Sports

Head of NCAA Enforcement: Academic Misconduct on Rise

Published

10 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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As part of Love Life Week, the Love Life Foundation was honored to produce the 1974-75 World Champion Golden State Warrior Day. It’s a shame that our first Bay Area World Championship team’s unique accolades had been lost in the pre social media era and the cultural revolution of the 1970s.

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By Donald Lacy

Special to The Post

As part of Love Life Week, the Love Life Foundation was honored to produce the 1974-75 World Champion Golden State Warrior Day.

It’s a shame that our first Bay Area World Championship team’s unique accolades had been lost in the pre social media era and the cultural revolution of the 1970s.

The 1975 NBA World Championship team were invited back to the City of Oakland last Friday, to be properly celebrated for their ground-breaking performance in 1975.

The heartwarming ceremony highlighted the recent passing of the legendary coach of that team, Al Attlles, and his former players Clifford Ray and Charles Dudley were on hand to represent the “Cardiac Kids” as they were called back then for their ability to make great comeback victories during their run for the title.

Warriors great Chris Mullin and former spiritual advisor Gary Reeves gave heartfelt testimonies of their experiences under Attles’ leadership and their relationship with the inspiration they received from the NBA 1975 World Champion Golden State Warriors.

The City of Oakland provided proclamations to all parties with speeches made by city leadership including Mayor Sheng Thao and Deputy Mayor Dr. Kimberly Mayfield and activity host Love Life non-profit founder and Executive Director Donald E. Lacy Jr..

There will be a celebration of life event Nov. 9 honoring Attles’ legacy at Alameda College.

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California Black Media

Several Black Californians Are Playing Key Roles in LA 28 Olympics Planning

From politicians and businesspeople to athletes and community leaders, a number of Black Californians are contributing to the thought leadership that is shaping the planning of LA28, the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. At the forefront is Los Angeles’ first Black woman mayor, Karen Bass, who has, in many ways, become the face of the Games in the City of Angels.

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From left to right: IOC Member Hong Zhang, IOC Vice President Nicole Hoevertsz, Rex Richardson, Mayor of Long Beach, LA28 President Casey Wasserman, James T. Butts, Mayor of Inglewood, IOC President Thomas Bach, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, the President of the Los Angeles City Council (IOC/Greg Martin)

By Lila Brown, California Black Media

At the forefront is Los Angeles’ first Black woman mayor, Karen Bass, who has, in many ways, become the face of the Games in the City of Angels.

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The event marked the return of the Olympic flag to L.A. since 1984, when the city hosted the Olympics for the second time. It was the first time the Paralympic flag was raised in California’s largest city.

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SoFi Stadium, known as the home of NFL teams the LA Rams and LA Chargers, will host swimming competitions during the LA28 Games, with a temporary pool set to make it the largest swimming venue in Olympic history, boasting 38,000 seats. Intuit Dome, Inglewood’s newest state-of-the-art venue and home to the LA Clippers, will host the Olympic basketball tournament in the 18,000-seat arena.

In an interview with California Black Media ( CBM), Butts highlighted Inglewood’s central role in the upcoming Games, stating, “Inglewood will host the Opening and Closing ceremonies, basketball, and swimming competitions of the 2028 Olympic Games. This will be our second hosting of Olympic Basketball, the first in 1984.”

Marqueece Harris-Dawson, President of the Los Angeles City Council, also attended the tour.

Harris-Dawson is one of the leading backers of PlayLA, a parks development program that promises to provide sports programming to “young Angelenos of all abilities.” The initiative is funded by a $160 million investment from the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the International Olympic Committee.

Black Californians serving on the LA28 Board include Businesswoman Mellody Hobson; decorated Paralympian Lex Gillette; former Netflix Executive Dana Smith; President of the LA County Federation of Labor AFL-CIO Yvonne Wheeler; and television host, retired sprinter and four-time Olympic champion Michael Johnson.

Rosalyn Brant Clark, a 1976 Olympic silver medalist and mother of three-time Paralympian Breanna Clark, said while the “Games for All” theme is promising, she is looking for more concrete action that impacts the lives of ordinary people, including Black Californians.

“They are going to need to show me more on that one before it gets my stamp of approval,” she added, challenging organizers to ensure genuine inclusivity.

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Bay Area

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“No excuses,” Nyanin said. “We are here, first and foremost, as humans, and secondly to win basketball games. So how do we do that, and how do we do that in the most inclusive way?”

From viewing interviews that Nyanin has done since her arrival in the Bay Area, a constant theme in her conversations is talking about taking a “people first” approach. Nyanin talks about how she will be focused on the players, staff, and fans as she navigates and executes her role as general manager. Health, both mentally and physically, is important to Nyanin, as I’ve seen in her many interviews.

Just days ago, The Golden State Warriors announced the head coach for the Valkyries — Natalie Nakase.

Nakase has been the assistant coach for the Las Vegas Aces for the past three seasons, where she was a part of the Aces’ back-to-back championship run in 2022 and 2023. Before joining the Aces’ coaching staff, Nakase spent ten seasons with her hometown team, the Los Angeles Clippers, and their G League.

The Valkyries will practice at downtown Oakland’s Golden State Warrior space and play games at Chase Center in San Francisco. This is an excellent opportunity to experience both sides of the water.

The Valkyries WNBA season opens May 2025 at Chase Center in San Francisco, and the Valkyries website shows over 18,000 season-ticket deposits. For clarity, if someone is ‘interested’ in purchasing season tickets, a $25 deposit is required. The Chase Center’s capacity is a little over 18,000, so you can imagine how electrifying the stadium will be during all home games.

Ohemaa, welcome to the Bay and The Town!