AAU Coach Denied Appeal To Coach This Weekend

A Multnomah County Circuit Court judge on Wednesday declined to grant a preliminary injunction permitting a Portland-area basketball coach with a felony drug conviction to work the sideline of an Arizona tournament this weekend.

Michael Abraham of Team Concept, a youth training program with a prominent high school-age girls team that travels to tournaments to play for college recruiters, had sued the NCAA after its change in certification rules excluded him.

Abraham had been certified under the previous rule, which allowed coaches to have nonviolent felonies more than seven years old. Under previous and current rules, coaches with any type of sex offense are banned.

Abraham was convicted in 1999 for his role in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine. A former addict, Abraham says he has been sober since the mid-1990s.

"It's just kind of devastating," Abraham said. "I don't know what to tell my players and my family about redemption."

He said he would travel with his team to the weekend tournament in Phoenix -- the rule prohibits him only from coaching from the bench -- but wasn't sure whether he would continue his legal case.