At Penn State, football players can enroll in ESAT 1351, "Varsity Football," taught by Coach Joe Paterno, who is entering his 55th season at the school. Paterno's class, according to the school's bulletin, is "a full or partial semester course to develop physical and recreational skills and gain knowledge about them." The only requirement for the 1 1/2-credit course: "membership in the performing group through tryouts and selection."
"You've got letters of the rule and spirit of the rules, and this is a violation of the spirit of education," said David Ridpath, an assistant professor of sports at Mississippi State and a member of the Drake Group, a consortium aimed at reforming college sports. "It just seems excessive to me and the bottom line is a football coach shouldn't be giving out grades that affect a player's grade-point average and progress toward a degree."
Kansas State Coach Bill Snyder, left, teaches "Varsity Football" in which 84 of 91 students received an "A" this spring.
(Lindsey Bauman -- AP)
|
_____From The Post_____
•
Graphic: See how Kansas State's athletes take advantage of the practice-for-credit policy.
•
Video: Washington Post college sports editor Matt Rennie discusses the universities mentioned in the survey.
|
| |
|
Credit Where Credit's Due
Most schools allow student-athletes to take the participation courses only once. Athletes at the University of Georgia, for example, are given one credit hour for playing on an intercollegiate team. The class doesn't count toward the student-athlete's grade-point average, but does fulfill the school's physical education requirement.
Physical education courses at Georgia came under intense scrutiny last year after a former Georgia basketball player told NCAA investigators that he never attended or completed work for a basketball course taught by former Bulldogs assistant coach Jim Harrick Jr. Among the items on Harrick's 20-question final exam were: "How many halves are in a college basketball game?" and "How many points does a 3-point field goal account for in a Basketball Game?"
Harrick was suspended and his one-year contract wasn't renewed, and his father, Bulldogs coach Jim Harrick, was forced to resign. Earlier this month, the NCAA placed Georgia on four years' probation because of academic fraud and other rules violations.
But Harrick Jr.'s class, which involved some classroom instruction and a written final exam, may have seemed arduous compared to some schools' sports participation courses.
The football class at Kansas State doesn't involve written work and there is "no required syllabus, mid-term, or final examination," according to a statement from the school. The University of Nebraska's response to a Freedom of Information request seeking details on the number of student-athletes enrolled in the school's football and basketball courses and the grade distribution said that "no syllabi or exams exist" and that "evaluation is based upon class participation."
According to records obtained from Nebraska, 31 student-athletes were enrolled in former Cornhuskers coach Frank Solich's football class during fall semester 2003. Nebraska didn't release the grades of the students enrolled in the class, saying the grades couldn't be disclosed "due to the relatively small number of enrollees and the grade distribution in these courses, the disclosure of such grades is 'information that would make the student's identity easily traceable' and is prohibited by the Federal Educational and Privacy Act of 1974."
University of Iowa records show 43 Hawkeyes football players were enrolled in its football class last fall, and 32 are enrolled this semester. The course instructor is Bill Dervich, the Hawkeyes' director of football operations and a former strength and conditioning coach. Iowa officials said 189 student-athletes were enrolled in classes for all sports last fall semester, and 186 received "satisfactory" marks. Two student-athletes withdrew from the courses and one failed. During spring semester this year, all 83 students enrolled in the sports classes received passing grades. Iowa allows its student-athletes to repeat the participation courses once.
Virginia's Groh and other coaches complain that the participation courses are an example of an unlevel playing field, in which schools with tougher academic standards for athletes are penalized.
"It's never a level playing field in the sense that some institutions have more stringent academic standards and some classes are going to be more difficult," Brand said. "An English course at one school could be harder than an English course at a different school. In some situations, student-athletes are going to have to work harder academically."
