Chicago State U's head coach's resume found to be GROSS forgery

[Saddle Bronc 124]

http://www.suntimes.com/news/education/104...fired07.article

Coach strikes out with bogus resume

CHICAGO STATE | 'I may not have been exactly correct,' fired skipper says¹

July 7, 2008

BY DAVE NEWBART Staff Reporter/dnewbart@suntimes.com

When Husain Mahmoud was hired as head coach of Chicago State University's baseball team last year, his resume looked impressive: A 30th-round draft pick for the Cincinnati Reds. A college football and baseball star who held a collegiate punting record. A professional football player with the Chicago Fire of the now-defunct World Football League who had also been a league-leading quarterback in the Continental Football League.

But a Sun-Times examination found Mahmoud was never drafted by the Reds and didn't play for either football league. Central State University in Ohio, from which Mahmoud graduated, could not confirm his claimed record.

Chicago State fired Mahmoud three weeks ago and removed his biography from its Web site, but officials won't comment on why he was let go.

The school had just axed athletic director Wayne Baskerville, who hired Mahmoud, although Baskerville's departure does not appear to be related to Mahmoud's situation. The men's and women's tennis coaches were also let go.

School spokeswoman Robyn Wheeler said the entire athletic department is under review.

The shake-up in athletics comes as CSU President Elnora Daniel officially stepped down last week. Daniel's contract wasn't renewed after two state audits ripped the university for spending public funds on a cruise, booze and theater tickets -- and for lax oversight. Daniel ended up reimbursing the school $8,650 for items charged to her university credit card "in error.'' The audits also chided the school for improperly awarding millions of dollars in no-bid contracts.

"This seems to be endemic of the whole university in terms of not dotting their i's and not crossing their t's,'' said CSU grad Edward Maloney, a state senator who chairs the Senate's Higher Education Committee. "It's just a shame.''

School officials wouldn't say whether Mahmoud's credentials were verified before he became head coach, saying they could not comment on personnel matters.

Mahmoud, 54, said the university never questioned him about his background. Mahmoud said Baskerville had told him he would remain as coach next year. But a letter sent to Mahmoud from interim athletic director Beverly John in mid-June said his contract, which paid him $40,000, would not be renewed.

Baskerville, a former associate commissioner in the Big Ten Conference office, had been in the $102,000-a-year post less than two years. He could not be reached for comment.

The baseball team finished with eight wins and 42 losses last year.

Mahmoud acknowledged errors in his biography.

"It's been 30-some years ago since most of this stuff,'' said Mahmoud, formerly known as Hallie Buckner. "I may not have been exactly correct on some of the leagues and different things like that because it's been so long ago.''

He acknowledges he wasn't drafted but had a free-agent try-out for the Reds in 1971. Although his biography indicates he graduated in 1975 from Central State, he actually finished 10 years later. Mahmoud called the mistake a "typo.''²

Central State University officials could not confirm his claims that he averaged 44.7 yards per punt in 1971, as his bio claims, or that he still holds the school punting record.

His biography claims he played with the Indianapolis Capitals of the CFL for five years, leading the league in passing in 1977 and 1978. But the CFL folded in 1969. The remnants of that team went on to play in a variety of amateur leagues over the next decade. Mahmoud, said team owner and player Percy Griffin, was a back-up quarterback for a couple of seasons, but was not an "All-League performer,'' as the biography states.

Mahmoud admits he had a try-out but did not play with the Fire, which had folded by the time his biography claims he suited up in 1980. He blames CSU for getting the facts wrong. Wheeler would not comment on that.³

But Mahmoud said many of those details are secondary to his work coaching the Steel City Giants, a summer league baseball team that played in Gary, where Mahmoud was the city finance director for 12 years until 2006. He said several of his players went on to play for CSU. He was hired there as an assistant coach in 2006-2007.

One of those players, Mike Caston, has taken over as interim coach of the CSU team.

"Hopefully, we can get the program turned around at CSU,'' he said.

1. "Not exactly correct" -- try total fabrication
2. no typo, just Mahmoud is a very poor forger; also "acknowledged errors" is an understatement to "caught red handed lying"
3. CSU got the facts wrong? More like Mahmoud didn't research carefully before doing his forgery

Edited July 8, 2008 by CherryXS

[almaty 19]

the chopf##k