McCrath moves on after SPU exit

LOCAL AUTHOR DAVID Shields had a great line about voluble former Sonics star Gary Payton: He is fated to die in midsentence.

Another local sports icon may well share the same destiny. Cliff McCrath has never met a period at the end of a sentence he couldn't get around. The former Seattle Pacific University soccer coach has always realized the unabridged dictionary is his good friend. No point in leaving words unused in it.

So it was a small surprise this week when, over lunch, McCrath paused. There was even what appeared to be a moment of reflection.

"Maybe," he said, "SPU did me a favor."

McCrath, 72, is so busy these days that he hardly seems to miss the little school on the Ship Canal. Tonight, he is in St. Louis, where he is being inducted into the hall of fame of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. By his reckoning, that's his sixth such HOF award, although regarding one, the Winlock Egg Hall of Fame, he is a bit unclear as to the source of the honor.

At the end of the month, he will be off to China to embark on a program that uses soccer as a vehicle to teach life skills to children. He is also signed up with Save the Children, one of the world's largest humanitar-

ian organizations, to do a similar project in Africa, which has some backing from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Besides his annual soccer camp, he is working with the launch of the Sounders FC as it begins its incarnation as a Major League Soccer expansion franchise. Which makes for a full circle, inasmuch as in 1974, he was part of the launch of the original Sounders in the North American Soccer League.

"I don't believe in retirement,' he said, "then, or now."

SPU does, however. With the blessing of SPU president Dr. Philip Eaton, then-athletic director Tom Box more than a year ago fired McCrath, setting off a fury that was unprec-

edented in university history.

The ouster, after a 7-6-7 record that was nevertheless the Falcons' 37th consecutive winning season, ended an era under McCrath that included 30 playoff appearances and five NCAA Division II championships and started another era of acrimony and estrangement.

SPU released a statement that called the dismissal a retirement, which McCrath went along with, he said, until the first reporter called.

"I told (SPU officials) I wasn't going to lie for them," he said. "If asked, I was going to tell the truth."

Although no one in university administration was specific publicly, some players and their families complained that McCrath wasn't connecting anymore. Other critics of his later tenure said he was out of touch and hard to handle.

His legion of supporters disagreed and let Eaton, Box and the Board of Trustees know that they were appalled. Many threatened to sever ties and contributions, and some demanded the heads of those in charge.

One friend, Dr. Ken Foreman, SPU's legendary track coach, threatened to shroud his name on the field named after him until Eaton and Box, who was moved from the AD job to another administrative position, were gone. In an e-mail this week from his retirement home in Hawaii, Foreman wrote, "Neither of these men recognized that their action (behind closed doors) would bring condemnation to the university ... when it did, they put the blame on Cliff."

Foreman claims he, McCrath and other supporters are blacklisted from SPU activities. For a pending SPU hall of fame luncheon in which inductees could choose presenters, he said he was denied the role despite the request of the athlete.

McCrath has not been back to campus since his last workday Feb. 29. That alone should tell something, because few in this town would dispute that McCrath, who worked under 17 ADs and 12 presidents, was the highest-profile figure at the university and its premier fundraiser.

Asked for a response, Eaton, in Washington, D.C., for the NCAA convention, referred in an e-mail only to McCrath's hall selection, adding: "Cliff left an outstanding record of accomplishment at SPU, both as a winning coach and as an ambassador for sport. I could not be more proud of his long association with our great university."

Whatever the truth, the fracture remains real, especially at a Christian school that aspires to higher conduct. Even though the feisty McCrath, a product of the Detroit streets, says he has moved on, it's plain he still struggles.

"Maybe it's not right, but I've elected to not do anything (regarding litigation)," he said. "I was an at-will employee. Although in the middle of the night when my head is pounding. ...

"I don't want to put myself in double jeopardy. What happened hurt, but I won't hurt myself by feeling bad about it."

It's hard to imagine McCrath, an ordained minister, as anything less than ebullient. And for most of lunch, he was, telling stories, offering wisdom, cracking wise.

But the end at SPU, that wasn't right.

"God says vengeance is his," he said, smiling. "But he doesn't provide a timetable."

McCrath still has his job as ambassador of soccer and Seattle, now on a more global stage. Someday, with the passage of time, maybe he and SPU can do each other a favor and shake hands.