Friend says Neuheisel did well in pool

KENT, Wash. — A friend of Rick Neuheisel testified Tuesday that the Washington football coach was on his betting team, which correctly picked three Final Four teams in 2002 and again in 2003 in auction-style NCAA basketball pools.

Seattle real estate developer Tim O’Keefe, on the witness stand in Neuheisel’s trial against the university and NCAA, said that kind of success was unprecedented in the pool, which he said went back to 1983.

“Do you attribute that to your sharp knowledge of basketball?” asked Neuheisel’s lawyer, Cyrus Vance Jr.

“I would say luck,” O’Keefe said.

Neuheisel is suing the university and NCAA in King County Superior Court, claiming he was unfairly fired in June 2003. That month, he told NCAA investigators he didn’t bet on NCAA basketball but then recanted.

The NCAA prohibits gambling on college sports by coaches, athletes and athletic department staffers at member schools. O’Keefe testified he didn’t believe Neuheisel was breaking any laws or rules.

O’Keefe agreed it was “highly unusual” that the same four-man team could select three of the Final Four participants in each of two consecutive years, but he rejected the notion that Neuheisel had inside knowledge.

University lawyer Lou Peterson tried to give jurors several reasons to question O’Keefe’s credibility.

O’Keefe testified he began attending the event as early as 1983. But he admitted under questioning by Peterson that he had told Pac-10 investigator Ron Barker his first appearance was in 2001.

Earlier, Assistant Attorney General Karin Nyrop testified that Neuheisel’s gambling was played up by university officials at NCAA and Pac-10 hearings because the school wanted to address potential NCAA rules violations.

On Monday, Nyrop confirmed to Neuheisel’s lawyers that the school cited his gambling in closed-door Pac-10 and NCAA hearings while maintaining publicly that dishonesty was the main reason the coach was fired.