Myrtice Landers, Ex-USF Employee, Says School Covering Up NCAA Violations

TAMPA, Fla. -- Myrtice Landers, a former University of South Florida academic adviser, who was fired this month, filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against the university Thursday, claiming the school is covering up NCAA violations and using her as a scapegoat.

Landers, 52, an employee with the university for 29 years, filed a formal charge of racial discrimination with the Florida Commission on Human Relations.

An African-American, Landers alleges in the complaint that she was terminated, in part, because she has "knowledge of numerous NCAA violations committed by white employees, including my superiors and employees of the compliance division of the athletic department that were unreported, and in some instances, actually covered up by the department.

"I feel as though I have been singled out as the only non-student African-American athletic department employee and made a scapegoat for ongoing NCAA violations that have been investigated by the NCAA for approximately the past eight months."

It was eight months ago -- on Nov. 18 -- FanHouse reported several alleged violations involving the men's basketball program. Based on FanHouse's report, the NCAA sent an investigator to the Tampa, Fla., campus, but ultimately let USF "conduct its own inquiry."

On July 1, the school self-reported two NCAA secondary violations. However, during USF's investigation into FanHouse's allegations, school officials only interviewed USF's current coaches and players and did not question any of the named or unnamed sources quoted in FanHouse's report.

Shortly before the violations were announced by USF, video and conditioning assistant Terrelle Woody, who was alleged to have been involved in several of the NCAA violations, resigned from his job.

Landers, an academic adviser for the athletic department since 2004, admitted in January she gave $326 worth of textbooks to a woman's basketball player, who she believed was on scholarship. In May when the student-athlete returned the books, Landers said she learned the student-athlete was not on scholarship and should not have been given the books.

On July 1, the school self-reported the NCAA secondary violation, committed by Landers. In reporting the NCAA violation, USF indicated Landers had been "issued a letter of reprimand" and "a determination of her continued employment is in progress."

"There are some things she (Landers) told me (USF is covering up) that are more serious than the book issue," Wil Florin, Landers' attorney, told FanHouse.

Florin would not specifically identify these allegations, but indicated he might at a later time.

Landers' personnel file showed that she was reprimanded twice in 2006, which included a "final warning," the Tampa Tribune and St. Petersburg Times reported. In a memo from athletic director Doug Woolard in September 2006, the Times reported, he warned Landers that "any future infractions will result in disciplinary actions, up to and including dismissal."

Landers was 11 months shy of retirement and claimed "there is a consistent lack of training and leadership in the athletic department."

Dominique Jones, who was the highest drafted NBA player in school history, recently called both local Tampa Bay papers and voiced his displeasure with Landers' termination. Jones credited her for "keeping me from flunking out" in his three seasons at USF before he was selected in the first round by the Dallas Mavericks in this summer's NBA Draft.

"The University of South Florida has received the employee's complaint which is being addressed through the normal review process," USF spokeswoman Lara Wade said in a statement. "The University takes seriously its responsibility for the academic progress of all student athletes and compliance with federal and state law, and NCAA rules. All athletic department employees are required to immediately report any violations. USF conducts timely and rigorous reviews of all alleged violations.

"To ensure institutional control, oversight of the Academic Enrichment Program for student athletes is provided by the Office of Undergraduate Studies, in Academic Affairs, in cooperation with the Department of Athletics. When a final decision is issued on this pending personnel action it will be made available as a public record."

Besides representing Landers, Florin also is representing former football coach Jim Leavitt in a lawsuit against USF.

In December, a FanHouse investigative report uncovered that Leavitt had hit walk-on Joel Miller twice in the face during halftime. The school launched an investigation that found Leavitt struck Miller, repeatedly lied to investigators and interfered with the four-week investigation, prompting Leavitt's firing on Jan. 8.

In March, Leavitt filed a lawsuit against the school and the USF Foundation, Inc., "for breach of written contractual promises" made to Leavitt, who is seeking "millions of dollars" from the school.

Because Leavitt was fired "with cause," the university said he would only be paid one month of his base pay - or $66,667 - as opposed to being fired "without cause," in which he would have been entitled to about 75 percent of his remaining seven-year contract, or about $7.1 million.

Leavitt's lawsuit against the school remains unresolved.

In 2000, the university's athletic department was involved in a highly publicized racial discrimination lawsuit. Eight federal discrimination lawsuits were filed by women's basketball players and an assistant athletic director. The case resulted in the firing of then women's basketball coach Jerry Ann Winters and the resignation of athletic director Paul Griffin, although the school later said Griffin followed the proper protocol in dealing with the allegations.

Contact FanHouse senior writer Brett McMurphy at brettmcmurphy@gmail.com or follow on Twitter @BrettmcmurphY