be interpreted by the NCAA as one major violation. A major violation for a repeat offender can be a devastating event." Marsh also said Johanningmeier never informed the university that Tennessee head football coach Phillip Fulmer was involved in the investigation of the Alabama football program. "Based on this subsequent information, it appears to me that the NCAA had knowledge about questions concerning Albert Means' recruitment and Harold James' recruitment while these two young student athletes were still in high school, yet never shared that knowledge with the University of Alabama," the affidavit says. "Had the NCAA given this information to the University of Alabama, we could have taken appropriate action to prevent any improprieties on the part of the University of Alabama or its boosters and would have prevented their being admitted to school and competing on our football team. "Similarly, we were never given any information by the SEC office or SEC Commissioner Roy Kramer about questions concerning the recruitment of Albert Means." ______________________________________________________ RollTideFan - The University of Alabama Athletics Discussion List "Welcome to RollTideFan! Wear a cup!" To join or leave the list or to make changes to your subscription visit http://listinfo.rolltidefan.net
