Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Michigan State, Hawaii not sharing videotapes

HONOLULU -- Hawaii football coach June Jones and Michigan State's John L. Smith are accusing each other of withholding videotape of their teams.

"We're not sending tapes. They're not sending tapes. It's that simple," Smith said Tuesday.

Michigan State officials said they had no additional comment beyond Smith's statement.

"We've been waiting to send ours and talk to their video guy," Jones said. "They don't want to exchange tapes, which is fine. That's their deal."

Jones went as far as accusing Michigan State of lying and advising the Spartans' season-opening opponent, Kent State, not to forward a copy of the tape to Honolulu.

"The Michigan State coaches asked the Kent State coaches not to send it to us because we wouldn't send them ours," Jones said. "I have no idea why they would lie to them. It's kind of a bad deal. But you do what you do to win, I guess."

Michigan State (1-0) and Hawaii (0-1) face each other Saturday in East Lansing. Hawaii beat Michigan State 41-38 in the final game of the regular season last year to earn a berth in the Hawaii Bowl.

The Spartans had 16 penalties for 119 yards that cost them the game. Hawaii was penalized five times for 35 yards.

Exchanging videotapes of school-shot footage is common practice in college football but not required in nonconference games.

Jones said his video coordinator has tried to reach the Spartans' video staff for the past 10 days.

"They don't have to exchange it if they don't want to. They're not in our conference, but to not return a phone call and tell Kent State a false statement is kind of unreal," he said.

Kent State officials did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.

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