NYT scorches Auburn on academics

I don't think anyone said it's not a story. What I said is that you start off thinking it's going to be a huge story, but then the more you read about it, the more you realize that it's not exactly corruption within the football program as much as it's that kids (athletes and non-athletes) figured out how to make an easy A until this Gundlach guy raised a stink about it. and that was more than a year ago and the problem was addressed.

there's certainly something there, but it's definitely not the knockout punch I bet the Times was expecting when they sent Thamel down there. It's more like an errant haymaker that caught a little piece of Auburn's ear.

 

i dunno.... seems to be a lot more there than in jim harrick jr.'s class and that sure blew up

 

I wonder if Gundlach has ever met Jan Kemp ...

 

Or Linda Bensel-Myers.

And maybe, just maybe, this is what made the NYT interested in Auburn's academic profile.

 

And if it surprised Golly Gee, it must be a shock to everyone

 

Nope. One has very, very little to do with the other, because there were so few athletes taking these courses.

The one attempt to relate these two in the story was Carnell Williams and the two courses he took. They were completely meaningless as far as Auburn's APR rating goes. Williams took the two courses after completing his eligibility at Auburn. When he finished the fall semester, he was in good standing. He didn't graduate, even with these two classes. So, it all makes absolutely no difference. The only way it would was if Williams graduated. He didn't.

The problem I and djc have with this story, again, has nothing to do with the actual facts. There's some screwed up shit happening with this guy teaching these courses and the damned things being that easy. But the effort to spin this into an athletics scandal, particularly a football scandal, is absurd. Out of all these classes this guy was teaching, only 18 damned players took a couple. And not a couple each year, but a couple over a four- or five-year span. They did the same work the average student did in these classes, which was not too damn much. And no one, not the professors, not this story, is disputing that fact.

And please, spare me the shit about Thamel being "out to get Auburn." Ain't nobody said that shit. I said exactly what I thought -- that he went into this with the expectation of finding something that wasn't there, and he didn't let it go.

 

anyone else think the professor in the lede dumped this on the NYT? This tip had to come from Auburn.

I can't imagine someone finding this story.

 

yeah, just about everyone who read the fuckin' story

but yeah, you had to go all the way to the second page for that nugget... and that's a whole lot of words to get that far.

 

WTF???????

Only 18? Well, it ONLY takes 11 to play offense and 11 for defense.

and "took a couple" ? Well, if it's all planned out well enough (and I'm sure it was there and is elsewhere) a couple might been all you need. One here or there to boost your GPA to where you're able to play that semester.

"Gee let's take a bunch of classes -- like 5 a semester from this Prof -- so we can get caught sooner." The damn advisors that make sure the kids are taking the right classes aren't stupid. A couple at a time is all you can sweep under the rug without making a big-ass lump.

What sadder than all this is that Auburn considers itself a proud SEC football school. Without all those cheatin' ass kids, they'd still be tied with Ga. Tech  ...

Southeatern Conference Titles
Auburn     6
Ga. Tech   5

 

And that same team finally pushed them to an all-time winning record against Vanderbilt (20-19-1)

 

So, let me get this straight, by your line thinking, a player taking an easy class or two to maintain eligibility equals MAJOR ACADEMIC FRAUD?

I just want to be clear on that, because if that's the case, a lot of athletic departments are about to shut down. And when I say "a lot," I mean every athletic dept. in the damn country.

Let's approach this another way. When I was in college my freshman year, I took a health and safety course to boost my GPA and maintain eligibility. The class consisted of going to a classroom once every three weeks to pick up materials for study. We took three online tests which were about as hard as spelling my name. And I received an A for three credit hours, of which I put in about an hour's worth of work. In my class were two other freshman basketball players, a couple of baseball players and the rest were your average students. Now, does that equal academic fraud to you?

 

I wasn't an athlete in college, unless you count beer runs, but I sure took a few bullshit courses to boost my GPA. One, a music class during summer school, the teacher told us on the first day that he was about to retire and that if any of us needed a certain grade to keep a scholarship or stay eligible, then we should see him after class.

Most everyone stayed behind.

The big difference with the Auburn situation, from what I understand, is that a lot of these guys were claiming to be sociology majors and weren't taking any real sociology classes. All my bullshit classes were electives.

"One of the university’s prominent football players was being honored as a scholar athlete for his work as a sociology major. Professor Gundlach, the director of the Auburn sociology department, had never had the player in class. He asked the two other full-time sociology professors about the player, and they could not recall having had him either."