Friday, May 16, 2003 | 9:17 a.m.
UNLV assistant head football coach John Jackson confirmed Thursday that it was his telephone PIN that is the focal point of a campus police investigation into the unauthorized billing of more than $10,000 in long distance calls by athletes and students.
"It was my PIN," Jackson said.
Jackson, 67, coached Heisman Trophy winners Charles White and Marcus Allen at USC and is widely regarded as one of the top running backs coaches in modern college football history. He said he would not discuss any specifics of the investigation which could last well into summer. But he made it clear that he had not given his long distance access code to any athlete, which would have been a major NCAA rules infraction.
"I will not comment on the investigation," Jackson said. "(But) I will say for anyone to think I have given my PIN to anyone, or any student, is ludicrous."
University and athletic department officials have been told not to talk about the facts surrounding the campus police investigation which began April 28. Most of the calls have been traced to campus dormitories. The access code only works on university telephones.
"We have to be thorough," UNLV senior associate athletic director Jerry Koloskie said. "There are a lot of records we have to go through. It's not like you can just punch a number into a computer and get all the records. You need to take your time, review all the records and make sure you've got everything covered."
So far, it has been determined that nine freshman football players used the number, most for less than $100. Per school policy, all nine will be forced to serve at least a one-game suspension next fall and make restitution.
No basketball players have been implicated.
Once the investigation is concluded by campus police and the athletic department has reviewed the facts, the results will be turned over to the NCAA. The infractions currently are regarded as an "extra benefit" and secondary in nature which keeps UNLV, still on men's basketball probation until 2004, away from any death penalty consideration.
Koloskie said coaches and some athletic department personnel are given the long distance PINs when they are employed. It is then their job to review the phone bills monthly to make sure there are no unauthorized calls.
"We didn't start issuing PINs until the middle of the '90s when our phone technology changed," Koloskie said. "In some ways it would be better if you could just make long distance calls from your regular office phone without having to punch in the PIN. Then things would be a helluva lot more suspicious if you walked into an office and saw students and athletes sitting there making phone calls."
Koloskie was asked if the athletic department had sent out memos to staff members urging them to be more protective of their PINs in light of the current investigation.
"Nah, I'm sure everybody who has read the newspapers has already taken heed of that," Koloskie said. "I don't know if a memo would really make that much of a difference now."
The potential for PIN fraud extends well past the UNLV athletic department.
Erik Ball, the outgoing editor of the campus newspaper Rebel Yell, said long distance PIN codes were "as common as colds when I came in here last year. Just about everybody in a student organization was running around with them."
Ball said the Rebel Yell had "between 8-10" long distance access PINs when he took over, some of which were printed on office phones. He said he kept just three PINs to reduce the chances the numbers could be used for improper calls.
"To be honest, nobody really thought that much about it at the time," Ball said. "It was just an everyday thing."
Tom Flagg, director of news and public information at UNLV, was asked if the school might review its PIN protocol in light of the current scandal.
"I guess what I can tell you right now is maybe," Flagg said. "If our present investigation reveals that it was easy to get ahold of the PIN or if there is a flaw in the system, I think we'd definitely review all the procedures that go into it."11"If our present investigation reveals that it was easy to get ahold of the PIN or if there is a flaw in the system, I think we'd definitely review all the procedures that go into it."
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