NY Times Rips Harvard Recruiting Under Amaker

[RPS]

That guess is wrong. It has been mentioned in passing throughout this thread, but the vast majority of athletes (at least in major or semi-major sports) at Ivies AND the elite D-III schools would not have been admitted without their athletic prowess.

You're essentially correct, of course, but I want to add an important caveat. There are many kids who wouldn't have been admitted but for some important acheivement, talent or skill. Probably every admitted student wouldn't have gotten in without some particular attribute. The Admissions process is necessarily more than GPA/SAT. A national university wants a good geographic distribution. Is it fair to say that a kid from across the country wouldn't have gotten in had s/he lived nearby? How about the great violinist with grades and/or scores well under the median? How about the student that has overcome some tremendous hardship? It's goes without saying that college admissions have gotten exceedingly tough. The Duke Admissions Office has told me that each year they reject a class of kids with better grades and scores than the class they admit. My son, despite 4.0/2100 and half-a-dozen AP exam 5s, probably doesn't get admitted to Princeton (or Berkeley for that matter) without football, but it's not entirely fair to make that statement either. So while it's true that, for example, most Duke basketball players wouldn't have gotten in without hoops, it's also misleading.

At this point, it is time for my typical plug for the seminal study, The Game of Life.

And, as always, doing so is spot-on.

[Jumbo]

You're essentially correct, of course, but I want to add an important caveat. There are many kids who wouldn't have been admitted but for some important acheivement, talent or skill. Probably every admitted student wouldn't have gotten in without some particular attribute. The Admissions process is necessarily more than GPA/SAT. A national university wants a good geographic distribution. Is it fair to say that a kid from across the country wouldn't have gotten in had s/he lived nearby? How about the great violinist with grades and/or scores well under the median? How about the student that has overcome some tremendous hardship? It's goes without saying that college admissions have gotten exceedingly tough. The Duke Admissions Office has told me that each year they reject a class of kids with better grades and scores than the class they admit. My son, despite 4.0/2100 and half-a-dozen AP exam 5s, probably doesn't get admitted to Princeton (or Berkeley for that matter) without football, but it's not entirely fair to make that statement either. So while it's true that, for example, most Duke basketball players wouldn't have gotten in without hoops, it's also misleading.

Right, but as you know from the study, athletes receive greater admissions leeway than any other "group." That said, it sounds like your son is a heck of a student and would have found his way to a great school regardless of football. Congrats on Cal. Uh, beat Stanford?

[RPS]

Right, but as you know from the study, athletes receive greater admissions leeway than any other "group."

Sure they do. That's partly because so many are needed and partly because of the importance placed upon them. Sports are probably the #1 PR and fund-raising vehicles for most universities. As I have noted before, Duke's rise up the national academic rankings neatly corresponds to K's success in hoops. I don't think it's a mere coincidence. Applications and donations, the lifeblood of a major university, both go up dramatically when a school's sports teams succeed.

That said, it sounds like your son is a heck of a student and would have found his way to a great school regardless of football.

I like to think so.

Congrats on Cal. Uh, beat Stanford?

Beat Stanford indeed.

[formerdukeathlete]

Right, but as you know from the study, athletes receive greater admissions leeway than any other "group." That said, it sounds like your son is a heck of a student and would have found his way to a great school regardless of football. Congrats on Cal. Uh, beat Stanford?

Background - I worked with the DAAAC for 10 years (1983-1992), and have pretty good contacts with folks quite involved with Ivy League schools, regarding The Game of Life, based on my experience, data points, it certainly seemed to me that African American recruited athletes received the greatest admissions preferences of any group admitted to elite universities. Then, based on my experiences, particularly at Duke, where I seemed to interview a lot of recruited athletes applying to Duke, I diverge. Womens' field hockey, swimmers, womens crew, bascially all non-rev except possibly soccer, recruited athletes received less preference in Duke's admissions process than African American applicants as a whole. For, example, back in 1992, a partner at Hale and Door in Boston daughter wanted to go to Duke. She was recruited by UNC, offered an athletic scholarship at UNC and several schools including Arizona and USC. She had 1170 SATs, and the Duke coach basically said he needed 1250 to "slot her in." The same year, I intereviewed an African American applicant with 1100s who got in.

Getting back to the case of Williams, a member of my high school football team went to Williams with 1200 SATs back in the 70s. He was your starting QB / running back when he was there. I remember our college counselor being surprised he got in. This, I guess represented more than one standard deviation from the mean.

[BD80]

First: Blakeney, here is an out of work assistant whose skill set is recruiting. Since he is not affiliated with any school (except maybe Duke), he is fully allowed to contact high school kids without limitation. As somebody looking for a job, it only makes sense to try to develop relationships with as many recruitable players as possible. He may have talked to Tommy about a job but hadn't signed anything. As long as he wasn't recruiting for a school, there was no violation. He is allowed to develop relationships.

Aggressive? Yes. Illegal? Absolutely no.


Second: Lowering Standards. Exactly how much have the standards been lowered? Can't say. Yes, SOME of the kids may be below the 195 index that the prior coach used as a lower limit, but the story unfairly suggests worse. Generally, all of the kids in the recruiting class are Ivy league caliber (above 171) as they were pursued by other Ivy league schools. Two of the recruits are clearly above the minimum and have been sent letters confirming as much.

Whether Ben-Eze will be admitted is still up in the air, perhaps there is a procedure for non-English speaking students to have an adjusted index. I doubt it is as sleazy as the growing practice of having recruits declared learning-disabled to avoid admission standards.

The notion that the class is "top 25" no doubt reflects the fact that it is a 6 man class. It appears that only Ben-Eze is ranked in the top 100. Tommy is doing the job he was hired to do, bring better basketball players to Harvard.

[Mike Corey]

Harvard and the Ivy League will now be investigating the men's basketball program for potential recruiting violations.

[dukie8]

Harvard and the Ivy League will now be investigating the men's basketball program for potential recruiting violations.

sorry for the delay in replying but i have been on the road. my apologies to freedevil and tzd for mixing them up. in any event, i think that it is fair to conclude that at this point, harvard basketball being investigated for recruiting violations certainly is a story. when was the last time an ivy school got nailed for recruiting violations?

i actually spoke to my female colleague who played lax at harvard. she really didn't have much insight into the standards and minimums at harvard other than to say that she thought that the hockey team used to push the limits much more than the football or basketball team. apparently one of her friends who was on the hockey team was particularly, shall we say, academically challenged. her line to me was something along the lines of "if 171 is the minimum and is based on gpa and sats, then her friend must have had a 5.2 gpa because his sats were so bad."

[Mike Corey]

Per the NYTimes.

Rob Jackson, who coached Ben-Eze with the D.C. Blue Devils, said in a telephone interview Monday that Ben-Eze called him last week to tell him he had changed his mind about Harvard.Reached by telephone Monday, Ben-Eze declined to comment.

Ben-Eze was mentioned last week in a New York Times article in which former Harvard coaches and members of the Ivy League said that the Crimson had lowered its academic standards. Ben-Eze said last month that he had not received what is called a likely letter from the admissions office at Harvard, essentially guaranteeing admission.

Jackson said Ben-Eze’s decision had nothing to do with academics. “Academically it was never an issue at Harvard,” he said. “He was definitely up to standards. He just sat down and did some thinking. He’s a bright young man and very smart.”

Jackson said that even though Ben-Eze struggled with injuries this season and tore a knee ligament in the final game, he expected to receive scholarship offers from prominent programs. Jackson said that in the past day, he had received calls from Connecticut, Boston College, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, DePaul and Rutgers about Ben-Eze’s availability.

[weezie]

Well, that should make all the brainiacs happy.

[flash]

You just knew that there would be a call from Calhoun.