LONG BEACH – The Polaroid photograph is from the Columbus Gold strip club in Columbus, Ohio. Surrounding a topless dancer and smiling for the camera are five men: San Diego State equipment manager Steve Bartel, two student assistants and two men believed to be football boosters.

Written across the bottom in black ink is: Party Animals!

The photo was taken in the days before SDSU's football game at Ohio State in 2001, and a copy of it now sits in a plastic crate at the headquarters of the California State University system.

It is one of an estimated 25,000 pieces of background material from senior auditor Mike Redmond's 11-month investigation of SDSU's athletic department. It is also one of the documents that compelled SDSU President Stephen Weber to ask for Rick Bay's resignation as athletic director just days after giving him a public vote of confidence.

"It's deeply and completely inappropriate, and it shows a total lack of judgment by virtually everyone in the picture," Weber said. "That picture is part of a pattern that is troubling to me."

Bay said he was also shown a photograph of alcohol in the equipment room.
"(Weber) showed me the pictures and said he felt I should really consider resigning," Bay said, "and that this so-called evidence exceeded his ability to defend me any longer."

The auditor's notes, made available to The San Diego Union-Tribune through a California Public Records Act request, provide further insight into the 37-page report that outlines mismanagement within the equipment room and an overall lack of institutional control within the athletic department.

Bay's top two lieutenants are also no longer at SDSU. Senior Associate Athletic Director Vance Redfern, a central figure in the audit, retired in December because "various issues have arisen regarding his employment with SDSU," according to his settlement agreement. Jana Doggett, another senior associate AD, was fired the day Bay resigned.

Bartel has been on paid administrative leave since May 22 while the university decides his fate.

Many of the documents in the nine plastic crates are centered on allegations that Bartel traded university property for personal gain, including upgrades to first-class airline travel, concert tickets, restaurant meals, admission to Disneyland, sporting equipment for his son and even discounted eye care – allegations that Bartel denies.

There are also statements from current and former department employees that describe Bartel's relationship with Bill Lapes, who runs an athletic supply company in Orange County, as well as documentation about potential abuses of the school's special admission and priority registration privileges.

All that is discussed in the auditor's report, which was made public May 6. What is mentioned sparingly is an alleged culture within the equipment room that, according to the auditor's background material, promoted underage drinking and trips to strip clubs while on football road trips.

Sally Roush, SDSU's vice president for business affairs and the point person for investigating allegations found in the auditor's notes, would not comment to direct questions involving Bartel because, she said in an e-mail, it is a "potential personnel matter."

She added: "Suffice it to say that it is very clear from the audit, and the university has agreed, that the operations of the equipment room were seriously flawed and needed correction."

Bartel's attorney, Paul Kondrick, said that over the past 14 months numerous "ill-founded, presumptuous and inappropriate" accusations have been levied against his client by "those with hidden agendas or those who sought to tarnish his reputation."

In regard to strip clubs and drinking, Kondrick said in an e-mail: "At times, student assistants accompanied SDSU boosters and Steve Bartel to dinners and clubs. At no time did Steve Bartel purchase alcohol for, or provide alcohol to, underaged students."

One of those student equipment managers was John Spriet, who wrote a 30-page correspondence to Redmond that is contained in the background material.

"My first three years I was not 21," Spriet wrote. "Every trip we traveled on the road we would visit a gentleman's club. I attended most of these activities. It was in the presence of Bartel and many boosters.

"(The) boosters and Steve would sneak us in or talk our way in ... If not in a gentleman's club, it was in a bar in which we were provided with large amounts of alcohol. Most of the people including myself were not of age."

Columbus Gold has a $10 cover charge, serves alcohol and requires a minimum age of 21 for admission. The two student managers in the photo, Spriet and Alex Goldberg, both were barely 21 at the time of the photo, but statements and interviewsin the background material indicate they attended similar clubs and bars in previous years.

In an interview with former assistant equipment manager Ryan Hill, Redmond writes that Bartel "intimidated people who worked with him to go to strip clubs and encouraged underage drinking."

Hill, Redmond wrote, "also described drunken binges on road trips for away games."

The auditor's report says "alcoholic beverages were found to be stored in four different locations within the facilities controlled by the (equipment room) manager. All but one of these locations was accessible by student workers."

The background material includes several photos of alcohol in the equipment room – a half-empty bottle of Wild Turkey whiskey next to a golf trophy; an unopened bottle of Korbel champagne on a shelf next to a bag of paper cups; unopened 12-packs of Corona, Budweiser, Miller Genuine Draft and Lite beer strewn among athletic apparel; and a six-pack of Samuel Adams beer in the equipment room refrigerator.

According to Redmond's notes from an interview with Bartel: "On beer ... he had been meaning to get rid of it – left over from events. Not clear on beer in refrigerator."

When the auditor's report was first issued and Weber was asked if Bay's job was secure, he responded: "That is correct."

But after Weber's staff reviewed the background material, Weber met with Bay and told him he had lost confidence in his ability to run the athletic department and would fire him if Bay didn't resign.

At first, Weber said, Bay resisted. A few days later, Bay changed his mind and resigned.

At a news conference announcing Bay's resignation, Weber would not specify exactly what changed his mind about Bay's status, saying only that the new information "made me take action."

Asked if the photos of the strip club and alcohol directly influenced his decision, Weber said in an e-mail last week: "As I've clearly said on numberous occasions, Rick Bay disagreed with the legitimacy of parts of the CSU audit and the scope of its implications. This fundamental divergence was unacceptable in my view and could not continue."

Said Bay: "We had employees who weren't exactly role models on the road, and I told (Weber) I certainly would do everything I possibly could to put a stop to it. But as far as I knew at the time, all those people were over 21 and on their own time.

"That in itself led me to say (to Weber), I thought he was letting this get out of perspective."

SDSU timeline
June 11, 2002: San Diego State officials say they are investigating allegations of theft of sports equipment and misuse of public funds within the athletic department. Senior associate athletic director Vance Redfern and equipment manager Steve Bartel are placed on paid administrative leave.

July 11, 2002: Redfern, Bartel return to work in reduced roles.

December 2002: Redfern retires, moves to New Mexico.

May 6, 2003: After an 11-month investigation, Cal State University senior auditor Mike Redmond issues a 37-page report outlining abuses and mismanagement in the athletic department.

May 22, 2003: Athletic director Rick Bay resigns under pressure, Senior associate athletic director Jana Doggett is fired, and Bartel is placed on paid administrative leave.