On Sunday afternoon, MCLA Fan became aware of serious allegations against the former SouthEastern Lacrosse Conference treasurer, Joe McGee.

McGee has allegedly admitted to SELC conference president, Doug Horn, that over the past 7 years he embezzled roughly $86,000 from the conference. McGee admitted this subsequent to his resignation at the summer SELC Executive Committee meeting, roughly 110 days ago.

The alleged embezzlement is news in and of itself, however, we are also just now hearing about it, and that delay is news too.  Supposedly, there have been numerous announcement dates set for this news, which have been repeatedly postponed, with no new announcement seeming imminent.

Through sources that wish to remain anonymous, MCLA Fan has received two emails detailing the allegations and the SELC’s reaction.

The first is from Florida State Head Coach and Vice President of the SELC Executive Committee, Bill Harkins, who passed on this information to the members of the league via email without Executive Committee approval for fear that continued silence could lead people to believe there was some sort of cover up.  His email is as follows:

“It is with a heavy heart that I come to you as a VP of your Executive Committee. At our summer EC meeting (my first,) Doug Horn as president, asked Joe McGee to resign as Treasurer of the SELC. Subsequent to his resignation and with an audit immanent, Joe confessed to Doug that over the past 7 years he had embezzled approximately $86,000 from the league. Obviously, he was never monitored and the EC did not fulfill their fiduciary responsibility. I am sure there is much blame to be shared, but for now that would only be counterproductive.

“I am informing you today as it has been approximately 107 days since Joe McGee formally (verbally) informed the league (Doug Horn) of his actions. There have been numerous announcement dates, all postponed, however no announcement appears to be forthcoming. I am concerned that the longer this information goes unannounced, the more it will appear to be a cover-up.  Hence, I am sending this e-mail, without the benefit of the blessing of the EC.

“I am sure, following this email, there will be more information from the president and/or the EC forthcoming.“

SELC Conference Director, Doug Horn, followed that email with one of his own the following day, explaining why there was a delay and what actions were and are being taken against Mr. McGee.

“It was never my intent or that of the Executive Committee to not inform the Board of Directors of the financial issue we have with the former treasurer. The EC has been working on a plan and resolution since it became known that there was a problem with our past finances.

When I agreed to become acting president I requested that an audit be done of the conference finances. An Atlanta accounting firm is working to audit the past several years of finances. We have contacted our insurer about the fraudulent activity. We are also working with an Atlanta law firm for counsel on this matter.

The past treasurer did come forward and indicated he had spent funds above what he was owed. We have been working to get these funds repaid by him or we will proceed with prosecution. Any funds repaid or recovered will be applied to team dues or other fees.

Upon becoming president in September, I began several new procedures to ensure that this would not happen again. First, we now require 2 signatures on all checks- the presidents and the treasurers. Second, there will now be an annual audit of the conferences finances. Also we will have a P&L that closes out the books each year. The new treasurer and I will be closely monitoring the finances to determine areas where money can be saved on future dues and game fees.”

After receiving these emails, we reached out to various SELC members in search of comments and reactions.

From Josh DuVall, Head Coach at UNC Charlotte:

“I’m reserving judgment until  I see an official statement from the league, but if it turns out the executive committee was actually  trying to cover this up, I worry for the future of our conference.  What other misconduct and mismanagement has taken place and not been disclosed to the member teams?”

From Matt Synowiez, Head Coach at Tennessee:

“With me representing a program that is a member of the conference it would be most appropriate to allow communications on this matter to come from the conference. Obviously I have an opinion on the situation and feel it is quite unfortunate it has occurred but there are serious legal issues at place here and it would be out of place for me to speak on this issue directly.

“I feel confident that the Executive Board is on top of the issue and am willing to assist any way possible should I be asked.”

From Ryan Winters, Head Coach at Florida:

“It feels like the SELC dues have been raised all my years coaching, just so Joe could steal them.

“As the SELC has grown to be a 50 team league, benefits and disadvantages have come with the hemorrhaging. Lack of administrative oversight from being spread so thin dating back to 2003 is one of those disadvantages.

“We have a yearly mandatory meeting in Atlanta that is supposed to be all SELC matters. If there was a topic more appropriate to discuss at this years meeting then a missing $86,000+ I’d be surprised, yet the executive committee thought it was in our best interest to delay the information and demand this years dues to be in on time.”

MCLA President Tony Scazzero offered up this comment:

“I am not familiar with the person or situation mentioned in your email to me. The MCLA does not comment on ongoing situations or internal conference matters.

“Each conference is a separate entity from the MCLA with elected officers who conduct business within their respective by-laws. The MCLA does provide every conference that affiliates with the MCLA national standards of playing rules, minimum eligibility standards, rules for inter-conference competition, a national officials pay structure, and provides a national championship event for members.”

Doug Horn, President of the SELC, provided this to us, when reached for comment:

“The SELC will have a press release about this in the coming days.”

What does this mean for the SELC? What does this mean for the MCLA as a whole? It seems to me that every conference needs to take a good hard look at their finances, if they haven’t already. The league probably should, as well, just to be safe.

$86,000 over 7 years may seem insignificant to some, especially when annual budgets for a team can exceed $100,000, but as part of a conference (SELC) and league (MCLA) that operates on a thin budget to begin with, one person funneling that amount of money away makes a significant impact. How could this discrepancy go unnoticed for so long?

There are a lot of unanswered questions from this story, I know.  I have a lot of my own.

We will keep you updated as more information becomes available.