WHEELING — It was a little more than a month ago that Wheeling Jesuit University fired men’s basketball coach Danny Sancomb.

Since then, the university has released only a vague statement on the reason for the termination, fueling speculation about what could have gone so wrong that one of the most successful coaches in school history was dismissed. Wheeling Jesuit claims NCAA violations occurred during Sancomb’s tenure.

Thursday, Sancomb was introduced as the new men’s basketball coach at California University of Pennsylvania.

Now that Sancomb has landed on his feet, he believes it is time to set the record straight.

Brent Wear of Fitzsimmons Law Firm represents Sancomb and spoke with the Sunday News-Register at length Friday about what he and Sancomb believe was a wrongful termination.

“If there are any NCAA violations, and I want to stress if, they are not individual violations in any way against Danny Sancomb,” Wear said. “The violations, if they exist, would be against the institution, the university in and of itself.

“We know from the public statement Jesuit issued, they apparently self-reported, although they have not detailed what those violations are in the public.”

Wear said his investigation found no individual violations by Sancomb, and that he believes Wheeling Jesuit wrongfully terminated his client.

Wheeling Jesuit, through an emailed response, declined to comment on Wear’s allegations.

According to Wear, the alleged reason used by Wheeling Jesuit to fire Sancomb was the opening of a bank account in 2012.

The bank account was in the name of Wheeling Jesuit, not Sancomb, and statements were sent to the university the entire time.

Wear said the account was opened because of Jesuit’s financial difficulties over the past few years. He said the university was having difficulty paying people to work basketball games, and the account would serve to ensure ticket takers, score keepers, security and other support staff would get paid. Sancomb served as the school’s athletics director at that time.

“I want to make clear the opening of the account was and is not an NCAA violation. The money that went into the account was completely proper and not an NCAA violation. The payments that came out of the account for those individuals is not an NCAA violation,” Wear said.

“All of the money that was in the account and spent out of the account has been accounted for. There has been no misappropriation of the money for an improper purpose. No allegations of theft. These statements all went to the university.”

Wear said Jesuit administrators knew of the account.

“Danny Sancomb, although he facilitated the account, never made a deposit into the account and never made a withdrawal from the account. Since 2013, Danny served as the basketball coach, no longer served as the athletics director and had no type of administrative responsibilities whatsoever.”

According to Wear, if there are any violations reported to outside agencies, whether it be the NCAA or the Mountain East, those violations are solely on Wheeling Jesuit and not Sancomb.

The account has remained dormant for the past five years with it being only used once in 2013 for chicken and pasta for an event.

Wear questioned why the university would fire a successful coach such as Sancomb, someone that also has been one of the school’s best ambassadors.

The Wheeling Jesuit graduate helped serve as a bridge between the Wheeling Central and Wheeling Jesuit communities, including raising more than $1 million for the school during his tenure.

“Without Danny being involved, the school would not have received the financial support it did for the football field,” Wear said. “Most importantly, Danny is a class act in terms of representing the school and is a good family man.”

Despite what Wear believes is a wrongful termination, he doesn’t anticipate filing any type of lawsuit.

“Mr. Sancomb has moved on and is at a place where he is going to be appreciated for what he can bring to the table and provide, as basketball coach and in the community,” Wear said. “We do not intend to file a lawsuit on his behalf, but if something else ever comes up that is improper or untrue, we reserve those rights.

“Mr. Sancomb is ready to move on and I am sure be quite successful.”