"Look, I don't have a problem with the APR. UConn doesn't have a problem with APR as a measurement. But don't tell me we get punished because we don't meet an APR standard that was changed retroactively yet the NCAA cannot punish an institution or teams that have participated in academic fraud. That's a double standard to my mind."
North Carolina at Chapel Hill is its state's flagship university. UConn at Storrs is its state's flagship university.
North Carolina has three national basketball titles over the past two decades. UConn has three national basketball titles during that time.
Carolina basketball is a sacred cow in NCAA basketball. UConn is the mongrel dog late to the party. Every inch of me doesn't want to believe Carolina is getting a pass because — it's Carolina. But, man, this case has me shaking my head.
For Sports Illustrated, Michael Rosenberg wrote: "UConn should have given all its players a phony 'A.' Then the NCAA would say, "No violations here!" Instead, UConn was honest about its academic failures, and the NCAA banned the Huskies. Tell me again about those 'life lessons' the NCAA wants to teach."
And on and on it has gone on national websites. Folks, this isn't only the view of a columnist from inside Connecticut.
Julius Nyang'oro, who has been forced into retirement as department head of African and Afro-American Studies, was involved in the creation of most of the bogus classes. He was directly tied to all but nine of 54. There were courses with no required class attendance. There were courses with no accountability. The Raleigh News & Observer reported athletes, primarily football players, accounted for two-thirds of the enrollments. Some classes had all athletes. Two had one basketball player as the entire class. Big names were involved. Names like Julius Peppers.
The News & Observer revealed the transcript of football player Marvin Austin. He got a B-plus in an upper-level African summer studies class before he had even taken remedial writing as a first-semester freshman. Think about that.
UConn President Susan Herbst said she would let Manuel speak to comparative cases among schools since he had gathered the expertise working with the NCAA over the years. However …
"I have not changed my views at all since last spring and continue to believe that our current student-athletes are being punished for crimes they did not commit," she said. "I always think this is wrong, but especially for young people who still believe that fairness and justice are possible in this world. UConn was punished through the retroactive application of new rules, and I continue to be baffled by the way we were singled out. It is some form of performance and politics that I do not understand."
Calhoun told The Courant's Dom Amore on Tuesday, "I'm for the schools, for the coaches, for the student athletes. I never have any venom toward one school or another where I'd say 'They should have done more to them.' But you are, with some of the decisions that are made, puzzled sometimes."
Color Herbst baffled.
Color Calhoun puzzled.
Color the NCAA the cartoon judge it is.
