Wolverheel

October 13th, 2017 at 11:34 AM ^

It was proven fake awhile ago. The scandal was not about easy classes, it was about a class where the grade was a long research paper, thus "paper classes." The issue came when a couple rougue advisers supposedly did the work for the students. Does that look like a paper that an adviser would write for a student?

LSAClassOf2000

October 13th, 2017 at 11:12 AM ^

“While student-athletes likely benefited from the courses, so did the general student body,” said Sankey. “Additionally, the record did not establish that the university created and offered the courses as part of a systemic effort to benefit only student-athletes.”

So, the precedent here is that you could set up totally BS course designed to cater to the ever-so-busy schedules of student-athletes, but as they must be listed in the catalog and made available to others who may want to take similar BS courses, this in itself is not a problem in the eyes of the NCAA. Wonderful.

I can only imagine the NCAA trying to figure out something like Enron - "because the nearly worthless stocks were made available to everyone, the committee could not conclude that there had been widespead accounting fraud"

rjhucks

October 13th, 2017 at 11:15 AM ^

Once or twice I tried to post here that this wasn't going to be an NCAA violation based on the facts of the case. There's a general misunderstanding about what actually happened in the public, but there wasn't really anything the NCAA could do given what the bylaws actually say.

UNC was put on probation by their accrediting body, as well they should have been. Recruiting (especially in basketball) seems to have suffered due to the cloud of potential action. It's now time to move on.

bronxblue

October 13th, 2017 at 12:05 PM ^

I mean, the problem here was UNC messing up across the board. It wasn't per se athlete-only classes, so I can see why they'd have a hard time enforcing a punishment like true grade or class violations. What does surprise me is the various non-traditional grading parts of the claims, since in that case it felt like you could find favoritism and general disregard for academic standards even if in theory other students benefitted.

Still, I'm not surprised they didn't find anything. The longer it dragged out, the more you could tell they were going to let it mostly go without meaningful punishment.

IMB87

October 13th, 2017 at 12:12 PM ^

The NCAA would have to have found that either 1) the classes were not offered to non-athletes or 2) that they were offered to non-athletes and the non-athletes did worse in these classes than the athletes.  Well no wonder they didn't find anything - too many overperforming non-athletes.

Perkis-Size Me

October 13th, 2017 at 12:15 PM ^

If something was ever going to happen it would've happened by now. The NCAA is a notoriously spineless organization. I'm waiting for Louisville to get 2 years probation and 4 scholarships lost over four years. 

Moving on. 

UNCWolverine

October 13th, 2017 at 2:01 PM ^

He guys, just landed, sorry I'm late. Did I miss anything?

Well even though it's my grad school Alma mater I think this ruling is pretty absurd. I hope with the FBIs help they can at least clean up this shoe money issue. Maybe something will stick to UNC from that angle.

Solecismic

October 13th, 2017 at 2:27 PM ^

UNC was particularly clumsy in this instance, but how many universities actually require athletes to be students?

The acceptance rate at Michigan for out-of-state students is about 25%. Does Harbaugh worry about this during the recruiting process?

If you're admitting athletes who aren't ready for the Michigan curriculum and you want to keep them "eligible" for athletics because the NCAA has a grade requirement and a class hour requirement, you need to provide coursework and assistance.

Back in the '80s, Michigan was caught using "sports management" courses to keep athletes eligible. I don't recall an NCAA investigation. These courses were available to any student, but most of us knew not to sign up.

I'm not surprised by the outcome of this investigation. The NCAA isn't going to go down this route. I am surprised it got this far, because it makes them look terrible.

The question... is it better to pretend your recruits are real students or is it better to drop the pretense and essentially blow up revenue-producing college athletics? The NCAA knows what it wants in this case.

SwordDancer710

October 13th, 2017 at 2:49 PM ^

They got away with it because the sham classes were open to the rest of the student body? Okay, let's have a budgeting class where the professor hands envelopes full of cash to each student. Non-athletes get a 5-dollar bill, and athletes get $15000.

MichiganStan

October 13th, 2017 at 8:16 PM ^

Similar to Kentuckys Mens Basketball dorms

They are top of the line housing. Flat screens, nice furniture, 24 hour chef, etc.

But but its all ok because some normal students live in that housing too

Ncaa Mens Basketball is possibly the most corrupt sport in the US

MichiganStan

October 13th, 2017 at 8:10 PM ^

Coaches are honestly better off cheating. You cheat, win a couple titles, years later its found out you cheat, and the NCAA doesnt care

They spent 7 years.....SEVEN YEARS on this investigation all for nothing

Lastly if I was one of the regular students who unknowingly took this fake African American studies class I would pursue legal action against the school