HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel will air an episode next week that could generate a lot of negative attention for three marquee athletic programs. Oklahoma, UNC and Memphis were selected by the program as the three subjects of their investigation, slated for an episode next week titled "Gaming the System".
The program will air on HBO on March 25, and will reportedly include some very unflattering revelations. UNC has already come under fire for a department that provided passing grades to students who never attended class, and next Tuesday's episode will tackle the issue in greater depth. Here's the full synopsis, via monstersandcritics.com:
In 2003, the NCAA instituted an academic reform initiative to reemphasize a commitment to the education of all student-athletes, mandating that schools graduate a majority of each team, or face punishments ranging from a loss of scholarships to a ban on postseason play. Later that year, the NCAA eliminated the requirement that student-athletes have a minimum SAT score of 820, which was determined to hurt the chances of minority acceptance in athletic programs. Lower admission standards, coupled with higher graduation requirements, meant that many top-flight schools needed to commit resources for learning specialists to ensure their student-athletes measured up.Back to the NCAA Newsfeed
What resulted, however, fell short of expectations. REAL SPORTS’ investigative team spent six months vetting the multi-million dollar academic advising centers, which operate as “schools within schools” and are responsible for enabling student-athletes with elementary educations to graduate from big-time universities. Correspondent Bernard Goldberg reports on some alarming discoveries.