N.C. State fires diving coach

N.C. State has fired head diving coach Michael Finneran, who was arrested last Thursday on charges he did not pay state taxes.

NCSU announced today that Finneran had received official notification he was no longer employed by the university. Athletics director Lee Fowler, contacted this week, said he could not comment on the matter because it was a personnel issue.

Finneran, 58, was charged with five felony counts of filing fraudulent state income tax returns. The charges stem from tax returns Finneran filed from 2002 to 2005, when he worked as a loan officer.

Finneran filed returns indicating he had no income when he was making $59,600 to $181,900 a year, according to the revenue department. Accused of failing to pay an estimated $35,800, he was released Friday from the Wake County jail.

Finneran, a former diving coach at Enloe High School, has been at NCSU since May 2004 and coached women's and men's diving. NCSU said a search for a new coach would begin immediately.

Finneran, who was on the American Olympic team in 1972, replaced John Candler, who had coached at N.C. State for about 36 years before resigning Dec. 3, 2003. Candler resigned after a Michigan woman sent an e-mail message to university leaders citing his criminal record and questioning his employment.

Candler had pleaded guilty to taking indecent liberties with a minor in 1966 and in 1985. State was aware of the convictions, the latter of which occurred during his tenure in Raleigh. Immigration officials tried to deport him to his native England after his resignation, but Candler was released from custody after nearly two months of federal detention.