Provo boys basketball coach Craig Drury wouldn't hesitate to give back his team's shiny new gold trophy for a chance to change the events that tainted the school's latest state championship.
While the rest of the Bulldogs celebrated their 14th basketball title Saturday night at the Huntsman Center, three Provo players were arrested in connection with the misdemeanor theft of property from the bags of several University of Utah basketball players."It's my program, and I'm totally devastated over it," Drury said. "Those are good kids, and they made a mistake. My basketball program will have a black eye over this. I take this very personally."
No criminal charges had been filed against the juveniles yet as the case is still under investigation by the University Police Department.
However, the three Provo student-athletes - two juniors and one sophomore - were suspended from school for an undetermined amount of time on Monday based on results of a separate investigation conducted by Provo High administration.
The in-school investigation revealed that the boys had violated the district's Safe School Policy. Because of the suspensions, the three players weren't allowed to attend a school assembly to celebrate the school's championship on Tuesday morning.
Along with being suspended for up to two weeks, they will have to participate in a parent-student-administrator conference for counseling.
"Any time our students commit different (crimes) or make really poor choices at any of our games, it's a violation of our district's Safe School Policy," said Provo High vice principal Clark Baron. "We do have both criminal activity and theft as acts of misconduct. . . . We're very frustrated, very disappointed that these students would choose to do something like that."
In the aftermath, Drury was both disappointed and compassionate toward his young players.
"They're great kids. It's uncharacteristic of these boys," he said, emphatically. "These are, of course, 16- and 17-year-olds. . . . They need some nurturing. They need some looking after."
He said it is out of his hands whether they will be able to play for Provo next season. "That will totally be handled by school policy," Drury said.
Provo principal Sam Jarman didn't approve of how the players were handled after they were interrogated by the police, however.
After questioning the players in private, the police handcuffed them, took them back out on the main floor and then out of the Huntsman Center through a tunnel exit. The Provo administrators were furious about that, feeling the players could have been as easily taken to the police car through a tunnel that goes under the stands. That would have prevented the public humiliation caused by the handcuffed boys being escorted by police in front of about 10,000 people.
University Police Sgt. Lynn Mitchell, who wasn't at the Huntsman Center Saturday, said that route was just the most convenient for the officers. They felt the players would have been seen by onlookers in or out of the arena.
Provo administrators also talked the officers into letting the players put on their warm-up suits to cover up the handcuffs rather than going out in just their uniforms.
The boys were taken to the University Police Department before being released to their parents late Saturday night.
After finishing a practice in the nearby HPER complex, several Utah basketball players noticed that their gym shoes, some articles of clothing and $60 were missing from the locker room.
The Utah players searched gym bags of the Provo players and found their missing gear and money. They then reported the incident to the police.
"I have no idea what possessed them to take the stuff," Mitchell said. "It could be a dozen reasons. Maybe they wanted a souvenir. It could be they wanted to sell the stuff for money. It could be they wanted to steal something from the U. to impress other people."
U. police plan to turn the case over to juvenile court, Mitchell said. The players didn't want to press charges but some of the stolen goods - such as warm-up suits - are university-owned property.
"The university is the victim," Mitchell said.
David Wilkey, assistant director of the Utah High School Activities Association, said he doesn't believe the incident will pose any problems with tournaments being held at the U. in the future, nor will the UHSAA strip the title from Provo.
The criminal investigation wasn't the only thing that put a tarnish on Provo's trophy.
During the Bulldogs' celebration, Provo backup guard Chris Framp-ton was clearly photographed doing what appeared to be gang signals with his hands.
The photo of the celebrating Bulldogs and Frampton, a senior, appeared on the front page of Sunday's Deseret News sports section.
The Deseret News received numerous phone calls Sunday and Monday from readers troubled by the photo and its possible meaning.
It also caught the attention of the Provo High administration.
"We did see the picture in the paper, and we're concerned that he did show the gang signs," Baron said. "We're also concerned that that is the picture the paper chose to run."
Jarman, Drury and Provo school resource officer Todd Gross-ge-bau-er all said Frampton has no gang ties.
"I don't believe that the player making the sign is in a gang in any way, shape or form," Jarman said.
"He was just messing around," said Grossgebauer, calling it a spur-of-the-moment thing.
"When I first saw it I thought it was a Crips sign," Grossgebauer said. "When kids start to do things or mimic gang signs, obviously there's a concern factor. You never know how it's going to be perceived. Somebody who has no know-ledge of the signs has no concern."
Drury added that if you watched Frampton on a full-motion video you would have seen that it was merely a coincidental movement of his hands.
Salt Lake Metro Gang Unit Sgt. Chuck Gilbert and other detectives from police agencies around the Salt Lake Valley looked at the Deseret News photo and thought the signs were more than a coincidence.
"Everybody has the feeling (his hands are making a gang sign), but we can't identify it," Gilbert said. "All the kids know the gang signs even if they're not involved in gangs."