[Mb-civic] Why I Hate College Football...

[Jim Burns]

Well, one of the reasons...

(And, ironically, perhaps, I love the pro game...!)
____

THE QUICK FIX | EASY GRADES FOR ATHLETES

"Poor Grades Aside, Athletes Get Into College on a $399 Diploma"

By PETE THAMEL and DUFF WILSON
The New York Times
Published: November 27, 2005

By the end of his junior year at Miami Killian High School, Demetrice
Morley flashed the speed, size and talent of a top college football
prospect. His classroom performance, however, failed to match his
athletic skills. 

He received three F's that year and had a 2.09 grade point average in
his core courses, giving him little hope of qualifying for a scholarship
under National Collegiate Athletic Association guidelines. 

In December of his senior year, Morley led Killian to the 2004 state
title while taking a full course load. He also took seven courses at
University High School, a local correspondence school, scoring all A's
and B's. He graduated that December, not from Killian but from
University High. His grade point average in his core courses was 2.75,
precisely what he wound up needing to qualify for a scholarship. 
Morley, now a freshman defensive back for the University of Tennessee,
was one of at least 28 athletes who polished their grades at University
High in the last two years. 

The New York Times identified 14 who had signed with 11 Division I
football programs: Auburn, Central Florida, Colorado State, Florida,
Florida State, Florida International, Rutgers, South Carolina State,
South Florida, Tennessee and Temple.

University High, which has no classes and no educational accreditation,
appears to have offered the players little more than a speedy academic
makeover.

The school's program illustrates that even as the N.C.A.A. presses for
academic reforms, its loopholes are quickly recognized and exploited.
Athletes who graduated from University High acknowledged that they
learned little there, but were grateful that it enabled them to qualify
for college scholarships.

Lorenzo Ferguson, a second-year defensive back at Auburn, said he left
Miami Southridge High School for University High, where after one month
he had raised his average to 2.6 from 2.0. 

"You take each course you failed in ninth or 10th grade," he said. "If
it was applied math, you do them on the packets they give you. It didn't
take that long. The answers were basically in the book."

The N.C.A.A. has allowed students to use correspondence school courses
to meet eligibility requirements since 2000. That year, the N.C.A.A.
also shifted the power to determine which classes count as core courses
to high school administrators. In doing so, it essentially left schools
to determine their own legitimacy. 

"We're not the educational accreditation police," Diane Dickman, the
N.C.A.A.'s managing director for membership services, said in September.

But last week, Myles Brand, president of the N.C.A.A., said he would
form a group to examine issues involving correspondence courses and high
school credentials. Brand acted partly in response to a letter sent on
Nov. 2 from the Southeastern Conference that highlighted cases similar
to Morley's and Ferguson's. 

The man who founded University High School and owned it until last year,
Stanley J. Simmons, served 10 months in a federal prison camp from 1989
to 1990 after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud for his
involvement with a college diploma mill in Arizona. Among the activities
Simmons acknowledged in court documents were awarding degrees without
academic achievement and awarding degrees based on studies he was
unqualified to evaluate. 

In interviews last week, he said he should never have pleaded guilty and
that he operated legitimate correspondence schools for adults.
In 2004, Simmons sold University High to Michael R. Kinney, its
director. Kinney, 27, who was arrested on a marijuana possession charge
in 2003 and is wanted on a bench warrant, declined to comment, despite
requests by phone, fax and visits to his apartment.

Several University High graduates said they found the school through
Antron Wright, a former XFL and Arena Football League player who is
prominent in Miami's high school athletic circles. He is considered a
savior by some players, but one principal has barred Wright from his
building for luring athletes to a rival school and introducing them to
University High.

Miami has ideal conditions for academic-athletic exploitation. It is
fertile recruiting ground: 38 players from Dade County were on N.F.L.
rosters at the start of the 2004 season, more than any other county.
Also, Florida's public schools require an exit examination for
graduation, but private schools have no such requirement, and operate
under a law that prohibits any state regulation. That allows University
High to operate essentially unsupervised. 

Pat Herring, the interim admissions director at the University of
Florida, looked into University High after admitting one of its
graduates, Dane Guthrie, a former Killian tight end. "We found that
University High School was kind of a storefront operation," Herring
said. "It didn't seem to have much in the way of an academic program." 

While Florida officials were discussing whether to allow Guthrie to
remain, he transferred to Arizona State.

Other colleges that have admitted University High graduates say they
know little about it.
Auburn admitted Ferguson in 2004 and a fellow University graduate,
Ulysses Alexander, this year. "The bottom line is they were both
qualifiers by the N.C.A.A.," said Mark Richard, a senior associate
athletic director at Auburn. 

A four-member academic panel at Tennessee admitted Morley after sending
an athletic department official to Miami to investigate University High.
Morley has thrived on the field at Tennessee, but Philip Simpson has
stumbled at Temple.

Simpson, a standout quarterback at Southridge High, said Wright had met
with him and his parents and offered a sure alternative from high school
to college, telling him: "You either stay there and bust your behind and
hope and pray that at the end you don't get short-handed. Or you can do
this."

Simpson said his mother called the N.C.A.A. to check whether University
High courses would be accepted. He said he graduated in three weeks by
taking four classes, improving his average to 2.3 from 2.0. 

He now says he lacks the educational skills for college. For a basic
math class at Temple, Simpson said, he studied at least three hours
every day, got help from tutors and met regularly with the professor. He
still did not score higher than 53 out of 100 on any test. 
Simpson said Temple ruled him academically ineligible to play. He
watched this season from the sideline. 

University High School consists of two small rooms on the third floor of
an office building wedged between a Starbucks and an animal hospital on
Route 1 in south Miami. Inside are three desks, three employees and two
framed posters from art museums on the wall. 
Promotional brochures say diplomas can be earned in four to six weeks,
with open-book exams, no classes and no timed tests. A diploma costs
$399, no matter how many courses. 

In paperwork filed with the state of Florida, the school says it has six
teachers. None of the school's graduates interviewed, however, mentioned
dealing with anyone besides Kinney, the current owner, and none said
they had received any personal instruction. 

John M. McLeod, a Miami-Dade Community College educator, is identified
as the University High principal on a letter welcoming new students.
McLeod said he met Simmons in the 1970's, but that he had no connection
to University High. He said his signature had been copied.

"I've never seen this letter," he said. "I know nothing about University
High School." 
Simmons said he did not know why McLeod's signature was on the letter. 

Former students said in interviews that courses consisted of picking up
work packets from University High and completing them at home. Grades
they received on the packets counted the same on their transcripts as a
yearlong high school course. 

"If it was history, they had the story with the questions right next to
it," Simpson said. "They were one-page stories. It wasn't really hard."
University High says its textbooks are the Essential Series from
Research and Education Association of Piscataway, N.J., but their
publisher describes them as study guides.

     
 
"You wouldn't describe them as textbooks," Carl M. Fuchs, president of
Research and Education, said. "You would say they're more supplemental,
but they can be used on their own. A textbook is certainly going to have
a lot more text, a lot more information."

University High's literature claims it is accredited by the National
Association for the Legal Support of Alternative Schools. The
association's Web site says it is "not meant to represent an evaluation
and/or approval of the materials, teaching staff or educational
philosophy employed by the applicant program." It says "only one
standard is applied: consumer protection." 

The Florida Department of Education's Web site lists accreditation for
University High by the National Coalition of Alternative and Community
Schools and by the Association of Christian Schools International. But
the alternative schools coalition does not accredit high schools, and
David Ray, the Florida regional director of the Christian schools
association said, "University was never accredited and has never sought
accreditation with us."

Simmons said that he opened University High School in 2000 to serve
adults; and that the average age of about 400 current students is 36.
Football players from public schools in poor neighborhoods began
enrolling around March 2004, when University applied for membership to
the N.C.A.A. Clearinghouse, which determines if a student is eligible
and can qualify for a scholarship. Several players said Wright led them
to University High. 

Philip Simpson said that when he went to University to enroll, Kinney
was expecting him because Wright had called. Ferguson and Simpson said
they worked on their University High packets at Wright's apartment. 

Wright, 30, could relate to talented athletes with academic struggles,
some of the players said. A former star at Southridge and Palmetto High
Schools in Miami, he did not attend a Division I-A university because of
poor grades, local players and coaches said. He graduated from junior
college, then played two years at Division I-AA Bethune-Cookman. 

Wright later rooted himself in the Miami football community, serving as
an assistant coach at three schools and as a substitute teacher at Dade
County football powers. He developed a strong bond with his players.

"I thank God every time I step on the practice field for Tron," said
Keyon Brooks, a former Killian player and University High graduate now
playing for South Carolina State. "He got me here. He helped me succeed
in life. I look at him as a role model."

Tavares Kendrick, a top-rated quarterback from Homestead High, credits
Wright for helping him get to Florida International University, where he
is a backup quarterback. Kendrick said his average improved to 3.0 from
about 2.1 in about seven weeks by taking nine classes at University
High. 

"Antron is a great guy," he said. "He helps kids that have great talent
but don't have the smarts for school."

Yet Wright is barred from Southridge, partly because he lured players to
Killian and to University High. In January 2004, five football players
left Southridge and later played crucial roles on Killian's state title
team. 

"He can't come into my building," Carzell J. Morris, the principal at
Southridge, said. "Just for the fact he comes in and takes my kids out.
Kids that could probably make it if they weren't looking for the easy
way out."

Southridge Coach Rodney Hunter said Wright also encouraged Damaso Munoz,
who is now at Rutgers, to leave for University High early this year.
Robert E. Mulcahy III, the athletic director at Rutgers, said Munoz was
enrolled at the university and was paying his own way. He was admitted
by a committee of faculty and deans.

Thirteen of the 38 seniors on Killian's 2004 state title team did not
graduate with their class. Many, including Morley and Brooks, wound up
at University High.
     
 
"How legitimate is it?" Otis Collier, the athletic director at Killian,
said about Morley's improvement at University. "I don't know. I guess
it's because of me. I probably should want to know, but I don't want to
know. I don't want to know anything about it."

Wright declined multiple requests to be interviewed for this article.

By transferring to University High, students can bypass the Florida
Comprehensive Assessment Test, which is mandatory for public school
graduation, and focus on passing through the N.C.A.A. Clearinghouse. 

N.C.A.A. minimum standards require the completion of 14 core courses.
Grade-point average in those courses and standardized test scores are
rated on a scale. Students with high averages can qualify with lower
test scores and vice versa.

For example, after Morley's junior year at Killian, a computer program
used to project eligibility showed him graduating with about a 2.1
G.P.A., meaning he would need at least a 960 on the SAT. At University,
he raised his average to 2.75, so his 720 SAT score was exactly what he
needed to qualify. 

Although the standardized testing services flag suspicious jumps in
scores, there is no similar alarm for grade-point averages that suddenly
go up. Assuring the legitimacy of high school credentials is one reason
Brand says he is forming the N.C.A.A. panel, which will make
recommendations by June 1. 

"We see the problem accelerating," he said. "We want to stop it as soon
as possible."

When Morley was preparing to enter college, Tennessee and the
Southeastern Conference questioned his University High transcript. Brad
Bertani, the associate athletic director for compliance at Tennessee,
went to Miami to investigate. 

Bertani, who met with Simmons for three hours, said he determined that
Morley had done his own work. But Bertani refused to comment on
University High's curriculum. 

"There's all kinds of schooling out there, whether you think it's
legitimate or not," Bertani said. "That's for the admissions people at
each school to evaluate."

Copies of Bertani's handwritten notes from the visit, obtained through a
freedom of information request, say that there were no records of
University's teachers and that no lab was required for the chemistry
course for which Morley received a B. 

Tennessee's research showed that University High School sent transcripts
from 28 athletes to the N.C.A.A. Clearinghouse.

Bertani also spent weeks investigating Morley's connection to Wright,
who accompanied Morley on his recruiting trip to Knoxville and kept in
contact with Trooper Taylor, an assistant football coach at Tennessee.
Bertani said he found no improprieties with Wright or any connection
between him and University High. 
Morley, who played defensive back and returned kicks this season, did
not respond to repeated attempts for comment by e-mail and through
Tennessee officials. His mother, Felicia Henry, demanded to know who had
told a reporter he had attended University High and said she knew
nothing about the school's academics.

Morley took a full course load at Killian while playing football, along
with seven other core courses - half the N.C.A.A. minimum for a high
school career - at University. Transcripts obtained by The New York
Times show he received four A's and three B's from University. At
Killian, he received C's in English all four years, but he got an A in
classical literature from University. Grades like that helped his G.P.A.
in core courses improve to 2.75 from 2.09 from August to December. 

Three of the four members of Tennessee's admissions panel expressed
reservations.
"I didn't see anything fraudulent or out of line," Richard Baer, the
dean of enrollment at Tennessee, said of his initial reaction to
Morley's transcript. "It looked like it could have been another
student's transcript from another institution. I didn't see anything
that struck me as saying: 'You know what? We need to look carefully at
this.' "

The other panelists reacted differently. "All of this was in my mind
very, very questionable," Anne Mayhew, the vice chancellor for academic
affairs, said. 

Todd Diacon, the head of the history department, said, "Anytime I see a
transcript like a University High School, it concerns me." 

Ruth Darling, an assistant vice chancellor for academic affairs, said,
"I always had reservations about this type of school, if students are
actually learning."     
 
In the end, the panel never voted, accepting the transcript because the
N.C.A.A. approved University High and Bertani found that Morley had done
his own work there. But when told of Simmons's fraud conviction, Mayhew
said Tennessee should have been more careful.

"I think we need to add a new layer of caution to deal with high school
diploma mills," she said. 

Tennessee Coach Phillip Fulmer lauded the university, pointing out that
no other college had visited University High. 

"I'm a Tennessee graduate as well," he said. "I want the university to
be represented in the right way." 

When describing his reasons for transferring to University High, Simpson
recalled a Southridge basketball player with Division I potential who
failed his last chance at Florida's mandatory graduation exam. 

"I still remember to this day him walking around the hallways crying,"
he said. "He was ready to fight every principal and teacher in Miami."
That image stuck with him as he struggled academically. Simpson said he
still has his ninth-grade report card showing a 0.6 grade point average.
He said he relied heavily on others to do his work.

"The basic skills I'm supposed to have from way back then," he said,
"none of them are there."
Mark Eyerly, Temple's chief communications officer, said, "It is in the
best interests of our students and of the university for us to offer
admission to students whom we believe can succeed here academically." 

Simpson said that his problems at Temple made him more determined. 

As a freshman, Simpson played defensive end and made seven tackles for a
2-9 team. Temple completed an 0-11 season this month. 
When his football career ends, he said, he sees himself in only one
place. 

"I believe that my fate is to go back to Miami and change things," he
said. "My job is to go into school systems like Miami and be a coach and
teach kids right from wrong."


E-mail: thamel at nytimes.com


© Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company