Those who give from their hearts and wallets believe they have found the coach who will take the San Diego State football program to heights previously only dreamed of.

They think that coach, Tom Craft, is a good man who has instilled discipline in his players. Now they are concerned about the very future of football at SDSU.

It has been a rough week for those who love the Red and Black, ever since allegations involving alcohol and other misconduct were made public with the filing of a lawsuit against the school by strength and conditioning coach David Ohton.

And while administrators at SDSU refuse to address the allegations, citing the pending litigation, and athletic department employees have been instructed not to speak on the record, boosters are under no such constraints.

"I have never, ever seen anything like (what is alleged)," said Dennis Wise, who is among the football program's largest financial benefactors and travels with the team to most road games. "I have talked to so many people about how overwhelmed I am with how well-behaved this group (of players) is, about how well this group respects the coaching staff. It's really a breath of fresh air – the best I've seen (at SDSU) in 20 years."

Others who have traveled with the team extensively during Craft's two years as head coach say allegations that Craft was drunk the night before some road games in 2002 are ludicrous. The allegations were made by two men and two former players in affidavits attached to Ohton's suit.

"I have been in his room at night until about 11," said Scott Presley, another booster, who not only travels to every game but is often on the sideline and in the locker room. "And I've never seen him drink other than he's had a beer. I think he's entitled to that. I have never seen one of those coaches remotely close to drunk at any road game."

Numerous boosters said they routinely see Craft at 6:30 or 7 a.m. the day of games jogging near the hotel.

"Whatever he does the night before, he's in pretty good shape in the morning," said longtime booster Tom Ables, who travels with the team to every game.

Numerous boosters also recalled Craft declining their invitations to join them in hotel bars where the team is staying. A few spoke specifically to allegations contained in affidavits.

Booster John Russell said he was in a bar with Craft in Wyoming on the night in October 2002 on which former player Johnathan Ingram said that when he saw Craft at 1:30 a.m. the morning of the game, the coach's "breath and body reeked of alcohol."

Russell said Craft and most of the defensive assistants went to a bar owned by defensive line coach Jim House's cousin. Russell said the coaches were there for less than an hour. He said he spent most of the time talking with Craft, who nursed a bottle of Coors.

"He didn't finish one beer," Russell said.

He added: "That is the only time I have seen any of the coaches out on the road trips."

Bob Scurrah, an attorney who is on the board of directors of the Aztec Athletic Foundation, said he was in the bar of the team hotel in Albuquerque. He said he distinctly remembers a sober Craft sitting and talking with his assistants for a time the night before the team's game there in 2002. Booster Don Sutton and another man, Paul Kerrigan, said in affidavits that Craft was "very drunk" that night.

Said Scurrah: "It looked like he was enjoying himself. He looked alert and was not consuming alcohol."

It appears the university investigated last summer the allegations of Craft being drunk on road trips.

Gene Bartow, who served as SDSU's interim athletic director from July through September and is a defendant in Ohton's suit, said last week the school looked into those claims.

"Sally (Roush, SDSU vice president for business and finance) investigated that," Bartow said.

Last week, when first told of the accusations about his drinking, Craft said, "That's been already resolved and found to be totally false."

Boosters are most concerned about the damage that has already been done – to recruiting, in the community and in the national media. Most believe Craft is at worst guilty of errors in judgment, many saying they were troubled by allegations that he slapped player Mike Kracalik two years ago.

"This is a hell of a group of kids," said booster John Busch. "I think that comes from the coaching staff . . . That's what drives me to frustration about all of this. The thing with Mike shouldn't have happened. Do I think Tom should be fired? No. I think he was teaching, and he made a mistake."

So great is the belief by some prominent boosters that Craft is the right man to lead the Aztecs to greater heights that they fear his departure would be the death of SDSU football, which already is suffering because of low attendance, being placed on NCAA probation because of illegal practice sessions and the dire financial straits of the athletic department.

Wise, who was involved in the search for a coaching successor to Ted Tollner in 2001, recalled saying at the time, "This hire, the way the program is, will probably be our last hire if it's not successful."

Said Ables, who has attended all but two Aztecs football games since 1946: "If we lose Tom Craft, it's going to be the end of Aztec football."

Wise said he will always support the program. Others say they are finished if Craft is finished.

"We've got a guy who is making things happen, moving it in the right direction, doing things we haven't done," said booster Steve Duich. "Everybody I've talked to, if they bring somebody else in here, they've pretty much lost the nucleus of the boosters we have."