Seattle ? Former Washington football coach Rick Neuheisel sued the university and the NCAA Thursday, alleging he was wrongfully fired for participating in a college basketball gambling pool.

The lawsuit, filed in King County Superior Court, alleges the school fired him in an effort to avoid an NCAA investigation.

Neuheisel’s lawyers filed the suit as audio tapes were released of his questioning by NCAA investigators.

The tapes support the university’s position that Neuheisel initially lied about his involvement in a high-stakes NCAA basketball tournament gambling pool.

“I never placed a bet on anything,” Neuheisel said early in the tapes, recorded June 4, when NCAA investigators first met with him.

Later that day, after Neuheisel was given time to speak to an attorney, he acknowledged his involvement in what he considered a friendly neighborhood pool. He said it didn’t involve organized, illegal gambling.

Bob Sulkin, Neuheisel’s lawyer, alleged Thursday that the NCAA targeted his client in “an unfair and flawed investigation.”

The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages and “such other relief as the court deems just and proper.”

It alleges NCAA officials, including president Myles Brand and gambling director William Saum, wrongfully rushed to conclusions about Neuheisel and suggested he could be suspended from coaching for two years or more.

“Such statements were made recklessly and with an incomplete and inaccurate knowledge of the facts,” the lawsuit said.

An NCAA spokesman did not immediately return a call for comment late Thursday.

The university released three NCAA-produced tapes, which had been given to Washington athletic officials and Neuheisel’s lawyers.

The tapes were obtained under public disclosure laws by The Seattle Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Nearly 60 minutes of recordings covered three separate interviews in meetings that led to Neuheisel’s firing, which took effect July 28. Keith Gilbertson was named head coach the next day.

Sulkin said earlier Thursday he didn’t think the tapes would affect his case. He also criticized Washington and NCAA officials for mishandling a tape that recorded the first part of the interview.

“What is clear is that Mr. Neuheisel fully disclosed his involvement in the March Madness pools on the first day of the investigation,” Sulkin said in a statement accompanying the lawsuit. He added that Washington fired the coach “even though its own Compliance Office issued a memorandum authorizing participation in the pool.”

The lawyer said Neuheisel’s responses would seem much different if the original context was available because the early questioning implied a possible connection to illegal organized gambling.

“I find it incredible that key evidence has been … lost or destroyed,” Sulkin said. “Not all the facts are out. When they’re all laid out on the table, people will see the truth.”