SEATTLE -- An NCAA official said Tuesday the organization has made it clear that gambling isn't tolerated, suggesting Washington coach Rick Neuheisel should have known better than to enter an NCAA basketball tournament pool.

"The gambling rule is not vague,'' said Bill Saum, the NCAA's director of agents, gambling and amateur activities.

Saum wouldn't discuss Neuheisel or Washington directly, citing NCAA policy. However, the NCAA opened an investigation last week after Neuheisel admitted betting on the last two NCAA basketball tournaments.

"It is clear and direct against participation in pools and it has been clearly interpreted that way over the years,'' Saum said.

Neither Neuheisel nor Washington athletic director Barbara Hedges would comment on the issue Tuesday.

According to a story posted on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer Web site, Neuheisel, a former Colorado coach, brought a private attorney to a meeting Tuesday with university officials but later stormed out after being told that outside legal counsel represented a conflict of interest.

He told the newspaper he went to the meeting "to get my cards on the table.''

NCAA bylaw 10.3 prohibits athletic department staff members and student-athletes from gambling.

Most of the rule's subsections focus on placing or taking bets involving an athlete's or coach's own team. Those covered by the rule also are barred from providing information to people involved in organized gambling.

The subsection that addresses the Washington situation bans coaches, staff or athletes from participating "in any gambling activity that involves intercollegiate athletics or professional athletics, through a bookmaker, a parlay card or any other method employed by organized gambling.''

Saum said the NCAA has made gambling a "front-burner issue'' in the past five years, emphasizing at compliance seminars and in regular NCAA publications that any gambling is against the rules.

"I routinely do an immense number of interviews around the time of the Final Four regarding pools,'' Saum said.