The college sports world is reacting to a report from The Chronicle of Higher Education today focusing on the University of Texas. In it, the Texas Longhorns men’s basketball program is tied to some questionable academic concerns under former head coach Rick Barnes, now the head coach at Tennessee. As far as the report is concerned, there is no suggestion the football program committed any violations or acted in any questionable behavior under former head coach Mack Brown or current head coach Charlie Strong.
There are some mild ties to the football program though that are worth mentioning in the report. The focus of the story is on basketball player Martez Walker, who allegedly cheated on a math test. His teacher, Pamela Powell, contacted Adam Creasy to ask how she should react to the situation. Creasy at the time was the academic counselor for the football program in Austin. Creasy then discussed the situation with Brian Davis, the head of academic support for the football program. Davis then advised Powell to speak to Randa Ryan for advice on how to handle the incident. Ryan was the executive senior associate athletic director for student services. It is at this point in the chain of communication things begin to be clouded. Whatever happened after Davis was informed of the situation happened behind closed doors by people with tight lips. As reported, Walker passed the math class and went on to receive Big 12 honor roll accolades. How that all happened is anybody’s guess for sure.
The report does suggest Ryan was active in recommending basketball and football players pursue majors with abundant electives and enroll in classes with easier curriculums. If any of this sounds familiar, it almost seems similar to the story following the University of North Carolina in recent years. If that is the case, then expect the NCAA to attempt to dig a little deeper.
The accusation from The Chronicle of Higher Education is multiple basketball players at Texas received improper academic aid. There is no suggestion any football players were involved in similar practices, although the NCAA will likely want to find out for sure if and when it comes to Austin for an investigation.
The university has already responded to the report in defense of the program’s and university’s actions, as well as Barnes.