Lawyers for Northwestern responded Tuesday to the lawsuit filed in August by the family of Rashidi Wheeler, stating that the football player’s Aug. 3 death was not caused by bronchial asthma. At the same time, University President Henry Bienen released a statement suggesting that NCAA-banned supplements might have played a greater role in Wheeler’s death than the medical examiner’s report indicated.

The lawsuit contends that NU is to blame for Wheeler’s death, citing an ill-equipped and inexperienced medical staff present at the practice field where the 22-year-old died. But NU’s response defends the training staff and shifts attention to the dietary supplements found in Wheeler’s system in the subsequent autopsy.

But Wheeler’s mother, Linda Will, dismissed the university’s response.

“I’m appalled that Northwestern would have the audacity to come with this challenge to the coroner’s report,” Will said.

The suit, filed Aug. 23 in Cook County Circuit Court, names seven employees and interns of NU’s athletic department, including Director of Athletics Rick Taylor and head football coach Randy Walker.

The university’s response firmly defended the staff, which Bienen said behaved “appropriately, indeed valiantly,” and denied all allegations of negligence.

Bienen’s statement, which came after two months of hushed internal investigation, admitted that NU violated a minor NCAA regulation by reporting the results of summer conditioning tests to coaches. Walker was ordered to forfeit six practices this season under a university-imposed penalty – three of which he said the team already has forfeited.

An August toxicology report from Cook County’s Office of the Medical Examiner stated that Wheeler’s death was caused solely by exercise-induced bronchial asthma. Ephedrine, the controversial supplement found in over-the-counter products such as Ultimate Punch and Xenadrine, was found in Wheeler’s system but was not named as a factor in his death.

The university has submitted an opinion from its own medical expert, NU Medical School Prof. Lewis Smith, who argues that asthma didn’t cause Wheeler’s death.

Will said the emphasis on the supplement is a “smoke screen” and called Smith’s submission a “biased opinion.”

The suit will pit NU’s medical expert against Cook County’s Office of the Medical Examiner.

Chief Medical Examiner Edmund Donoghue said he has full confidence in the conclusions reached by Dr. Eupil Choi. The deputy medical examiner based his findings on an autopsy, toxicology studies and Wheeler’s clinical history.

NU’s opinion states that Wheeler’s condition at the time of his death could be diagnosed as asthma – but not “severe asthma causing death.” Most importantly, the study found that Wheeler’s air passages weren’t plugged with mucus, “a classical finding of fatal asthma.”

Following up on its investigation, NU is seeking from Cook County’s Office of the Medical Examiner samples of Wheeler’s blood and urine, as well as relevant items found in Wheeler’s locker – including bottles of Ultimate Punch and Xenadrine.

Before Tuesday’s practice, Taylor and Walker informed the team of the developments.

“I said to the team, ‘I wish you didn’t have to hear this today, ‘” Walker said after Tuesday’s practice. “When that lawsuit was filed, it became a real difficult situation. I wish none of this had ever happened.”

But although Walker was saddened because his players were being forced to revisit a teammate’s death, he accepted full responsibility for the NCAA violation.

In April, the NCAA handed down new guidelines that prohibit information from voluntary summer practices from being relayed to coaches. Walker said he was unaware that the guidelines existed when he received reports from three summer conditioning drills.

“It was going on before I got here and getting those reports was always acceptable,” Walker said. “(But) ignorance is not an excuse.”

The three lost practices were taken during preseason camp in Kenosha, Wis., and in Evanston in September. Walker did not say when the remaining practices will be removed, but that they could serve as further distractions later in the season.

NU was hopeful its self-imposed punishment would be accepted by the NCAA, but Jane Jankowski, the organization’s assistant director of public relations, said the case still was under review.

Walker said he had no knowledge that Wheeler and other players may have been taking the banned supplements.

Bienen’s statement asserted that the athletic department regularly discusses the danger of dietary supplements with its athletes and supports measures to remove ephedrine-based products from the market.

Offensive guard Jeff Roehl said: “You go to GNC and there’s a ton of things you look at on the shelves that promise you bigger strength and to make you faster. … The best bet the majority of the time is to either stay away from it or ask the trainers.”

Players at the scene said in August that the medical response to Wheeler’s attack left them more confident in the staff’s ability.

“I feel more safe with our training staff than ever before,” senior offensive guard Lance Clelland said.

But Will said NU’s investigation didn’t turn up any answers for her.

“Their heads should hang in shame,” she said. “How do they sleep at night? Because I can’t.”