Sports

Head of NCAA Enforcement: Academic Misconduct on Rise

Published

11 years ago

January 29, 2015

$In this Aug. 26, 2010, file photo, then-North Carolina chancellor Holden Thorp, center, listens as then-UNC athletic director Dick Baddour, right, talks during a news conference with then-UNC head coach Butch Davis, left, about possible academic misconduct regaring the college football program in Chapel Hill, N.C. Jon Duncan, the head of NCAA enforcement. says academic misconduct has been on the rise in college athletics and his department is handling 20 open investigations. North Carolina has been the focus of the NCAA's most high-profile infractions case involving academics. (AP Photo/The News & Observer, Ethan Hyman, File)$

In this Aug. 26, 2010, file photo, then-North Carolina chancellor Holden Thorp, center, listens as then-UNC athletic director Dick Baddour, right, talks during a news conference with then-UNC head coach Butch Davis, left, about possible academic misconduct regaring the college football program in Chapel Hill, N.C. (AP Photo/The News & Observer, Ethan Hyman, File)

RALPH D. RUSSO, AP College Football Writer

The head of NCAA enforcement says academic misconduct is on the rise in college athletics and his department is currently handling 20 open investigations.

Vice president of enforcement Jon Duncan said Wednesday in an interview with The Associated Press the cases involve both prospective and incoming athletes trying to become eligible for college competition, and enrolled athletes receiving impermissible assistance from university and athletic department personnel.

Eighteen of the cases involve Division I schools, though NCAA policy precludes Duncan from revealing which programs are under investigation.

North Carolina has been the focus of the NCAA’s most high-profile infractions case involving academics. Last year an independent investigator found that hundreds of Tar Heels athletes over nearly two decades were steered toward sham classes that gave out high grades for little work. In the last four months, Weber State football and Georgia swimming have been sanctioned by the NCAA for academic misconduct violations.

Duncan said reasons for the uptick are difficult to pinpoint, but he speculated potential contributors are raised academic standards for athletes and recent reforms that tie academic performance to a team’s postseason eligibility.

More digital and online course work “creates opportunities for mischievous behavior,” Duncan said. Though electronic fingerprints and digital trails can also aide in investigations.

Also, cheating seems to be more common campus-wide, not just in the athletic department, Duncan said.

“None of what’s happened here has surprised us,” said Duncan, who took over enforcement in 2013. “In fact, it’s why we created the academic integrity unit in 2013, because we saw this on the horizon and we wanted to be in a position to deal with it proactive rather than reacting to it. Whatever the drivers were.”

Academic misconduct investigations can be challenging because not all cheating by a student-athlete breaks NCAA rules.

Notre Dame had four football players suspended all of last season because of academic misconduct. The school needed to report the incident to the NCAA, though ultimately it was a violation of the university’s honor code that cost the players the season.

For academic impropriety to become an NCAA violation at least one of three factors must be involved:

— Involvement by members of an institution or athletic department staff.

— An athlete is treated differently than the general student population.

— Academic misconduct led to an award of credit that allowed an athlete to compete when he or she would have otherwise been ineligible.

“It’s easy to talk about those different buckets and categories in sort of scholarly, academic conversation, but they don’t come to us packaged and labeled as falling into and out of those categories,” Duncan said. “We have to spend a lot of time, dedicate a lot of resources, look at a lot of paper and perhaps conduct a number of interviews to determine whether we’re in one of those categories or not.”

West Virginia University director of compliance Keli Cunningham said the challenge for those on campus comes in the tracking.

“It’s not like monitoring areas such as a prospect’s visit to campus where you can see an expense statement and know if someone received a meal and shouldn’t have or monitoring phone calls where you can see a coach’s phone bill and know if he/she made too many phone calls,” Cunningham said in an email. “If a staff member works closely with a student-athlete and that student-athlete receives a high grade for the course, that doesn’t mean that the staff member acted unethically and triggered academic misconduct.”

Kathy Sulentic, who leads the NCAA’s academic integrity unit, said they are seeing two themes in the academic cases being investigated.

“What we’re seeing are people who have an association with the program, by people it could be anybody from a professor, a campus adviser, a registrar, a teaching assistant, who has a relationship with the athletic department or a particular sports program and they use that relationship in an effort to — and I’m using air quotes here — to help a student-athlete engage in misconduct,” she said.

The second scenario stems from coaches delivering directives to coaching and support staff members about an athlete’s academics.

“And the coach will say, ‘We need to get this student athlete eligible.’ Not telling them exactly what to do but saying we need this young man or young women and some sort of academic misconduct occurs,” Sulentic said.

Enforcement staff does not make NCAA bylaws though it can help guide membership to where it wants to go with legislation.

The NCAA has been going through a stage of deregulation as it tries to simplify its bylaws, but that’s not necessarily the case when it comes to academics.

“The conversations that we have been in and that we have heard have not been deregulatory in nature,” Duncan said. “They’re just trying to find a way to distinguish between what is an NCAA matter and what is not.”

___

Follow Ralph D. Russo at www.Twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP

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Sale of Coliseum to African American Developers Moves Toward Completion

The deal includes the sale of the Oakland Arena to an unidentified third-party buyer for no less than $100 million, which Bobbitt said was one of the most important aspects of the site’s future redevelopment.

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The deal includes the sale of the Oakland Arena to an unidentified third-party buyer for no less than $100 million, which Bobbitt said was one of the most important aspects of the site’s future redevelopment.

‘This is on the precipice of actually occurring,’ said Ray Bobbitt, buyers’ representative

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After many months of complex negotiations, the Oakland Coliseum development deal is finally nearing an agreement that will open the way for new owners – the African Americans Sports and Entertainment Group (AASEG) – to revitalize the sports complex and the Hegenberger Corridor in East Oakland.

On May 28, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a non-binding agreement to dispose of the County’s portion of the complex for $115 million in a deal with AASEG, with a closing date set for June 30.

“People are seeing that this is on the precipice of actually occurring,” said Ray Bobbitt, founder of the AASEG and an East Oakland native. “People feel that this needs to happen for Oakland, for East Oakland in particular,” Bobbitt said, as reported in the East Bay Times.

The agreement would transfer ownership of the 112-acre Coliseum complex property, which was owned 50-50 by Alameda County and the City of Oakland, to Oakland Acquisition Company, which is AASEG’s real estate wing.

The County’s approval marks an important step in the sale of the property, even though concerns about environmental liability remain. Under the terms of the non-binding agreement, the county will pay $115 million to Coliseum Way Partners, the corporate entity of the Oakland Athletics that had previously purchased the county’s half of the property for $85 million.

AASEG will then pay $115 million to the County in three annual payments, with 5% annual interest paid on any outstanding balance, according to the term sheet.

AASEG already negotiated a purchase of the city’s half of the property for $125 million in 2025, awaiting the sale of the county’s half.

A strong supporter of the sale, Supervisor Nate Miley said he was not “breaking out the champagne” until the sale was final. This is not perfect, but it is good.

“It’s good because the County ends up with more money,” Miley continued. “It’s good because an African American team takes ownership of the property, and they’ve got a lot of potential in terms of what they want to do with the property.”

A remaining disagreement between Alameda County and the AASEG involves environmental concerns.

AASEG wanted a “carve-out” for environmental concerns so that it would not face liability for the release of groundwater into San Francisco Bay without a permit. Obtaining a permit could be time-consuming and expensive, requiring the need for consultants, studies, and an oversight process by the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board.

County supervisors unanimously supported the non-binding agreement without the carve-out, though Bobbitt said delaying or excluding the carve-out creates timing risks for the project.

“The motion is to accept the terms as presented, excluding the carve-out,” Board of Supervisors President David Haubert said. “Noting that it’s a non-binding term sheet and terms can always be discussed going forward. It’s been pointed out that that could affect the deal, timing, which we’ve been at this for nine years, but what’s a little more time?”

“The arena represents an anchor of the site,” said Babbitt. “This arena … has become a pop culture mecca, and the opportunity to enhance that and expand that is critical to the overall process.”

Speaking at the Board of Supervisors meeting, Miley explained the County’s reasoning behind some of the complex negotiations. He asked interim County Counsel Andrea Weddle:

“In layman’s term’s who’s on the hook for the environmental (cleanup)” under the current deal with the Oakland A’s?

“When the county with a former board entered in the deal with the (A’s), we took on all of the environmental obligations,” Miley said. “Since then, we’ve learned a lot more about the environmental conditions of the Coliseum.”

“If we do a deal with Coliseum Way Partners (the A’s), we remain on the hook,” she said. “If we do a deal as we’ve currently structured with OAC (AASEG), we have eliminated some or hopefully all (or) as much as we can of that liability and aligned our deal with the terms of the city.”

Bobbitt, despite his concerns, supported the nonbinding agreement. He said the public has waited nearly a decade to come to this point.

“The community support has been overwhelming,” he said. “We’ve used a lot of P-words: patience, perseverance, persistence. And we’ve just had to do it, and we understand how complex this has been.”

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Seth Curry is a point guard on the GSW team.Photo courtesy of the Golden State Warriors.

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The crowd’s reaction was a testament not only to Seth’s reputation as a sharpshooter but also to the excitement he brings to the Warriors. It was clear that fans quickly embraced Seth as one of their own, eager to see what he could bring to the team’s championship aspirations.

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“The Golden State Valkyries are more than a team—they’re a movement,” said Oakland Interim-Mayor Kevin Jenkins. “Their touchdown in Oakland marks a new era of opportunity, inspiration, and equity in sports. This partnership reflects our city’s deep commitment to uplifting women, investing in youth, and building a community where every dream has a place to grow. We’re proud to welcome the Valkyries to The Town.”

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The Valkyries came to Oakland City Hall with a “Hoopbus.” Present were (from left to right): City Councilmembers Noel Gallo, Rebecca Kaplan, Zac Unger and Rowena Brown; Oakland Mayor-elect Barbara Lee, Valkyries President Jess Smith, a Valkyries team representative and Deputy Mayor LaNiece Jones. Photo courtesy Rebecca Kaplan’s office.

Team installs new nets at playgrounds, holds flag-raisings at City Halls in Oakland and S.F.

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The Golden State Valkyries brought the excitement of their inaugural season to every corner of the Bay Area with a full slate of community celebrations leading up to their historic home-opener against the Los Angeles Sparks at the Chase Center in San Francisco on Friday.

The week featured flag-raising ceremonies at city halls in Oakland and San Francisco, three “Violet Net” installation days at Oakland parks to encourage basketball play, fun “Hoopbus” takeovers at multiple schools presented by Kaiser Permanente, and player appearances.

In total, 90 violet nets were installed on 45 basketball courts across 34 public parks throughout Oakland this week. A list of the parks receiving violet nets can be found at Valkyries.com.

About the Golden State Valkyries

The Golden State Valkyries, the WNBA affiliate of the seven-time NBA Champion Golden State Warriors, were announced as the 13th WNBA franchise on Oct. 5, 2023. According to Norse mythology, Valkyries are a host of warrior women who are fearless and unwavering – flying through air and sea alike.

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