Today's Wash. Post

[ilovescruggs]

Not to detract from the various rants on the Hoyas' latest failure, but today's Post has a HUGE feature on Williams and the total sham/scam schools that pop up to cater to high school hoopsters.

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/04/AR2006030401384.html

At first I felt like GW and GU (Egerson) might be facing a potential sanction situation. But I feel like there is more than enough blame to go around and most of it lands at the NCAA's feet.

If you're going to have an organization that you are going to recognize as your guardian against this sort of mischief, then you have to make sure they aren't being duped.

Some of the crap this dude Schofield pulled is ridiculous. Greek? Did no one at the Clearinghouse find it slightly peculiar that a start up school in urban Philadelphia was teaching a ridiculously advanced and obscure language? And then they ignore the various warnings that have been mailed to them.

Apparently the NCAA is looking into all of this with a comprehensive report due in April, but this stuff needs to get cleaned up. Guys like Schofield are using these kids as their meal ticket, treating them with no respect and then when they actually can deliver them to collegiate programs, it almost validates the behavior.

At any rate, I'd recommend reading the piece. Regardless of the spectre of sanctions, I find this sort of thing sickening.

[FLHoya]

This was in my GW email inbox this afternoon:

This statement may be attributed to Tracy Schario, spokesperson for The George
Washington University

Senior Omar Williams and sophomore Maureece Rice were recruited by GW Men's
Basketball Coach Karl Hobbs in accordance with NCAA rules. The applications of
both of these young men to the University were vetted by the NCAA Clearing House
(Williams in 2002, Rice in 2004). Both students met the academic standards
independently set by the NCAA to obtain initial athletic eligibility for
Division I competition. As a result, both were eligible for consideration for
admission as recruited student-athletes to The George Washington University.

While the NCAA more recently began a review of its procedures regarding how the
Clearing House manages its oversight responsibilities, this should not tarnish
the good reputations of these two young men, nor should it reflect negatively on
Coach Hobbs, the GW Men's Basketball program or the University.

Both Williams and Rice are successful student-athletes at GW, and the University
is proud of their achievements. Williams has made the Dean's List and is
scheduled to graduate this May. In fact, four seniors on the team are expected
to graduate in May. Rice, a second semester sophomore, has made satisfactory
academic progress and will have completed half the requirements for his
sociology major by the end of the current semester.

"I have great confidence in Coach Hobbs and the University's admissions policies
for student-athletes," said GW President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg. "I trust
Coach Hobbs to make recruiting decisions that not only meet NCAA guidelines, but
also bring student-athletes to the University who display good citizenship,
character, motivation to succeed in the classroom and who help build a quality
team that fosters loyalty to and pride in the University. He is a teacher/coach.
I would have been honored to have had my two sons under his leadership."

"Success invites scrutiny, but a sense of fairness based upon the facts
surrounding eligibility and academic progress must ultimately prevail," added GW
Senior Vice President for Student and Academic Support Services Dr. Robert A.
Chernak. "This may be a legitimate issue nationally, and I applaud the NCAA for
researching appropriate remedies. But these two young men represent success
stories, not problems. We are all immensely proud of Coach Hobbs, this program
and these two members of our highly successful basketball team."

As Coach Karl Hobbs has said, "Part of my responsibility as a coach is to offer
opportunities to young people who have a burning desire to graduate and the
character and desire to want to succeed. I saw those qualities in these two
young men. Their individual achievements in the classroom and on the court have
only served to reinforce my confidence in them."

[hoyaboy1]

Schofield and the system he operates in are both complete disgraces. My two favorite quotes:

"What? We didn't have anybody to teach all of that stuff," Mills said, when told of the list. "I don't believe this. We were trying to teach them elementary things, like reading, writing and math. They were having problems reading and writing; they couldn't speak Greek."

"Schofield told The Post that he had a degree from Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology, a two-year college in Lancaster, Pa. But an official at the school said this week that Schofield had never enrolled there."

The fact that he told his players that they didn't need to go to class was nice too.

[hoyabinx]

I think it really shows a lack of class by the Post to make it their Front Page feature (not sports, front page) the day after senior day and a culmination of great season for GW.

[elrod64]

Post deleted. As a guest on your board, to suggest recruiting violations from 12 years ago when none existed is wholly inappropriate. Any further comments of this type are a violation of the terms of service--Admin

[RockawayHoya]

Elrod, no one on this board has "lambasted GW" for any recruiting violations so far as I can read. And no one here is arguing that the article isn't an embarassment to the players involved, the administrations involved (both HS and college), as well as the NCAA. I'm not sure why you feel you had to launch a pre-emptive attack against the posters of this board by bashing an ex-player whose story you don't even know 99% of the information, which prohibits you from making a knowledgable comment.

And besides, it's ALLEN Iverson. The guy's been around long enough in the NBA's spotlight for you to at least spell his first name correctly.

[Madgesdiq]

elrod64 said:

Thank You HoyaBinx for your concise and considerate comment about the Washington Post's article today.

Remember, the WP is the paper that still is pining for the return of the Terrapins and has largely - despite their proximity to both GU and GW - missed the story line of our improved programs.

If one of the lamebrained members of this board - not everyone clearly - takes the opportunity to lambaste GW for recruiting 'violations', I have two words for him to consider:

Alan Iverson.

If anyone is under the impression that college hoops is not a racket, this article (and common sense) should have disabused them of that notion by now.

Do you guys storm the court after the Athletes-in-Action and Latvian national team preseason games?

[SirSaxa]

hoyabinx said:

I think it really shows a lack of class by the Post to make it their Front Page feature (not sports, front page) the day after senior day and a culmination of great season for GW.

Since the NY Times broke the story a week or two ago, the W. Post is simply following up with even more information. As soon as the story was ready, they printed it. I can't fault them for the timing of it.

[SFHoya99]

Nice spelling. Allen actually had pretty decent grades from what I heard. He got into a fight, just like most of WG's team.

[GPHoya]

Like it or not folks, the extent of the corruption coming out of the Philadelphia Lutheran story is disturbing. I simply don't believe that the college coaches who have recruited through Schofield didn't know who he is or how he operates. Maybe they are all just Father Flanagan's (as Dick Vitale would tell us Eddie Sutton is) trying to get kids with a jump shot a second chance in life and Schofield's cesspool is a necessary conduit to circumvent the NCAA's poorly administered rules so we can dispense social justice to those lucky enough to have D-1 talent. If you believe that, I have some shares in the monument to sell you. GW has circled the wagons and we are hoping to keep attention away from our Lutheran connection by staying silent, while Maryland is claiming that its feces give no odor and AU had to spend too much on its last President's perqs to be able to buy any players from Lutheran. March madness indeed.

[kchoya]

elrod64 said:

If one of the lamebrained members of this board - not everyone clearly - takes the opportunity to lambaste GW for recruiting 'violations', I have two words for him to consider:

Alan Iverson.

What about Alan [sic] Iverson? Do you have some info that recruiting rules were violated? In fact, wouldn't JT2 had to have recruited Iverson for there to be a recruiting violation? You can dislike Iverson or JT2 or GU, but don't throw around "recruiting violations" willy nilly.

As an aside, shouldn't it be "The WG?"

[BurleithBeast]

sirsaxa said:

hoyabinx said:

I think it really shows a lack of class by the Post to make it their Front Page feature (not sports, front page) the day after senior day and a culmination of great season for GW.

Since the NY Times broke the story a week or two ago, the W. Post is simply following up with even more information. As soon as the story was ready, they printed it. I can't fault them for the timing of it.

Actually the Post broke the Philadelohia Lutheran story two weeks before the Times got it. (A little bird told me the Post rushed it after hearing Times footsteps.) NYT expanded the story to other similar schools.

[pops21]

There were zero violations - so I assume this will go away soon as there is not much that can happen. The school could be no longer cleared by the clearing house, but that wont effect Omar and Rice anyhow. All schools do this and its nothing new - if there were violations then it would be a different story.

[pops21]

madgesdiq said:

e disabused them of that notion by now.

Do you guys storm the court after the Athletes-in-Action and Latvian national team preseason games?[/quote]

Nope - only after beating powerhouses like USF.

[Madgesdiq]

Non-sequitur.