Construction
Green Valley Heating & Cooling
HVAC Service Tech Production and Manufacturing
QUALITY MANAGER Trades/Construction
FAULK ELECTRIC
ELECTRICAL Trades/Construction
Best Paving
Asphalt Finish Roller Operators Education
CESAR CHAVEZ SCHOOL NETWORK
K-12 MUSIC PROGRAM DIRECTOR Health Care
Mountain Land Rehabilitation
Physical Therapist General
Preferred Capital Management, Inc
Apartment Mgr/Maintenance

The latest effects of the coaching turmoil in the University of Arizona men's basketball program have rippled out of McKale Center and are casting the rest of the university in a bad light.

As if the uncertainty surrounding Lute Olson's absence for much of the season wasn't enough, now Olson is back as head coach and is telling three high school seniors who were offered scholarships by interim head coach Kevin O'Neill that the UA is not interested in them after all.

Two of the players said they weren't going to accept the UA's offer anyway, and a third couldn't be reached for comment, according to a story Wednesday by the Star's Bruce Pascoe. But the reason given by one player's father says it all:

"You don't know what's going on there," said Carl Tinsley, father of Oregon guard Brad Tinsley. "I think it's just two different regimes. I don't even know if Lute knows my kid or has ever seen him."

The players will likely be fine and take offers from other schools. That's not the point.

The University of Arizona made an offer of a scholarship to students and to rescind it now because the coaching staff has changed — especially under such odd circumstances — is wrong.

It may be common practice and not against any rule, but it shows a lack of integrity and character on the part of the athletic department and, by extension, the UA. Wildcat fans want a team and a university they can be proud to call their own.

The real question, however, is how this was allowed to happen. Athletic Director Jim Livengood should put his foot down and tell Olson that when the UA makes a promise, even one made under the uncertainty this basketball season has brought, the university doesn't break it when it's no longer convenient to keep.

If O'Neill acted improperly by offering scholarships, that's Livengood's responsibility, too.

Livengood is the person with his name on the athletic director's office at McKale. The Wildcats need consistency and honor in a basketball program that has had rough times this season. If the players, and who could blame them, refuse the scholarships then so be it. But the UA shouldn't be the one to renege on the deal.