North Carolina State basketball coach Jim Valvano said Saturday he was disturbed and shocked by allegations made against him and his school in a soon-to-be published book by best-selling sports author Peter Golenbock.
The book, scheduled for release Feb. 7 with a first printing of 100,000 copies, reportedly accuses Valvano of running a corrupt program that allowed Wolfpack players to receive cash and cars and to have positive drug tests kept secret by the coach and his staff.A cover proof for the book and a letter from Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Schuster in New York, were distributed Friday to area bookstores.
Valvano and the executive secretary of the Wolfpack Club adamantly denied the assertions Saturday.
"I'm quite disturbed," Valvano said before Saturday's N.C. State game with Temple, "not only by the attack on my own personal integrity, but on the integrity of this university.
"It's been a very difficult day for me and my family," he added. "I am very disturbed at the state of sports journaism - maybe journalism in general."
Valvano said he has never talked with Golenbock, author of a number of best-selling sports books and ghost-writer of such books as "The Bronx Zoo" with former New York Yankees pitcher Sparky Lyle.
Other Golenbock books include "Number 1" with former Yankee manager Billy Martin, "Dynasty," a history of the Yankees, and "Balls" with former Yankees third baseman Greg Nettles.
Adam Rothberg, a spokesman for Pocket Books, told The News and Observer of Raleigh in a report published Saturday that a book on N.C. State basketball would be published early next month but would not discuss its contents.
A proof of the book cover, which is subject to change before publication, indicated the book would be titled, "Personal Fouls: The Broken Promises and Shattered Dreams of Big Money Basketball at Jim Valvano's North Carolina State."
The book is about the period of Valvano's tenure but focuses on the 1986-87 season, and the proof says Golenbock "shows how Coach Valvano, corrupted by money and fame, exploited and sometimes ruined his young stars."
The cover alleges that athletes' grades were fixed and that Valvano promised prospects and their parents anything, then broke the promises once they were on campus.
"The millions of dollars raised annually by the private, 11,000-member Wolfpack Club were secretly distributed by Valvano and the Club. The corruption was so deeply entrenched that the players were not even disturbed when they suspected that the team's best player deliberately lost them an NCAA tournament game because winning would have meant tough NCAA drug testing and the end of a potential NBA career," the cover proof said.