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 Saturday, December 4
Interim coach plucked from Erie C.C.
 
Associated Press

  BUFFALO, N.Y. -- University at Buffalo men's basketball coach Tim Cohane resigned amid an investigation of the program and as the team prepared for its biggest home game of the season.

Cohane's resignation was accepted Friday night, university president William Greiner said Saturday. Associate head coach Frank Valenti and assistant coach Jasper Walker were reassigned to other posts within the university, outside the athletic department.

Erie Community College coach Reggie Witherspoon was named interim head coach, just in time for Buffalo (2-3) to play host to No. 2 North Carolina on Tuesday night.

Cohane, who was in his seventh season as Buffalo's head coach, confirmed the resignation when reached at home Saturday, but he refused to comment further.

Buffalo self-reported infractions to the Mid-American Conference in October. Conference investigators conducted interviews on campus and the report has been reviewed by school officials.

One part of the investigation involved tryouts of prospective recruits in the university's Alumni Arena by Cohane and his staff, a violation of NCAA rules, The Buffalo News has reported.

Greiner said Cohane had not been forced out.

"I'm a lawyer, and I'll tell you it was a resignation," Greiner said. "This was a mutually agreed outcome."

The Mid-American Conference report detailing infractions will be made public probably within 2-4 weeks, Greiner said.

"We have given the first response to that report," he said. "The next stage is for us to work with the conference office to develop corrective measures."

The final report, including the school's corrective measures, will be sent to the NCAA.

"We've never had, fortunately, an experience with this before," Greiner said. "We consider the matter a very serious matter, we consider our response to it a very serious response and we expect there will be some ramifications for it."

In two-plus seasons at Erie Community College, Witherspoon has a 44-23 record, including last season's 24-5 mark and a No. 17 ranking in the national junior college poll.

Buffalo went 5-24 in its first season in the Mid-American last year. Cohane posted a record of 80-93 at Buffalo since 1993.

Witherspoon, whose team will follow Tuesday's big game against North Carolina with one against Indiana in the Indiana Classic on Friday night, held his first practice Saturday. Asked about Tuesday's game against the Tar Heels, Witherspoon joked: "What big game is that?"

"I said to the guys in practice today: 'You're playing at home in front of 9,000 people, against the No. 2 ranked team in the country,' " Witherspoon said. "As an athlete, you want that challenge. I'll tell you right now, it's a lot better than playing at the YMCA at noon."

Buffalo will conduct a national search for the coach's position early next year, athletic director Bob Arkeilpane said.

"If (Witherspoon) chooses to become a candidate, that's up to him," Arkeilpane said.