NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - Vanderbilt University thought it knew all about Tom Collen's academic credentials. When the elite private school learned of inaccuracies in an old resume, he had two choices: Quit or be fired. <br>
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Collen quit as Vanderbilt's women's basketball coach Thursday less than a day after being hired. His resignation came after a newspaper published a portion of the old resume that incorrectly claimed he had two master's degrees. <br>
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``It was a dealbreaker,'' Vanderbilt athletic director Todd Turner said. <br>
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Questions about Collen's academic credentials first came up Monday when Vanderbilt officials looked at a Colorado State bio of Collen on its Web site. Collen gave them transcripts, diplomas and a resume correctly showing one master's degree in physical education and health education. <br>
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Turner consulted with academic officials who didn't see a problem. Collen said the bio was the result of a mistake in collecting information for the bio at Colorado State, Turner said. <br>
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But The Tennessean newspaper obtained the resume Collen submitted to Colorado State in 1997 and excerpted the portion where he listed master's degrees in health education and recreational programming from Miami of Ohio. <br>
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``When we discovered ... he had exaggerated that, that just was not going to work,'' Turner said. <br>
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Turner said Vanderbilt believed in Collen's abilities, but the school's reputation was at risk. <br>
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``I know this decision was difficult for him to make, but it was the right one,'' Turner said. <br>
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Reached at the Nashville airport before flying home to Colorado, the 48-year-old Collen said he believed for 17 years that he had earned two degrees. <br>
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``There was never any intention to deceive anybody. It was just a mistake that was never caught,'' Collen said. <br>
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Collen had been introduced to Vandy fans as only the fourth coach in the history of the women's program on Wednesday afternoon. When asked about the discrepancies Vandy uncovered Monday, Turner said at the time to ``trust me.'' <br>
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Turner admitted he was embarrassed by the unexpected turn of events, which has him looking for a new coach once again. <br>
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``This certainly is an awkward time for Vanderbilt and me in particular,'' he said. <br>
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The case comes five months after George O'Leary, the former football coach at Georgia Tech, lost his job at Notre Dame within a week of his hiring. He falsely claimed on his resume that he had a master's degree in education and had earned three letters as a New Hampshire football player. He attended New Hampshire only two years and didn't play in any games. <br>
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Turner, a close friend of Notre Dame athletic director Kevin White, said he wanted to talk to White about problems with coaches. <br>
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``We can do better. There's no question about that. We can be more efficient. We can be smarter. I don't think we can try any harder. But I think we can learn from these kinds of things,'' Turner said. <br>
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Colorado State is going ahead with its search for a replacement for Collen, the most successful coach in Rams' history. He was 129-33 and took the school to the postseason in each of his five seasons, including four NCAA berths. <br>
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Vanderbilt will return to its list of finalists in trying to replace Jim Foster, who left to become the coach at Ohio State on April 7. Foster was 256-99 in 11 seasons with the Commodores and took them to the NCAA tournament 10 times.
