M. Hoops frosh files suit against Northwestern

Andrew Coates was slated to receive a scholarship to play for the Wildcats, but they pulled the offer. Penn basketball player Andrew Coates and his family have filed a lawsuit against Northwestern University, claiming the Evanston, Ill., school illegally rescinded a scholarship offer to the Seattle native in 1998. According to the lawsuit, Northwestern coach Kevin O'Neill took back the Wildcats' scholarship offer to Coates in July 1998 -- just over two weeks after Coates notified the Northwestern coaching staff that he would accept the basketball scholarship. Coates' father, Peter, said yesterday that Northwestern's eventual repudiation cost his son a chance at a scholarship elsewhere. Coates is currently paying full tuition at Penn --Ehe receives no financial aid. The Coates family is seeking "all damages caused by Northwestern's wrongful conduct," which includes payment for tuition at Penn as well as "emotional distress, damages [and] punitive damages." Coates, who has been advised by his lawyers not to comment on the suit, is currently a forward on Penn's team. He missed all but one game, a season-opening loss to Kentucky, this season due to surgery on his foot. Northwestern officials, including O'Neill, declined to comment through an athletic department spokesman. Penn coach Fran Dunphy also declined comment yesterday. The lawsuit alleges that O'Neill offered Coates a scholarship to Northwestern in an e-mail to the then-Eastside Catholic High School junior dated May 11, 1998. "We are offering you a full scholarship to attend NU -- we will make sure that one is available to you! We want to make you a Wildcat," said an e-mail titled "Scholarship Offer" from O'Neill to Coates that was filed as part of the suit. According to the lawsuit, Coates accepted the scholarship in a phone call to O'Neill's office on June 29, 1998. O'Neill was in Hawaii at the time. As a response, a letter addressed to Coates dated two days later from Northwestern assistant coach Bob Beyer said, "Congratulations on your decision to attend Northwestern and welcome to our basketball family." Then, in early July, Coates participated in the Nike All-American Camp. There, his play was hampered by a hyper-extended knee that he suffered in the final game of his junior season at Eastside Catholic. Coates was also ill that week with intestinal problems. Peter Coates alleges that this led to O'Neill sending an e-mail to him at around midnight on the night of July 13. "[O'Neill] said that he was disappointed in [Andrew's] play at the Nike camp and wanted to know what would be a good time to talk to us," Peter Coates said. At around 10 p.m. the next night, O'Neill called the Coates household. He told Coates' father, according to the lawsuit, that "Andrew cannot help our program. We are no longer interested in Andrew. I'm sorry. It's my fault." In addition to breach of contract and other related allegations, the Coates family is also claiming O'Neill defamed Andrew by telling the head coach of Stanford's basketball team that Coates was never offered a Northwestern scholarship. "This statement was defamatory because it indicated that Peter Coates and/or Andrew Coates had lied about whether such an offer was made," the suit alleges. "Further, the statement was defamatory because it indicated that Andrew was not a sufficiently talented student and athlete to receive such a scholarship offer." The suit further claims that "statements indicating Northwestern's commitment to recruiting Andrew? were false" and thus were both intentional and negligent misrepresentation. As evidence, the lawsuit sites a letter from the Northwestern coaching staff that says, "no other coaching staff believes in you more and will work harder for you than we will." Northwestern began to recruit Coates during his junior year at Eastside Catholic. According to the lawsuit, Coates, as requested by the Wildcats coaches, sent Northwestern a videotape of two of his Eastside Catholic basketball games. The two tapes came from his junior season, a season in which he averaged 20 points per game en route to an All-Seattle Metro team selection. On April 30, 1998, in a document cited in the suit, Northwestern assistant coach Billy Schmidt sent Coates an e-mail saying the Wildcats staff had received the tape. Shortly after that, O'Neill sent the May 11 "Scholarship Offer" e-mail. In that e-mail, O'Neill -- who had never met or seen Coates play in person -- also said, "I just wanted to let you know I have received your tape and watched it closely?. I want to make sure you realize how impressed I was with your performance." Coates visited Northwestern from June 25 to June 28, 1998, at which time he and his father met with the basketball coaches and Northwestern President Henry Biesen. O'Neill allegedly told Coates he anticipated the 6'8" small forward would play 20 to 25 minutes per game as a freshman. Following Coates' oral commitment to Northwestern, according to the lawsuit, Coates "advised other college recruiters that he would be attending Northwestern and he did not try to impress or attract the attention of other college recruiters." The lawsuit was filed in Washington state on February 25 and has since been moved from the Superior Court to District Court. A trial date has not yet been set.

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