UT officials resigns, investigated over missing Texas Relays money
$60,000 missing from fund
By Patrick George, John Maher
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Saturday, February 16, 2008
A former University of Texas athletics official responsible for handling money for the Texas Relays is under investigation in connection with up to $60,000 in missing event fees, UT officials said.
According to a search warrant, the office of Associate Athletic Director Douglas George Wilson was searched Feb. 8 in response to concerns raised in January by university internal auditors about problems with depositing checks, according to Patricia Ohlendorf, vice president for legal affairs.
Wilson, who has been the director of the relays since 1992, resigned Thursday, Ohlendorf said. He could not be reached for comment. Ohlendorf said he has not been charged with a crime.
The Texas Relays are staged by the University of Texas and have become a showcase for top high school, college and professional track athletes.
Investigators met last week with UT internal auditors who said that from 2001 to the present, $50,000 to $60,000 in entrance fees for the Texas Relays, held each April, were not deposited into the appropriate accounts, the warrant said.
Two UT employees who handled the entrance fees said they gave the cash and checks to Wilson, who was to deposit them into university accounts, according to the warrant.
The warrant says that Wilson was “evasive” during interviews with investigators and was unclear about depositing procedures. On Feb. 1, the auditors found a box in an athletic department office used for housing Texas Relays items that contained more than $6,000 in cash, checks and money orders dated from 2006. According to the warrant, Wilson “utter(ed) a profanity” when this discovery was made.
The auditors had a locksmith open a safe that contained a large amount of checks, cashier’s checks, money orders and receipts, dated from 2003 to 2007, that were entry fees not deposited, the warrant said. In addition to the checks, $200 in cash was also recovered, the warrant said. The entry fees come from school districts and universities around the state that pay to participate in the annual event.
“I am pleased that, when a possible problem with check deposits was reported in late January to the Office of Internal Audits, the auditors moved swiftly to review the concerns with the full cooperation of Intercollegiate Athletics for Men,” UT President William Powers Jr. said in a statement. “University offices and personnel are continuing to cooperate with the UT Police Department investigation that began last week.”
Nick Voinis, spokesman for the UT men’s athletic department, citing the ongoing investigation, said officials there would not comment.
“It’s hard for me to fathom,” said Stan Huntsman, the UT men’s track and field coach from 1986 to 1995. “That’s a lot of money to just disappear.”
Huntsman said that he had a great deal of respect for Wilson and that he ran good track meets.
“Most people didn’t see him,” Huntsman said. “He sat there in his office in the bowels of the stadium and did all the paper work, the entries and the heat sheets. He might pop out for a minute or two to see how things were going.”
This year’s will be the 81st Texas Relays, which have become a popular social event. They bring in more than $7.5 million to the city, according to the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau.