Athletic officials acknowledge practice incident No serious problems with coach- player relations, source says By David Den Herder and Mark Francescutti Daily Sports Writers Michigan athletic officials confirmed yesterday that Michigan assistant coach Lorenzo Neely was reprimanded and punished two months ago for his involvement in an incident at a November practice. "He has the same title, but he has different responsibilities," said Bruce Madej, Michigan's associate athletic director for media relations. Neely remains on the bench at games, but does not have the same coaching tasks at practices that he once did. The incident in question involved a physical altercation between Neely and freshman guard Jamal Crawford. But a source told The Michigan Daily that the incident happened two months ago, and there is no significant strain on the relationships between players and coaches at daily practices. The source said emotions sometimes run high during practices, as they would with any college basketball team, but recent events are not reflecting any noticeable, abnormally tense relations between the coaching staff and players. Neely and Crawford both declined comment yesterday through Madej. Madej declined further comment, citing an Athletic Department guideline not to discuss personnel issues outside the department. Neely, 30, is in his second year at Michigan. He played four seasons at guard for Eastern Michigan from 1987-91. Before coming to Michigan, Neely was an assistant at his alma mater for two seasons. Michigan coach Brian Ellerbe could not be reached for comment, as he did not return to his office after early afternoon practice. Crawford's benching at the start of Sunday's Illinois game was not related to the Neely incident which happened months ago, sources said. Michigan coach Brian Ellerbe benched Crawford for the first 14 minutes of the game due to a flare up in this past Friday's practice. Ellerbe said Monday that Crawford's punishment was carried out and is now a "done deal." Crawford was unhappy at Michigan and was seriously considering transferring to Washington at season's end. But Crawford told the Daily Monday afternoon that he will be back in September. "I'm staying, and it's not even a question," Crawford said. Ellerbe said Monday that Crawford has never come to him with notions of transferring. "He's never said one thing about transferring," Ellerbe said. "The kid's here in heart, mind, body and soul." Ellerbe would not comment on Crawford's status for the Northwestern game tonight at 8 p.m. at Crisler Arena, but the freshman is listed on pre-game media notes as a starter. Originally on page 9A in the 1-19-2000 issue of the Daily.