ST. PAUL, Minn. - A day after revelations about recruits' trips to strip clubs and underage drinking during official campus visits since early December, University of Minnesota athletics director Joel Maturi said he began an investigation and will formulate a plan when he meets on Thursday with Gophers football coach Glen Mason.

Maturi and Mason talked by phone Wednesday, and the AD said there was "frustration" on the coach's part that recruits were taken to Deja Vu Nightclub in downtown Minneapolis during at least three weekends and also engaged in underage drinking at a campus bar.

Maturi said he did not ask Mason whether the coach knew that trips to strip clubs and underage drinking took place on recruiting weekends.

"In the conversation (with Mason) . . . it was insinuated to me that obviously that's not condoned," Maturi said. "It's not a pertinent question."

Mason will return to Minnesota on Thursday and did not make any statement about the situation. When reached by the St. Paul Pioneer Press, he said he was on a recruiting call and didn't "have time for this."

One weekend remains for on-campus official visits. The Gophers have at least one recruit, already-committed Willie VanDeSteeg of Silver Lake, Minn., scheduled for a visit, with possibly more to come. At the usual recruiting meeting Friday, coaches are expected to make clear to host players what is not acceptable, given the reports Wednesday.

The revelations came 16 months after Gophers football player Brandon Hall was shot to death in downtown Minneapolis, after a Gophers teammate was assaulted and Hall was one of 20 or 30 teammates who came to the scene. Coaches emphasized to players after that the importance of avoiding potentially troublesome situations.

"I don't know if they looked at it as being troublesome_I can't speak for the kids," Maturi said. "But I don't think they correlate Brandon Hall's death with going to a strip club."

University President Robert Bruninks declined to comment on the reports. But Board of Regents chair David Metzen said he's "very disappointed" to hear about the allegations.

"It's not the Minnesota way," Metzen said. "But I have tremendous confidence in our president and our athletic director. If it did happen, it'll never happen again."

Sought-after recruit Lydon Murtha of Hutchinson, Minn., told the St. Paul Pioneer Press on Tuesday that a trip to the strip club on his Dec. 5 official was a "turnoff" and contributed to his decision to back out of his commitment to the Gophers to attend Nebraska. However, Murtha told the Minneapolis-based Star Tribune on Tuesday that the trip to the strip club was "not the reason at all" he decided to back out on the Gophers for the Cornhuskers.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press reported Wednesday that on at least three weekends of official visits, recruits were taken by Gophers players to Deja Vu, including one occasion when 17-year-old recruit Dominique Barber of Wayzata gained entry to the 18-and-older club. The Star Tribune reported Wednesday that recruits also went to several Minneapolis bars during that same recruiting visit.

Maturi said he has no concrete plan yet to police where hosts take recruits in the future. Gophers assistant head coach Moe Ankney said Wednesday that he and the other Gophers assistants ask recruits each morning of a weekend visit what they had done the previous night.

Maturi said he had not begun to investigate which Gophers were involved in the trips to the bars or strip clubs. Maturi said players involved would not likely receive severe penalties such as game suspensions if they only took recruits to the strip club. If players were involved with underage drinking, there might be stiffer sanctions.

"To me, that's a more serious violation," Maturi said.

As far as potential NCAA infractions, Barber's underage entry into the strip club does not constitute a rules violation, NCAA spokeswoman Kay Hawes said Wednesday. Minnesota director of compliance Frank Kara said a coach or administrator would have to be involved for the NCAA to take action. Minus that, the NCAA views it as a "matter of law enforcement," Hawes said.

As for the act of simply taking recruits to a strip club, the NCAA could conceivably rule it a case of "excessive entertainment." While the trip in itself is unlikely to be a violation of that nature, the specifics of what occurred in the club might rise to the level of "excessive entertainment," Hawes said.

Barber, whose brother is Gophers running back Marion Barber III, and his parents could be reached for comment Wednesday. Maturi said Barber's underage entry to the strip club would not affect his recruitment by Minnesota.

A recruit who spoke on the condition of anonymity said Wednesday that on his official visit, some recruits chose to go to the Library Bar, 1301 4th St. SE, on campus, where the age minimum was 18 to enter. Recruits purchased alcohol on their own, according to the unnamed recruit, but no Gophers players purchased alcohol for them.

Maturi pointed out that activities such as drinking and trips to strip clubs occur on recruiting visits at many colleges, not just Minnesota_though he quickly added, "That doesn't make it right."

Mike Seidman, a rookie tight end for the Carolina Panthers, said he was taken to a strip club on his official visit to UCLA, and that he offered to take recruits to one when he was a host_though none took him up on it.

"I'd take guys wherever they wanted to go," Seidman said. "If a kid is 18, I see nothing wrong with it. It all part of the college life. If a kid was forcibly taken, that's another thing. But I don't think that happens. It's all done in fun."

Travis Weber, a sophomore goaltender for the Gophers men's hockey team last season, said drinking among recruits "happens," even with underage recruits.

"It doesn't matter if it's at the University of Minnesota or Harvard, that kind of stuff happens all over," said Weber, who left the U last summer. "It's part of college."

Jack Brewer of the Vikings, a former Gophers defensive back, said, "When you're on a recruiting visit, you have choices, and no one pressures you. They pretty much open the floor up. It's your recruiting trip; you can go where you want to go in the city, as long as it's legal."

Brewer declined to comment on whether he went to a strip club on his visit. His Vikings teammate Brian Russell said he was taken to a strip club when San Diego State recruited him. "It wasn't a big deal," he said, "but I never took a recruit to a strip club when I was hosting recruits, and I hosted a bunch."

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Sean Jensen, Bill Williamson, Bruce Brothers, Ray Richardson, Chuck Laszewski and Lenora Chu contributed to this story.