Varsity Athletes Get Class Credit

Kansas State Coach Bill Snyder, left, teaches "Varsity Football" in which 84 of 91 students received an "A" this spring. (Lindsey Bauman -- AP)

"You found that in the [course] catalogs?" asked William Friday, chairman of The Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, an academic reform think tank, and former president of the University of North Carolina. "Goodness gracious, I thought that practice had ended a long, long time ago."

The University of Maryland and University of Virginia, Virginia Tech and the U.S. Naval Academy don't offer academic credit for participation on athletic teams, school officials said.

"That surprises me," Virginia football coach Al Groh said. "I'm sure there are a few kids on this team that would like to substitute something like 'Sophisticated Blitz Tactics' for advanced physics. But I don't see the possibility of that happening at Virginia."

Virginia Tech Athletic Director Jim Weaver, a former football player at Penn State, said he recalls coaches teaching P.E. courses when he was enrolled in college in the 1960s. But Weaver, who also was athletic director at Nevada-Las Vegas and Western Michigan and an associate athletic director at Florida, said he believed the practice was largely extinct.

When a reporter told Weaver that coaches at many schools -- including those at Florida State and North Carolina State, two of the Hokies' rivals in the newly expanded Atlantic Coast Conference -- are still teaching their players, he said: "It surprises me, absolutely. I was unaware of that. I didn't think it was that prevalent anymore."

Not 'Vital to Our Program'

At Ohio State, football players can repeat Buckeyes Coach Jim Tressel's two-hour course -- SFHP 196.06 or "Varsity Football" -- as many as five times for a total of 10 credits. Last fall, 91 student-athletes were enrolled in the course, and all received "satisfactory" grades, Ohio State records show. Ohio State's online registrar showed 90 of 100 seats are taken for Tressel's class this coming fall quarter.

Ohio State offers a participation course for each of its 21 intercollegiate sports teams, including ice hockey, lacrosse, pistol and riflery. The syllabus for each of the Buckeyes' "Varsity Sports" courses includes five objectives for student-athletes, including: "To develop their skill to its highest potential" and "To learn to strive to do their best under all circumstances but to make personal goals secondary to those of the team."

Unlike Kansas State, credits from Ohio State's participation courses can't be used toward degree requirements, but at all schools, they are counted in fulfilling the NCAA's eligibility rule of six hours of academic credit each semester. Most athletic conferences require athletes to earn additional credit hours; the Big Ten Conference, for example, requires athletes to complete 12 credit hours per semester. Under NCAA rules, athletes must complete at least 18 semester hours each academic year to retain their eligibility.

"I don't think it's vital to our program," Ohio State Athletic Director Andy Geiger said. "If the faculty wants to change it, it's their prerogative to change it."

The University of Iowa and University of Nebraska, among other schools, allow student-athletes to apply the credits from participation courses toward their degrees. Four of Kansas State's colleges -- Agriculture, Arts and Sciences, Business Administration and Human Ecology -- allow students to apply four hours from participation courses toward degree requirements. The College of Education allows two credits, and the College of Engineering doesn't allow any. Kansas State students are required to complete a minimum of 124 hours to earn their degrees.

"I didn't know that practicing or playing a game had any acceptance as part of a degree program," Friday said. "I'm surprised to learn that. I think what [has been] uncovered is an issue that should immediately require the attention of the NCAA."

On April 29, in the wake of academic scandals at Fresno State, the University of Georgia and St. Bonaventure, the NCAA passed the academic reform package that takes effect in 2006. But critics of the NCAA suggest courses such as the football classes are examples of universities watering down their curricula to keep athletes eligible so they can compete on the playing fields.

Along with keeping their players eligible, another potential conflict of interest for coaches is the lucrative salary bonuses for high graduation rates that are included in many of their contracts. Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz, for example, receives a $900,000 bonus if his team's average graduation rate over three years is higher than 60 percent, and if his team wins more than 81 percent of its games in each of the three seasons. Tressel's contract calls for a $100,000 bonus each year his team's graduation rate is 70 percent or higher, and $50,000 for each quarter in which at least 60 percent of his players achieve a 3.0 grade-point average or better. Tressel doesn't receive the money -- it goes to an Ohio State scholarship of his choosing.

The physical education class descriptions are buried in course catalogs and bulletins, which are often hundreds of pages long and contain hundreds of course listings. Florida State's Department of Sports Management, Recreation Management and Physical Education offers PEL 1644, or "Varsity Football," during fall semester. The class description says students get "face-to-face classroom instruction" from Bobby Bowden, college football's winningest coach with 342 victories in 38 seasons.