| | YPSILANTI, Mich. -- Eastern Michigan coach Milton Barnes,
who was a top assistant to former Minnesota coach Clem Haskins, won't have his contract renewed when it expires later this month.
The Ann Arbor News reported that Barnes was fired in part
because of the academic fraud scandal that rocked Minnesota's
program last year.
The search for a replacement will begin immediately, said
athletic director Dave Diles, who fired football coach Rick Rasnick
last fall.
"I've had some concerns about the direction our program was
heading and I felt it was time for a change at the top," Diles
said in a written statement. "Certainly there is more to a program
than wins-losses and there were a lot of factors that went into the
decision."
Barnes, 42, has met with NCAA investigators at least three
times, the Ann Arbor newspaper reported. Sources close to Diles
told the paper that Barnes' role in the Minnesota scandal played a
part in Diles' evaluation of Barnes.
Jan Gangelhoff, whose admissions of doing coursework for Gopher
basketball players over several years sparked a school and NCAA
probe last year, told investigators that Barnes was aware of what
she was doing as early as 1995. Barnes has vehemently denied any
knowledge of the fraud.
"The Minnesota thing is so far removed from me it is
ridiculous," Barnes told the Detroit Free Press. "The bottom line
is, I'm not linked to that. I can't be assumed guilty just because
I was there for five years."
A university investigation found there wasn't enough evidence to
confirm or disprove that Barnes was aware of the cheating.
Barnes, hired at Eastern in 1996, was the first Eastern coach to
post 20-win seasons in his first two years. He compiled a 62-53
record with the Eagles, including an NCAA tournament appearance in
1998.
The Eagles were 15-13 in Barnes' fourth season, which ended last
Wednesday with a loss to Miami of Ohio in the first round of the
Mid-American Conference tournament. They were 5-20 in 1998-99.
Barnes, a native of Oakley and a graduate of Saginaw High
School, also was an assistant at Eastern from 1983-85.
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