LONG BEACH – E-mails. Notes. Invoices. Interviews. Budgets. Photographs. Charts. Reports. Personnel files. Expense accounts. Questionnaires. Purchase orders. Telephone records. Internal memos. Police reports.

Mike Redmond, a senior auditor for the California State University system, spent 11 months investigating San Diego State's athletic department, and the fruits of his labor are now contained in nine plastic crates at CSU headquarters here.

The estimated 25,000 pieces of background material support Redmond's findings and recommendations in his report, but they also contain additional allegations of wrongdoing that the university is now investigating. Those allegations include a list of potential NCAA violations that SDSU is researching and will "self-report" if found true.

"Our review (of the background material) has prompted us to look into a number of areas not included in the auditor's report to make sure we address all potential issues in the athletics department," said Sally Roush, SDSU vice president for business affairs. "These documents are voluminous and require a diligent inquiry before conclusions on specific allegations can be drawn."

Two of the key documents are lengthy statements from current athletic department employees. Both contain specific allegations about the athletic department and university employees.

One of the documents is from John Spriet, a former student assistant in the equipment room who now works in the weight room.

The other, which is 103 pages of highly detailed information, is from an athletic department employee who writes, "I have been a part of San Diego State University's athletic program for over 17 years."

The author's identity was redacted (blacked out) by CSU attorneys. The statement was submitted to the auditor on the condition that his or her identity not be revealed without permission.

"I wanted the truth to come out," the employee wrote. "I am not a disgruntled employee, nor am I hell-bent on revenging anyone . . . I could continue to watch our athletic department on its continual decline, or I can speak up and try to make a change."

Here's a sampling of items contained in the background material.

NCAA violations
In the introduction to the 103-page statement from the unidentified athletic department employee is this summary:
"I have observed the following: race and sexual discrimination on the administrative level, department employees stealing state property, employees selling state property for personal gain, employees using state property for personal gain, administrators acknowledging these occurrences and doing nothing, boosters paying athletes, boosters providing meals to athletes, boosters and state employees purchasing alcohol (for) minors, coaches breaking NCAA rules."

The statement goes on to describe the allegations in detail, although parts of it have been redacted by CSU attorneys – particularly the sections containing detailsabout boosters allegedly paying athletes and instances of other potential NCAA violations.

As first reported by the Union-Tribune in June, SDSU officials have acknowledged that the background material contains allegations of potential NCAA violations. A list has been forwarded to the NCAA while the university investigates the allegations.

"Some have already been resolved, and some are years old and involve employees no longer at the university," a university statement said. "Most of the others fall under the minor category used by the NCAA."

The e-mail
The background material includes an e-mail from Don Kovacs to SDSU President Stephen Weber. It is dated June 19, 2002, a week after the university announced it was investigating alleged improprieties in the equipment room.
Kovacs, a friend of Weber's with SDSU ties, writes:

"This story might have legs, but it sure points to a big problem. Whether the auditor is heading in this direction, he might get there eventually.

"The 'surplus' equipment was going out the back door to provide perks for certain people in the department . . . Extra equipment given to a travel agency in exchange for upgrading and first-class when he travels.

"Steve, this sounds too right to be wrong. Maybe you can cut this off before it blows up.

"Good luck, but take strong and immediate action."

The following day, Weber forwarded Kovacs' e-mail to Roush with this note:

"ANOTHER ACCUSATION ABOUT WHICH I AM SKEPTICAL, BUT IT NEEDS TO BE FOLLOWED UP."

Sports Arena
The auditor's report says equipment room manager Steve Bartel "established a relationship" with a Sports Arena employee to exchange shoes and athletic apparel "for discounted and complimentary admission to events for himself and other (athletic department) employees."
The background material contains numerous details about the alleged arrangement.

Spriet, the former equipment-room student assistant, wrote in his statement to the auditor that the main Sports Arena contact "stops by the equipment room three to four times a month and he usually walks out with some sort of equipment. (He) would call all the time to leave messages on shoe sizes. I often pulled these shoes and gave them to (him)."

The tickets were for admission to concerts, sporting events, children's shows and professional wrestling.

"Yes, we have confirmed this activity took place," Roush said. "Clearly, one focus of the new equipment room management and revised policies and procedures will be to ensure this does not reoccur."

Bartel has said he occasionally gave leftover or odd-size shoes – some of which were worn once or twice – to one Sports Arena employee over a period of years. In an interview last year, Bartel also confirmed he received event tickets from Sports Arena employees.

However, he was adamant that there was no quid pro quo arrangement of "shoes for tickets."

Airline upgrades
According to allegations contained in the background material, Bartel preferred to fly America West Airlines to road games because he had an airlinecontact who gave him and other SDSU staffers upgrades to first class. In return, Bartel allegedly provided airline staff with shoes and other SDSU athletic apparel, along with tickets to football and men's basketball games.
"This is not true," Paul Kondrick, Bartel's attorney, wrote in an e-mail. "Mr. Bartel never provided unauthorized materials or athletic equipment to America West."

Gambling
A statement in the background material describes an incident at an SDSU-BYU football game in Provo, Utah, in which a man approached this person on the field immediately after the game and handed over a $100 bill with instructions to give it to Bartel.
"When I arrived into the locker room, I walked over to Bartel and pulled out the $100 bill and handed it to him," the athletic department employee wrote in a statement to the auditor. "Bartel laughed out loud and yelled . . . 'Hey, the (expletive) Mormon paid up!' "

"The next day in his office, (Bartel) told me that he bets on our games with the equipment manager from BYU. He explained they usually bet the (betting) line, and even though we lost the game against BYU, Bartel won the bet."

Kondrick's response: "Mr. Bartel did not put up or receive any money in relation to a supposed wager on an SDSU-BYU football game."

Video coordinator
A statement from a current employee outlines how former video coordinator Frank Musgrove loaned out video equipment without authorization.
"One coach was loaned a SDSU camera ($30,000 camera) to film his personal wedding," the statement said. "This wedding took place on the beach and a novice cameraman was using the camera. Musgrove was paid by the coach for the use of the SDSU camera and the editing and copying the final tapes.

"I learned that Musgrove had to send the camera out to be overhauled because it had sand in it."

Musgrove said he was approached by a coach about videotaping a wedding using an athletic department camera.

"I turned him down," Musgrove said. "I don't know of any camera that went out to shoot a wedding. I was very cautious of our equipment and if it went out I knew where and when . . . We don't even have a $30,000 camera. Our high-end camera goes for $6,000."

The statement claims Musgrove charged NFL scouts as well as student-athletes for highlight tapes – an allegation he denies.

Musgrove also allegedly assisted offensive line coach Damon Baldwin in filming and distributing illegal offseason workouts that were sold as training videos – one of the major NCAA violations for which SDSU is currently serving a two-year probation.

Musgrove's contract was not renewed last month in what Roush described as a routine effort "to improve the use of resources." A new video coordinator is expected to be hired by next week, when the football team opens preseason camp.

The practice
In the auditor's background material, a current athletic department official claims Vance Redfern, then the senior associate athletic director and Bay's right-hand man, was present at one of the spring football workouts that contributed to the NCAA putting SDSU on two years' probation.
SDSU held several workouts under new head coach Tom Craft before the official start of spring practice last year, trying to circumvent NCAA rules by using a taped-up towel instead of a football.

"I overheard (Redfern) telling (director of football operations) Dave Powroznik, 'If a reporter was in attendance, then this could be construed as a (illegal) practice,' " the official wrote.

Priority registration
An e-mail from Mary Reading, the school's student-athlete eligibility coordinator, describes a potential abuse of priority registration – a coveted perk for athletes, especially at an impacted university such as SDSU.
"I was told by a coach . . . that he worked out a deal to receive a courtesy car," Reading wrote to the CSU auditor last year. "All he had to do was help get the 'car guy's' daughter priority registration. He said that he asked one of the women's coaches (volleyball) if they would add her to the team."

A separate e-mail to the auditor, this one from Ellene Gibbs, the university's director of information business management, identifies David Ordway of Miramar Volkswagen as the dealer contact for the courtesy car provided to men's golf coach Dale Walker. Courtesy cars are provided to most Aztecs coaches.

University officials have confirmed that Nicole Ordway, David Ordway's daughter, who played volleyball at La Costa Canyon High, was added to the spring practice roster but was dropped before the team began official matches in the fall.

Once dropped from a team, athletes are not supposed to receive priority registration.

"The volleyball student did continue to get priority registration after leaving the team, in part due to a coding problem," Roush said. "At this point, we will concentrate on emphasizing the revised policies and greatly enhanced controls.

"There was no exchange of priority registration for a courtesy car."

Walker, who received a 2000 VW Jetta from Miramar Volkswagen beginning in February 2001, said he merely forwarded Nicole's name to women's volleyball coach Mark Warner without attaching any stipulations.

"Absolutely, there was no quid pro quo," Walker said. "As a coach, I would not want a coach coming to me asking me to do that, and I would never do that to another coach."