A Tarred Name

It doesn’t get much worse than what was revealed this week.  UNC, the gem of the North Carolina public school system and a perennial basketball powerhouse, cheated.  And, for the first time in a while, we’re not talking about improper benefits, ill-timed text messages, or money for food.  This is academic fraud.

For those who haven’t followed, a thorough investigation by former federal prosecutor Kenneth Wainstein has revealed that athletes at UNC were enrolled in “paper classes.”  These classes (a generous term) appeared on the course options as part of the African-American Studies department.  A professor, named Julius Nyang’oro, was listed as the ostensible instructor of the class.  In truth, these classes were operated by Deborah Crowder, assistant to Nyang’oro, who would hand out paper assignments and do all of the grading.

The use of quotes is a necessity when discussing these “classes”, since the “grading” was really Crowder assigning grades under the professor’s name on final papers.  The word “fluff” is used in the report to describe the actual written products.  Athletes took advantage of these classes.  In a particularly revealing stat, 47.4 percent of students in these classes were student-athletes between 199-2011.  What’s worse, athletes received an average grade of about a B plus (3.55), which compares fairly poorly to the average grade of B minus (2.84) for athletes in other African-American studies classes.

This favorable treatment did not escape the academic counselors for the football and basketball teams.  According to the report, football counselors sent lists to Crowder of players that should be enrolled in these classes, and in some cases told her what grade the player needed to keep playing.  Basketball counselors also “routinely” arranged for players to enroll in these classes.

This scheme helped about 3100 UNC students, but the report does not ascribe any knowledge of the shady curriculum to the athletic program or any coaches.  Roy Williams, the basketball coach, allegedly grew concerned about how many players majored in African- and Afro-American Studies.  The report also details that the number of basketball players in the department grew to be negligible by 2009.

There is, however, one more disturbing portion of this: I remain skeptical that there aren’t schools or academic counselors out there now that aren’t also steering athletes to specific “gut courses.”  In this report, a PowerPoint presentation is described where the academic counselors admit to placing athletes in courses in which “they didn’t have to pay attention or necessarily engage with the material.”  I will add that presentation was given in 2009 to athletic officials (including football coach Butch Davis) after it was learned that Crowder would be retiring soon.

UNC certainly is a hallmark athletic program, meaning it is not surprising that counselors would do what they can to inflate grades.  In fact, it is in the interest of any school to keep its athletes, especially in the big revenue sports, in academic good-standing.  But to steer athletes to classes where they needn’t do anything academic is malfeasance.  I would understand telling a star player to take a bunch of Psych courses because they require less work.  But that is different from no work.  That’s a separate issue entirely, and practices like this undercut further the myth of amateurism that permeates NCAA procedures.

UNC deserves some credit for commissioning multiple investigations since the first allegations in 2011.  And, much of the penance has been served by UNC already, after losing 16 football wins, 15 scholarships, and eligibility for the 2012 postseason.

If the NCAA wants to stop this once and for all, the ideal situation would be NCAA-sanctioned academic counselors for UNC.  That won’t ever happen, and a GPA requirement wouldn’t actually solve the problem, but deeper scholarship cuts might actually be the best remedy here.  It avoids the fruitless vacating of wins penalty while also forcing coaches and athletic directors to take a greater interest in the academic stuff.  No one wants to play shorthanded, and scholarships are the key recruiting tool.  Of course, for that to work, these cuts would have to be really deep, so much so that teams at UNC might have a really hard time competing.

Whatever it decides, this is a key moment for the NCAA.  Give this a good look and avoid missteps of the past, and they might find the best solution.  It needs to be strong, though, or else the NCAA will keep losing its ever tenuous hold on the organization of college athletics.

Bits #1:  Notre Dame

I’ve waited almost a week to tell my Notre Dame friends (and other sympathizers) that the offensive pass interference call last weekend was the correct call.  Watch the play again right now.  Neither wide receiver attempts to run a route, in fact pushing back the defensive backs with their arms.  The flag also is not late, it’s thrown at the same time the ball is in the air.  Video is a wonderful invention, please use it.