MINNEAPOLIS -- The University of Minnesota claims its basketball team started cheating early in the tenure of former coach Clem Haskins, about seven years earlier than previously known.

In court papers filed Tuesday, the university says new evidence "confirms that Haskins was involved in academic fraud from his earliest days at the university." Haskins arrived at Minnesota in 1986.

The university is suing Haskins to recover the $1.5 million it paid to buy out his contract, saying he covered up his wrongdoing to avoid being fired for cause. The trial is set to begin April 22.

In 1999, Jan Gangelhoff, a former office manager in the athletic academic counseling unit, said she completed more than 400 pieces of course work for at least 20 players over five years in the 1990s. Her revelations led to Haskins' departure and NCAA sanctions on the program in 2000. The NCAA's final report said the academic fraud began in 1994.

But the papers filed Tuesday reach back earlier and involve other staffers and players. In them, the university says two former men's basketball secretaries confirmed that Haskins directed and paid them to do schoolwork for some players.

"This is significant, powerful new evidence that confirms that the university is entitled to its money back and to be made whole from Mr. Haskins' fraudulent behavior," said Lorie Gildea, a university lawyer.

Haskins' lawyer, Ron Meshbesher, said the former coach "absolutely denies" the secretaries' allegations that he paid them to write papers.

A former student secretary, Patricia Barta, was quoted in the university's memorandum to the court as saying she wrote as many as 50 papers, typed as many as 200 more and completed an independent-study course for former player Willie Burton.

Burton was a star for the Golden Gophers from 1986-90 and was a first-round pick in the NBA draft. Barta worked in the basketball department from 1986-90 and said Haskins gave her money and gifts for the work.

Asked in a deposition how many papers she worked on, she said, "I would say over the years, a hundred, 200 over the years. As far as straight writing them, it's hard to say. Maybe 40, 50 that I wrote myself."

Another former secretary deposed for the trial, Gail Splinter, also said Haskins paid her to do course work for players.

Splinter said she "did substantial academic work for players and that Haskins directed her 'to fix' a poorly written paper a men's basketball player had given her to type."

In addition to denying the allegations, Meshbesher pointed to a 1999 document signed by the university when it bought out Haskins' contract that released the coach from future claims.

"The university gave him the broadest kind of release you could ever expect," Meshbesher said. "The university is grasping for straws and I think the lawsuit is politically motivated."

The two secretaries declined to be interviewed by university investigators in 1999 and were subpoenaed to testify in the current court case.