Fall housecleaning continues in Florida's troubled athletic department, with basketball coach Norm Sloan the latest victim of an investigation that had already claimed football coach Galen Hall.
Sloan, whose fiery temperament earned him the nickname "Stormin' Norman," walked away without a fight on Tuesday, allowing the university to announce his retirement amid allegations of wrongdoing in his program. The 63-year-old coach again denied violating NCAA rules, but said he agreed to step aside for the good of the school and his players.Don DeVoe, fired despite leading Tennessee to a 19-11 record last season, was named interim coach. He scheduled a news conference Wednesday.
"My retirement might be considered by them (players) as abrupt, but it is in their best interest which they will know in time," Sloan said in a six-paragraph letter to university president Dr. Robert Bryan. "I leave with great sadness, but with my head held high."
Sloan's 627 career victories over 37 seasons place him 10th on the NCAA's career list.
The basketball program has been under scrutiny for more than 18 months. A U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration investigation triggered an internal investigation later joined by the NCAA.
Former Gators star Vernon Maxwell, now with the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA, reportedly told a federal grand jury that Florida coaches made secret payments to him dating back to high school and that some of the money he received in college was used to buy drugs.
Maxwell, Sloan and two of his assistant coaches, Monte Towe and Kenny McCraney, are listed as possible witnesses in the trial of 11 Gainesville area men facing drug charges in federal court this week. The men were indicted by the same grand jury that charged four sports agents with defrauding the university by signing several former Florida athletes to contracts.
The agents pleaded guilty to reduced charges last month and are to be sentenced Dec. 11. Sloan has said he regretted the case not going to trial because it would have given him an opportunity to take the stand and offer his side of the story.
The coach's retirement came 24 days after Hall gave up control of the football program amid allegations that he violated NCAA rules by paying unauthorized salary supplements to assistant coaches and helped a former player handle a child-support problem.
In his letter to Bryan, Sloan said he resigned at the request of the University Athletic Association, a private organization that governs the athletic department.