While North Carolina is the most well-known current case of academic fraud under investigation, the NCAA is reportedly looking at 20 athletic programs.
The NCAA has maintained that North Carolina is not alone when being looked at for possible academic fraud within its athletic program.
That appears to be true, based on a report Wednesday in The Chronicle of Higher Education, which details investigations into the athletic programs of 20 NCAA member institutions across all three divisions.
More from College
- Jim Harbaugh facing 4-game suspension over NCAA violations
- Bronny James collapses at practice, taken to ICU with cardiac arrest
- College football neutral site games in 2023: Full list
- College GameDay announces surprise Week 1 destination
- College football analyst warns Oklahoma that Texas is doing better prep for SEC
Eighteen of the schools being investigated are at the Division I level, with one each in Divisions II and III.
No schools were named in the report.
The NCAA established an academic-integrity group last year, under the auspices of its enforcement department, in response to growing concerns over academic fraud.
In November, Weber State’s athletic program was placed on probation for three years, with a reduction of scholarships in its football program, after it was found that a mathematics instructor had helped five football players cheat by gaining access to the students’ online accounts and completing quizzes and tests for the players.
The Chronicle had reported on Dec. 30 about a scheme using online courses as a way to maintain eligibility for athletes, detailing a scheme that reached nationwide that was devised by a former academic adviser and college basketball coach known only as “Mr. White.”
He said he made more than $40,000 in one year arranging classes for athletes at dozens of schools.
The athletes he helped include NBA draftees, at least two children of former professional athletes and a current backup catcher in Major League Baseball.
Mr. White used online programs at Adams State University in Colorado to keep more than 75 players from 2003-05.
Another area where the NCAA is seeing an increase in academic improprieties is from agents who help players gain eligibility in exchange for becoming a client when transitioning to the professional ranks.
Considering one of the programs in question is at the D-III level, the problem extends beyond the scholarship level—Division III schools don’t offer athletic scholarships.
College athletics stopped being about giving it the old college try decades ago, particularly at the Division I level. The competition is professional in every way imaginable … except for that whole “paying the players” thing.
College coaches at the elite level are paid as much or more than their professional counterparts, with extra perks such as deals with apparel and shoe manufacturers, all while trying to maintain the illusion that it’s about student-athletes.
No, it’s about winning and it’s about money … which is why programs will keep looking for new and inventive ways to skirt the system.
More from FanSided
- Joe Burrow owes Justin Herbert a thank you note after new contract
- Chiefs gamble at wide receiver could already be biting them back
- Braves-Red Sox start time: Braves rain delay in Boston on July 25
- Yankees: Aaron Boone gives optimistic return date for Aaron Judge
- MLB Rumors: Yankees-Phillies trade showdown, Mariners swoop, India goes to Seattle