University of Utah golf coach Wayne Fisher will not lose his job over a drinking incident last month, but he has been disciplined by the U. athletic department.

Utah assistant athletic director Marc Amicone, who oversees the golf program, said he and athletic director Chris Hill have met with the players and Fisher and addressed the problem.

"We take these matters with student-athletes very seriously," Amicone said. "We have taken corrective action and disciplined Wayne in a way that we think is appropriate. We are confident that nothing resembling this will ever happen again."

Five Ute golfers who made the trip to the Mountain West Conference tournament in Oregon on April 29-May 1 were concerned enough about Fisher's behavior that they drafted a letter to the athletic department when they returned.

In their letter, golfers Garrett Clegg, Luke Swilor, Carl Jensen, Ashdon Woods and Casey Fowles said that Fisher had been drinking alcohol on the flight to Oregon, and they were concerned about him driving to the Sunriver Golf Resort, some four hours from Portland.

Clegg said that the team members expressed their concern to Fisher, but he laughed it off and insisted upon driving.

"Looking back, we should have been more forceful," Clegg said. "We were all concerned. But he took it as more of a joke."

Clegg said the players "were pretty nervous," especially because it was a windy day, and the drive was on a two-lane road much of the way.

Fisher, who also works as an assistant at the Salt Lake Country Club, preferred not to discuss details of the incident when contacted Thursday.

"It was an unfortunate situation that has been dealt with," he said. "I have nothing to add. I'm looking forward to moving forward as the coach."

Amicone said no details of Fisher's discipline would be made public since it is a personnel matter within the university. He did say Fisher "is still our coach" and that he'll be making the trip to the NCAA Regionals next week.

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Coincidentally, the NCAA West Regional tournament May 20-22 will also be played at Sunriver in Oregon, and Fisher will accompany Clegg, who qualified as an individual for the team event.

"I'm not concerned about it," said Clegg when asked about traveling with Fisher again. "I just want to go up there and play golf."

The 45-year-old Fisher is a former Ute golfer who has been the head coach at Utah for nine years. He had a good recruiting year, adding three of Utah's top prep players: Dustin Pimm, Nick Carter and Chris Gresh.


E-mail: sor@desnews.com

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