West Chester's Zwaan lets one get away

You don't get an email like this too often. West Chester University's all-American tight end, Tim Brown, was declared ineligible by the NCAA last week, basically out of eligibility.

Here's the part you don't see.

"This is my fault as his coach," West Chester football coach Bill Zwaan said in the email. "I have been coaching at the Division II and III level for 23 years, and this is one of the worst mistakes I have ever made because of the effect this may have on [Brown's] life."

Talking on the phone this week, Zwaan said he'd explained to the NCAA that this was his fault, a misunderstanding solely on his part of whether Brown had been a full-time student at a community college before coming to West Chester.

He said the national governing body's response was: "I'm not an administrator, so it shouldn't have been my job. . . . If an administrator had made a mistake and that led me to giving him bad advice, they would have given him another year."

And that really frosts Zwaan.

"At D-I levels they have people who deal with this on each sport," said Zwaan, a former athletic director at Widener when he coached there. "With us, it's the coaches. To me, it's amazing the NCAA can't figure that out at the D-II and III level."

Again, Zwaan is not trying to deflect blame.

"It's my fault," Zwaan said. "If I handle it, then we don't have to deal with the NCAA."

He said Brown could have been a part-time student this past spring and been eligible to play this fall. But that was not the coach's recommendation based on his understanding of Brown's academic transcript.

Zwaan said his recent conversation with Brown was difficult and emotional.

"He has fought through a lot of adversity in his life," Zwaan said. "He said, 'You know what, Coach, last spring was the only time I've been on academic honor roll my entire life. I've never been in trouble, I've never been arrested. Why are they doing this to me?' "

It's hard to jump from D-II to the NFL, but scouts absolutely have been tracking the Upper Darby High graduate since he put two big seasons together at West Chester. Now? He's got to wait till next year's draft and hope someone gets excited about him even without him being on the field this fall.

"He's such a difference-maker," Zwaan said. "Nobody in our league could cover him. Even in the playoffs, at the best levels, people struggle to cover him."

For Zwaan, this is the latest news in what he categorizes as the toughest offseason of his long coaching career. Andrew Derr, a junior expected to be West Chester's starting quarterback, was arrested earlier this year for his part in a bar fight, then had his probation revoked after reportedly admitting to probation officials that he had smoked marijuana and taken Xanax.

Of this case, all Zwaan would say was, "He's not our quarterback right now."

We'll take it to mean that the school is waiting to see how this plays out. While not denying there are issues that need to be addressed, Zwaan also said of Derr, "I really liked him, he's a good kid."

The Golden Rams, ranked 22d nationally in a preseason Division II poll, open their season Thursday night at home against ninth-ranked Lenoir-Rhyne. Their coach feels worst for the kid who won't be out there through no fault of his own.

Another quote from the email: "Tim and my other players rely on me to make sure they are given the correct advice and to take care of them, and I failed Tim."

Nope, you don't see that too often.