College Entrance Scam includes former Yale Women's Soccer Coach

Supermodel56 said:
2) This is going to draw significant attention to college athletics and admissions criteria - such as why are athletes prioritized to begin with? should coaches even have the authority to offer admission to recruits? Recruiting is going to get more difficult and stringent.
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I went to a college up in the Northwest that is famous for it's blue football field. When I got there the school had just gone from D2 to D1 in athletics, and cost around $3k per year to attend full time. When I started attending my friends had never heard of the university and would tease me for my lack of achievement. The local papers would run articles questioning why the highest paid state employee was the football coach...

Fast forward 20 years and all that changed- mainly because the football team started winning. Now when I say where I went folks have heard of the school, they now charge closer to $20k per year to attend and people will often stop me in the street to talk about he school if I wear a baseball cap with the universities logo on it.

For better or worse, athletics is powerful marketing tool that many people see not only as a reflection of the quality of the school, but adds value to the diploma. This is why athletes are prioritized, and why for better or worse they will continue to be prioritized at universities...
 
shales1002 said:
I am not sure how these are NCAA violations as these kids were never athletes to begin with.
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Mutiple NCAA coaches and the athletic departments are involved, they will be investigated future and some time maybe years from now likely to be sanctioned, fined, suspended or action brought against them. Already happening at UCLA for example and didn't the USC crew team get disbanded yesterday?
 
Surfref said:
You have been around long enough to know that anything that shines negative light on NCAA sports will end in some type of sanctions. This is high visibility so the NCAA will need to make an example out of these schools to uphold the integrity of NCAA athletic programs.
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So far several firings and suspensions have been announced, and some of the coaches are no longer associated with the school anyway just due to the normal career turnover. I am sure the NCAA will be interested, but I am not sure what actual violations they will find there. Some of the cases are just SAT/ACT cheating that did not even involve athletes at all, and some were just phony claims to athletic experience in high school that did not result in a player becoming a participating NCAA student-athlete.
 
espola said:
I was wondering if there is even any NCAA violation here at all. The usual situation that the NCAA gets involved in concerns money flowing from a college or supporter of the college to an athlete or his family. The money is to be going the other way here.
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I agree. There appears to have been isolated rogue actors at theses colleges pursuing personal financial gain who were recruited to be part of this syndicate assembled by Singer. It was designed to prey on rich parents, who in a quid pro quo deal, paid thousands to clear away any obstacles in their kids’ path.

The universities as a whole did not participate in the scam. The athletic departments didn’t benefit. Singer found, as he calls it, “the side door in” for these desperate and willing parents. Reading the indictment and reviewing the transcripts of Singer’s wire-taps, it’s astonishing that Singer didn’t even talk in code about what was happening. Parents wanted guarantees and he delivered. Much of it is on tape, or documented in email.

The indictment is an open and shut case. Now it’s just a matter of what kind of deals the feds will make, and what kind of pressure, if any the NCAA will exert on the schools involved. The named universities could self police by imposing strong sanctions on the programs included. I would think this is likely, since none of the implicated were associated with revenue generating sports.

The system is not broken. Roster spots were not lost to undeserving athletes. There were a few spoiled pukes that got pushed to the front of the admissions line, that’s it.
 
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The NCAA stated they are already reviewing it.

Think about it this way -- a minority student athlete/family receives financial help from a booster/program, and the result is the program gets penalized for a lack of institutional oversight allowing a violation of the rules. Now a bunch of rich white kid's parents (the majority of that list) cheat on tests and pay their kids' way into schools using preferential athletic admissions policies and conspiring coaches as a conduit, and no penalties to the programs? Good luck with that.
 
Dos Equis said:
The NCAA stated they are already reviewing it.

Think about it this way -- a minority student athlete/family receives financial help from a booster/program, and the result is the program gets penalized for a lack of institutional oversight allowing a violation of the rules. Now a bunch of rich white kid's parents (the majority of that list) cheat on tests and pay their kids' way into schools using preferential athletic admissions policies and conspiring coaches as a conduit, and no penalties to the programs? Good luck with that.
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Yeah, but in the case of the booster, the kid is a real athlete that impacts the program. They are cheating to make the athletic program better. The NCAA has an interest in keeping the playing field level. In this case, the kids don't even play - they hurt the program. There is no cross-institutional unfairness. This is all about admissions fraud, with athletics being one of the vehicles. All of that said, you are probably right. The NCAA will find some justification to be involved.
 
shales1002 said:
I am not sure how these are NCAA violations as these kids were never athletes to begin with.
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Are you serious? An NCAA D1 coach took money (bribes) to inappropriately claim that kids that did not even play the sport were being recruited so they could circumvent the admissions process. I am positive that will violate some NCAA recruiting or ethics rule. The NCAA has sanctioned many programs for recruiting violations that were minor compared to this case. USC and UCLA will definitely see some type of sanctions.
 
I fear that there are many more shoes yet to drop. I know a few college coaches on a first name basis (although one of them mysteriously always calls me "Robert"). I hope that none of them are involved in this, or even fantasize that one of them was approached, refused, and informed the authorities.
 
Glen said:
The NCAA has an interest in keeping the playing field level.
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I disagree, the NCAA has no goal of keeping the playing field level, nor keeping money out of college sports. Their goal is to keep corruption out of the sports programs, and to keep the players amateurs, not professionals. This violates the former.

If they wanted a level playing field, they would not let the conferences sell their TV rights, and split the money amongst their athletic programs (benefiting the strongest). They would exert greater control over athletic budgets, and not let some schools build facilities rivaling professionals and have highly paid coaching staffs, while others suffer with smaller budgets and old facilities. They would not let schools negotiate individual deals with uniforms companies, some worth tens of millions of dollars. They would not pay bowl winners large sums of money to help fund their programs, helping ensure the dominance of certain conferences.

So perhaps USC does not have to vacate its Women's Soccer National Championship, based on your rationale. But I would not count on that. These illegal payments went not just to enhance coach salaries, but some funded the athletic teams/programs as well -- there goes that level playing field argument.
 
Surfref said:
Are you serious? An NCAA D1 coach took money (bribes) to inappropriately claim that kids that did not even play the sport were being recruited so they could circumvent the admissions process. I am positive that will violate some NCAA recruiting or ethics rule. The NCAA has sanctioned many programs for recruiting violations that were minor compared to this case. USC and UCLA will definitely see some type of sanctions.
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Yes, I am serious. I am sure NCAA will look to find a violation, but my question again was how these are NCAA violations as these kids were never athletes to begin with? It was to circumvent the admissions process and NOT to play the sport. Isn't NCAA looking for situations that offer unfair enhancements? USC crew team did benefit, which would be a violation. However, the previous USC coach and the current UCLA Men's coach used those monies for personal projects it seems. How is this a recruiting violation when these players were never recruited to begin with? bruce isackson davina isackson wanted their daughter at $C and the A.D. realized her application went to the regular admissions pile. She never went to $C. UCLA men's coach became involved at this point.
 
Operation Varsity Blues..
https://fox5sandiego.com/2019/03/12/usd-san-diego-parents-named-in-nationwide-college-admission-scam

USD, San Diego parents named in nationwide college admission scam

SAN DIEGO -- San Diego parents were indicted for their alleged involvement in a nationwide scam dubbed "Operation Varsity Blues."

Dozens were arrested and charged for a nationwide scheme that helped students gain admission to some of the nation's top universities Tuesday. Among those charged and arrested include actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman.

Former CBS 8 owner Elisabeth Kimmel, in addition to Toby MacFarlane, were also listed as suspects in the indictment, court documents reveal.

The investigation involved alumni and aspiring student athletes at University of San Diego, UCLA, USC, Georgetown University, Stanford University, University of Texas, Wake Forest and Yale.

USD issued the following statement to FOX 5:

"The University of San Diego has been cooperating with the United States Department of Justice’s investigation involving an alleged criminal conspiracy to facilitate cheating on college entrance exams and admission into colleges and universities.

We have no reason to believe that any members of our admissions team, our administration or staff, or our current coaching staff were aware of or involved in the alleged wrongdoing. We believe the federal government agrees with this assessment."

The scandal revolves around William Rick Singer, who is accused of running a for-profit college preparation business called "The Key."

The indictment reveals Singer paid college coaches to claim that a prospective student should be accepted to college because the student was a recruit for their sports team. However, Singer and the coaches knew that the student was not a competitive player and that his or her athletic profile was fake, the indictment said.




 
gefelchnik said:
Also, it is strange they went through the trouble of adding her to the team page, but then left a ton of clues she wasn't a proper team member:

1. All players run through #28, and then she is added at the end as #41.
2. Only player not in the team picture
3. In profile picture, wearing a different Under Armor jersey then all the other players
4. Her about the player description has one sentence, while the rest of the players have paragraphs.
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I just went and looked this is hysterical!! What a joke. Can't beleive UCLA has not taken her photograph...etc... down. Someone on the coaching staff has to take the fall.
 
Sons of Pitches said:
I just went and looked this is hysterical!! What a joke. Can't beleive UCLA has not taken her photograph...etc... down. Someone on the coaching staff has to take the fall.
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Joint statement from UCLA and UCLA Athletics regarding Department of Justice investigation
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/joint-statement-from-ucla-and-ucla-athletics

Men's coach is out, the Women's in Jeopardy. More investigations on the way so I'm sure you'll hear more about this...
 
Sons of Pitches said:
I just went and looked this is hysterical!! What a joke. Can't beleive UCLA has not taken her photograph...etc... down. Someone on the coaching staff has to take the fall.
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Her listed club (Woodside Soccer Club) is a real club. They have teams in the NorCal Premier League. You would think they would notice if someone suddenly showed up on the UCLA Women's roster. Are they complicit in this? Although it does appear she might have actually played with them (unlike the situation at Yale).

Interestingly, she doesn't make any pretense of being a player on her LinkedIn page. She says she's been a team manager for 2 years: "handled team administrative duties, including coordinating travel and served as on-site support for home games and practices"
 
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shales1002 said:
Yes, I am serious. I am sure NCAA will look to find a violation, but my question again was how these are NCAA violations as these kids were never athletes to begin with? It was to circumvent the admissions process and NOT to play the sport. Isn't NCAA looking for situations that offer unfair enhancements? USC crew team did benefit, which would be a violation. However, the previous USC coach and the current UCLA Men's coach used those monies for personal projects it seems. How is this a recruiting violation when these players were never recruited to begin with? bruce isackson davina isackson wanted their daughter at $C and the A.D. realized her application went to the regular admissions pile. She never went to $C. UCLA men's coach became involved at this point.
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It is definitely an ethics violation and UCLA even acknowledges it is an ethics issue and they are investigating further. The last thing that any of these athletic programs want is for the NCAA to start investigating their programs, because the NCAA always finds some violation even if it was not what they initially looked into.

http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/joint-statement-from-ucla-and-ucla-athletics
 
Surfref said:
It is definitely an ethics violation and UCLA even acknowledges it is an ethics issue and they are investigating further. The last thing that any of these athletic programs want is for the NCAA to start investigating their programs, because the NCAA always finds some violation even if it was not what they initially looked into.

http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/joint-statement-from-ucla-and-ucla-athletics
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Per the press release, sounds like the colleges will are taking the victim role. TBH aren’t they victims. Will athletes ontinue to receive preferential admissions as a result of people gaming the system?
 
SocalPapa said:
Her listed club (Woodside Soccer Club) is a real club. They have teams in the NorCal Premier League. You would think they would notice if someone suddenly showed up on the UCLA Women's roster. Are they complicit in this? Although it does appear she might have actually played with them (unlike the situation at Yale).

Interestingly, she doesn't make any pretense of being a player on her LinkedIn page. She says she's been a team manager for 2 years: "handled team administrative duties, including coordinating travel and served as on-site support for home games and practices"
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She had to!! Anyone who knew her back home would have laughed if she said she was playing soccer at UCLA. The game would have been uncovered immediately. So she stated one thing, UCLA Soccer stated another, and unless someone compared the two different versions of the truth, nobody was the wiser.
It is interesting that the usual cast of UCLA Athletic Supporters (pun intended) are very quiet today.
 
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