Academic irregularities

[Ulla1]

North Carolina seems to be in trouble for providing fake courses for their athletes. Now it looks as if Texas basketball is also being investigated. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2492075-texas-basketball-allegedly-involved-in-academic-scandal

 

[fan2011]

North Carolina seems to be in trouble for providing fake courses for their athletes. Now it looks as if Texas basketball is also being investigated. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2492075-texas-basketball-allegedly-involved-in-academic-scandal

To compete at the top level you have to bring in top tier talent, and pretty much every top tier school is willing to do so at the expense of their academic integrity. As long as the benefit of recruiting extremely talented but academically incapable players (millions of dollars a year) outweighs the repercussions of being caught committing academic fraud to keep these players eligible (basically nothing) this is the way things will work at basically every top tier program.

I would be very disappointed if I found that Richmond was involved in an academic scandal like this. We don't even accept partial qualifiers like many other institutions. In the past our admissions office has prevented some incredible athletes from enrolling here due to them not meeting our academic standards. Most recently this was JJ Avila, who averaged 16+ points and 7+ rebounds every year he played, freshmen to senior. Or AD Vassallo who was denied admission to Richmond twice, but went on to make two All-ACC teams.

When I attended Richmond I was friends with some of our student athletes, including football players, soccer players, track etc. I even tutored some athletes, including a football player in calculus. These guys did not get the kind of breaks that athletes at bigger schools receive. Our athletes are expected to be, and in my experience actually are, students.

 

[Ulla1]

The Texas accusations seem to be picking up steam.
http://bleacherreport.com/tb/dgPJn

 

[SpiderK]

Basket weaving has been around as long as there has been college sports. Not saying I agree with it, but I am also not surprised.

 

[64Spider]

You are right SpiderK but at the prestigious schools like VPI it was Underwater Basket Weaving........much mor difficult.

 

[MrTbone]

One of the funnier majors I ever saw for a college athlete was a UCLA o-lineman whose educational focus was "Pre-undergraduate Studies." So basically, that means high school courses?

Oh yeah, he was a junior...

 

[SpiderTrap]

In my mind - at these bigger programs, its just the cost of doing business. What is the worse that will happen? They will take back some wins, maybe a fine, take away some scholarships, etc - but in the end, the program continues.

Do you really think the NCAA will come down hard on UNC and ban post-season play for them? I highly doubt it. UNC and Texas are bigger than the NCAA.

I am not saying I condone these actions, but when you mandate these kids attend school in the first place (another topic altogether on kids entering the draft out of high school for hoops), then coaches - who have jobs and multimillion dollar paychecks at stake, and Universities - who understand the impact a great athletic program can have on the school both financially and from a marketing aspect - the reward greatly outweighs the risk.

 

[97spiderfan]

Do you really think the NCAA will come down hard on UNC and ban post-season play for them? I highly doubt it. UNC and Texas are bigger than the NCAA.

I don't know about Texas but the UNC situation is widespread and wide published. They will get a postseason ban whether self imposed as pre-emptive or via the NCAA. Syracuse just got a ban, UConn got a ban a couple years, big times schools do get postseason bans. It will probably be 1 year though.

So, UNC will get a postseason ban, some scholarships taken away, and probably some administrators or low level athletic department guys will serve at the sacrificial lamb to protect the jobs of the Roy Williams of the world.

 

[SpiderTrap]

In my opinion - 1 year post-season ban does nothing.

Look at UCONN - they had a post-season ban because of Academic grad rates being too low and the following year they win the basketball title. USC I think received a more severe ban for football, and although they have not returned to National Championship level, they are still a top 25 football program who sends a lot of kids to the NFL and get a lot of high rated recruits.

NCAA will do something to make it look like they are hurting the school - but the NCAA is a business at heart. They need these programs to make money. Especially the top dollar programs like UNC and Texas.

 

[fan2011]

The NCAA might not punish UNC, but the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) has put UNC on probation, and may take away their accreditation within the next year. It is very unlikely and would be extremely unfair to the tens of thousands of students at UNC who are not involved in academic fraud. I hope this makes athletic departments think twice about what they are doing to their schools in the future, but realistically nothing will happen.

 

[SpiderTrap]

Probation - means, just follow the rules for the next year or two, and then go back to whatever you were doing.

And I agree - the rest of the student body should not suffer because some of the athletics administration did something wrong.

 

[urfan1]

2011 although I agree the loss or ding to accreditation should mean something it will likely not impact them at all. It really makes you wonder sometimes about who runs the show at some schools

 

[urmite]

Permanent loss of accreditation or permanent loss of tax exempt status would get their attention...

 

[urfan1]

Yes it would, I cannot imagine the screaming if that happened

 

[fan2011]

Permanent loss of accreditation or permanent loss of tax exempt status would get their attention...

Loss of accreditation is the end of the school. It would mean the end of federal student aid and research grant money. The school would not last long without either of those things.

 

[WebSpinner]

when crip or faux courses or studies are created for athletes, the rest of the student body knows and they take the courses as well. no different than finding out which prof you want for a particular course, some easier than others. this goes on at every school and not just for athletes. many of these schools are top academic institutions so one is going to obtain a fine education no matter what courses are out there for those struggling to graduate. not condoning or supporting these endeavors at all but personally i learned much more in college outside the classroom than inside, that has helped me more in life than what i studied. from a sports standpoint sometimes i wish i had gone to michigan or alabama but i attended UR for things not available at those types of schools and am happy i did.

 

[MooreHall73]

North Carolina seems to be in trouble for providing fake courses for their athletes. Now it looks as if Texas basketball is also being investigated. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2492075-texas-basketball-allegedly-involved-in-academic-scandal

If this is true of the basketball program, I can't imagine the football program would be far behind.