TUSCALOOSA, Alabama – Alabama sent a disassociation letter to the owner of T-Town Menswear in March, effectively breaking ties between Tom Albetar and the university.
An Alabama source said Albetar was not deemed a booster, and the university can send a disassociation letter to anyone.
The letter, which was signed by Alabama athletics director Mal Moore, was hand delivered to Albetar (the letter addresses him as Mr. Tom Al-batar) and was part of a university statement released Tuesday addressing growing concerns between Crimson Tide athletes and their relationship with Albetar and his store.
“Due to the concerns expressed in our letter to Mr. Albetar dated March 31, 2011, we disassociated him from our program,” Alabama associate athletic director of compliance Mike Ward said in a news release. “As we always do in matters of this nature, we discussed this matter with the SEC Office. Because we found no evidence of any NCAA violation, we did not self-report a violation. UA will continue to be proactive in all areas of compliance monitoring.”
In the dissociation letter, Alabama said Albetar cooperated in an interview with the university and appeared to be compliant with NCAA rules. The university expressed a concern with the “display of memorabilia indicating a relationship with several University of Alabama student-athletes.”
“Your conduct and interaction with student-athletes, as well as that of your employees, has been appropriately reviewed, and appears to be compliant with NCAA regulations,” the letter states.
In the same letter the university expressed, “The institution must remain cautious regarding any relationship you may have with its student-athletes beyond that of a store owner and customer. As the owner of a local business, the institution is reliant on you to heed all instructions provided by the institution and its compliance staff regarding adherence to NCAA rules.”
The release was Alabama’s first official response since news broke last week that the university had sent a cease-and-desist letter to T-Town Menswear asking the business to end its practice of using the likeness of Crimson Tide student-athletes in advertisements, and to specifically end the sale of memorabilia signed by current Alabama athletes.
Alabama released the cease-and-desist letter Sunday night, but had not official commented regarding the story.
Approached Monday by al.com newspaper reporters near his University Mall store, Albetar, who has been photographed on the sideline and in the press box at Alabama football games, declined comment.
“Our review of this matter was a part of our normal compliance program,” Ward said. “We routinely look at all situations of potential concern. Based on our review of this matte
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