ACADEMIC FRAUD IN DIVISION ONE COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Academic Fraud In Division One College Football

Tim Wilson
Shepherd University
2015

Academic fraud in division one college football

Table of Contents
Abstract ... 3
Background of study .. 4
Statement of problem . 4
Purpose if study . 5
Research questions .5
Limitations of study .. 6
Review of literature .. 6
Research methods 9
Study design 9
Research questions .. 9
Participants of the study .. 10
Instrument 10
Data collection . 10
Summary of the methodology . 10
Summary of research study . 11
Discussion of findings . 11
Conclusion drawn from study .. 11
Recommendations for future practice .. 12
Recommendations for future research . 12
References 13
Appendix A: Academic experience for student athletes questionnaire.. 14

ACADEMIC FRAUD IN DIVISION ONE COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Abstract
Academic fraud in division one college football has been a growing problem over the
past decade. These frauds are a major issue when it comes to student athletes gaining a quality
education and following the rules set forth on them by their institutions and the National
Colligate Athletic Association. This study tries to answer how frequently this is happening in
division one college football and if the coaching staffs and the academic staff is involved in
committing these frauds. The study was designed to question males and females from 18 to 50
from three different Universities those being The University of North Carolina, Syracuse
University and Florida State University. The study was sent to 25 different people from these
schools ranging from student athletes, coaches and professor at each school. The participants
were asked to answer a ten question survey with the choses of strongly agree, agree, disagree,
strongly disagree. This study can help break into what really happens in division one-college
football programs and the ways programs break rules to keep their athletes eligible.

Keywords: academic fraud, football, student athlete, coach

Academic fraud in division one college football

Academic fraud in division one college football

Background of Study
The National Colligate Athletic Association (NCAA) has been governing college football
sense 1910 and during this time the NCAA has seen its fair share of trends among whys for
programs to break their rules to gain a advantage over their over schools (Ours, 1999). But the
most recent and troublesome one for the NCAA is academic fraud. These violations go against
the cornerstone of the NCAAs polices, to protect the student athletes integrity (Novy-Williams,
2015). This study was done to look into who is really participating in academic frauds. This
study is the first of its kind done other then the investigations themselves that are done by the
NCAA. The NCAA has seen many different types of frauds. Programs can do things like alter a
incoming students transcript to make his grades meet standards, schools could also provide tutors
that do the student athletes work for them instead of just helping them. The NCAA has also
found that some schools are providing student athletes with classes that dont actually meet they
just sign up and get a free A in the class. This study shows the constant battle that has accrued on
college campuses for years of academic vs. athletics (Ridpath, 2008). College campuses all
across the country are always fighting over where the focus of the school should be this is most
prevalent at the big time college football schools where the school can make millions of dollars
off a single game. On the other hand we are talking about higher educational institutions so
faculty feels that schools should be focusing on their academics and not giving anyone even the
best of athletes should not be getting breaks on the education.
Statement of problem
Academic fraud something the NCAA takes very seriously and is a high priority for its
partnering colleges and universities (Jones, 2012). According to a interview given in Bloomberg

ACADEMIC FRAUD IN DIVISION ONE COLLEGE FOOTBALL

by the Vice President of Enforcement Jonathan Duncan the NCAA currently has twenty open
cases involving academic fraud. Duncan also said that he also feels that cheating more of a
common practice among college campuses then ever before (Novy-Williams, 2015). The extent
of these academic frauds are anywhere from schools changing a perspective student athletes
transcripts in order to meet school and NCAA standards to get into a school to a school only
offering a fake or lesser major for their student athletes to meet the NCAAs minimum grade
point average for eligibility.
The problem with these practices is that schools are taking away from the academic
integrity of the student and holds their student athlete to a different standard. These practices go
against the cornerstone of the NCAA of the student athlete model (Jones, 2012). This problem
has become a epidemic among the member schools of the NCAA and they work daily to fight
this epidemic.
Purpose Of Study
The purpose of this study is to expose the epidemic of academic fraud in division one
college football. This was done by researching weather or not programs really do commit
academic fraud and weather or not the professors at division one schools are participating in
these frauds. This study was done to help further understand why and how schools are
committing these academic frauds. This research was conducted among a large range of schools
among the division one ranks to help show the spread of this epidemic. The research also takes
into account the different types of frauds happening at these institutions and the severity of these
frauds.
Research Questions
The following research questions (RQ) were developed to guide this study.

Academic fraud in division one college football

RQ 1: Do division one-college football programs participate in academic fraud?

RQ 2: Do professors actively participate in academic fraud at these institutions?

Limitations Of Study
These were some of the limitations of this study:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Money to conduct research

Athletes willingness to participate in the survey
Professors willingness to participate in the survey
Athletes answering the survey questions truthfully
Professors answering the survey questions truthfully
Review of Literature

Academic frauds are an epidemic in todays college football landscape. In this chapter we
will further explore these frauds committed by these division one schools. First you must start off
by understanding the types of fraud that these institutions are committing. Next you must
understand the advantages and disadvantages the institutions are getting from committing these
frauds. The last thing that you need to understand about academic frauds is the types of
punishment they are receiving for committing these crimes.
Types of academic frauds
According to NCAA bylaw 10-1(b) a academic fraud is a blatant misconduct of academic
standard in which institution staff give any student athlete false grades or answers to testes to
better their academic standing (Jones, 2012). This bylaw covers fake classes and adjusting
transcripts as well as categorized under false grades. What isnt covered under bylaw 10-1(b) is
student athletes cheating on assignments. Cheating is something that the NCAA allows the
school to police. A good example of a type of academic fraud is the recently convicted Syracuse
University athletic department. As stated in the NCAA report two-football student athletes were

ACADEMIC FRAUD IN DIVISION ONE COLLEGE FOOTBALL

required to complete a internship requirement for a class so they went to their part-time tutor for
the team who was also employed by the local Young Mens Christian Association (YMCA) who
then gave the two student athletes a facilities internship. The part-time tutor then signed time
sheets and filled out evaluations on the student athletes who never completed the hour of work
(James, 2015). Under bylaw 10-1(b) also outlaws any student athlete trying to falsify any of
their grades or transcript to improve their academic standing (Jones, 2012). The NCAA takes
these violations very seriously and is not afraid to punish a school for its infractions.

Advantages and disadvantages gained

Many institutions around the NCAA have risked the punishment from academic fraud,
but why do these schools feel the need to do this? In some cases it stems from a coach filling the
need to put in place policies to help his team stay eligible. For example the Syracuse coach Greg
Robinson felt that his player need to raise their grades so he hired academic support staff to help
the athletes with the instructions of keeping these players eligible. Impressively the team grade
point average jumped but as you can see in the recent NCAA report it wasnt all just better
studying habits it was tutors doing work for players (James, 2015). These practices also have
their disadvantages as well. The obvious disadvantages for committing academic fraud is be
caught by the NCAA and having to go on probation. The disadvantage that goes unnoticed in
must of these scandals is the black mark it puts on the university, academic programs and its
professors. A good example of this is the current NCAA investigation on the University of North
Carolina and its African studies professor Julius Nyang'oro. Nyangoro and the athletic
department are being accused of holding fake class in order to better a student athletes GPA. The
whole investigation now puts a huge black mark over the whole African studies program at

Academic fraud in division one college football

North Carolina (Norlander, 2014). Weather these schools realize it or not that at some point they
will do the time for the crimes they have committed.
Types of punishment given for academic fraud
The NCAA does not find academic fraud a minor offence of breaking the bylaws of the
association. This is apparent with the currently 20 open investigations on going by the NCAA.
Vice president of enforcement Jonathan Duncan has called academic fraud an epidemic and
that they will fight to ended it and punishes all that are guilty (Novy-Williams, 2015). The
NCAA is not afraid to throw the book at its members if they fail to follow the rules. You can
definitely see this is true with the recent release of the Syracuse report. See figure 1.
Figure 1 Syracuse punishment

Five years of
probation

Vaction of
wins from
2004-2007

A fine of $500
per contest
played with
ineligible
student
athlete

Figure 1. The information contained in figure 1 is from Syracuse did not control athletics;
basketball coach failed to monitor, by Emily James, 2015, ncaa.org.

ACADEMIC FRAUD IN DIVISION ONE COLLEGE FOOTBALL

The severity of these penalties is a good president to set for other intuitions who later may be
accused of these same actions it also shows that the NCAA is not here to mess around they want
academic fraud out of Intercollegiate athletics.

Research Method
The contents of this chapter outlines and defines the specific methodology that was used
in researching and examining weather academic fraud really dose happen in division one college
football (Kendig, 2012). This chapter also shows the design of the study, the type of people who
participated in the study; the specific instruments used to conduct the study and how the data was
collected.
The Study Design
This study was designed to find out weather or not academic fraud really dose happen in
division one college football. The study is designed to gather data on whos involved in these
frauds weather it be coaches, professors, players, or if it is a joint effort.
Research Questions
The following research questions were developed to guide the study, which was to find
out weather, or not academic fraud really happens in division one college football.
RQ 1. Do division one-college football programs participate in academic fraud?
H There is a statistical difference in programs that participate in academic fraud
H There is no statistical difference in programs that participate in academic fraud
RQ 2. Do professors actively participate in academic fraud at these institutions?
H There is a statistical significance of professors who participate in academic fraud
H There is no statistical significance of professors who participate in academic fraud

Academic fraud in division one college football

10

Participants Of Study
The participants from this study are from three different division one-college football
programs. These programs are the University of North Carolina, Syracuse University and Florida
State University. The survey was sent to 25 different people spread out among the three
Universities. With a age range of 18 to 50 who were males. Study was amid to be sent to a
mixture of student athletes, coaches and professors to be able to gain a broad range of
information.
Instrument
This study was conducted using a survey created by the researcher. The survey was
created to gather data on student athletes, coaches and professors to see if academic fraud is
really happening at these institutions (see appendix A). This instrument was formatted with ten
different questions with a five answer series with choices of strongly agree, agree, disagree, or
strongly disagree.
Data Collection
When collecting data for this study the researcher had to create a master e-mail list of 25
different people to send this survey to spread among three different institutions. The researcher
sent the email to four different football student athletes, two professors and two coaches at each
University. In the e-mail sent to the participants there was a copy of the goals and objective to
the study and a statement of confidentiality to protect the participants of the study.

Summary of the Methodology

This chapter outlined the contents of the study used by the researcher. It also outlined the
type of participants who participated in the study and how the study was given to them. Also this
chapter how the study helped the researcher answer the research questions that need to be
answered.

ACADEMIC FRAUD IN DIVISION ONE COLLEGE FOOTBALL

11

Summary of research
This research was designed to look in to weather or not academic fraud really happens in
division one college football and weather or not the coaches and professors are also actively
participating in these frauds as well. These frauds are one of the many black marks on major
college football this research was a way to look into these major college football programs and
find out if academic fraud is really accruing as much as we think in college football.
Discussion of findings
If this research were to be performed the researcher would find that a lot of the
questionnaires that came back would be filled out untruly. This could happen because the
participants could feel that they dont want to these breaks in academic standard to go away or
even spring a NCAA investigation from these questionnaires. Also it will be hard for a researcher
to even receive many of the questionnaires back many of the participants that would be chosen
would just ignore the questionnaire.
Conclusions from study
If the study were to be done I would conclude that this is definitely an issue that is
accruing in division one college football. The research shows this to be true but the research also
shows us that to gain any of this information about these frauds it is going to take a good fight to
get any information out of these student athletes, coaches, and professors. The NCAA and it
member institutions have a real challenge ahead of them to be able to stop these practices on
college campuses. They should first look at the student athletes and start asking them ways that
maybe they can stop these practices and help athletes be able to be a normal student without any
special treatment. This falls not only on the NCAA but also on its member institutions as well.

Academic fraud in division one college football

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Recommendations for practice

1. This study should serve as a groundbreaking discovery in the amount of academic
fraud that is happening in division one college football.
2. This study could be used to create different rules at universities to limit these types of
frauds.
3. This study should be used by the NCAA to revaluate it how it policies its institutions.
4. This study should be used to educate student athletes on the severity of committing
academic fraud.
5. This study should also be used in showing how the big business of college athletics
has taken away from the educational development of student athletes
Recommendations for future research
1. Convince the participants that this is a safe study and there will be no trouble that
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

comes from answering the questionnaire truthfully.

Try studying different schools with no history or alleged history in academic fraud.
Try studying wining programs vs. programs without a wining tradition.
Try expanding to more then three schools.
Try and see how many participants you can get from this study.
Test to see if only star players are receiving this treatment or its all players on the
team.

ACADEMIC FRAUD IN DIVISION ONE COLLEGE FOOTBALL

13

References
James, E. (2015). Syracuse Did Not Control Athletics; Basketball Coach Failed to Monitor.
Division One News.ncaa.org, (6-10).
Jones, M. (2012). Reporting Violations of Academic Fraud in the NCAA Compliance Context.
Journal of NCAA Compliance, (5-6).
Kendig, S (2012).Administrator and Facility Perceptions of Inactivity and Conflict in the
Workplace:
A Higher Education Study, (45)
Ours, R. (1999).A Brief History of College Football. The College Football Encyclopedia, (1).
Norlander, M. (2014). Former UNC professor at Center of Scandal Cleared on Felony Charge.
NCAA basketball. cbssports.com, (1)
Ridpath, B. (2008). Can the Faculty Reform Intercollegiate Athletics? A Past, Present, and Future
Perspective.

Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics, (14).

Williams-Nova, E. (2015).NCAA Investigates Unprecedented Increase in Academic Fraud

Cases.
Bloomberg Business, (1)

Academic fraud in division one college football

14

Appendix A: Academic experience for student athletes questionnaire

Please chose the response that bests represents youre feeling towards each statement (strongly
agree (SA) agree (A) disagree (D) strongly disagree (SD)
1. I believe that student athletes receive special treatment with schoolwork

(SA A D SD)

2. I have never been enrolled in an athlete only class

(SA A D SD)

3. I have never been involved in falsifying my transcript

(SA S D SD)

4. I believe that coaches support or push athletes to take easier classes

(SA A D SD)

5. I believe that professors give student athletes special treatment

(SA A D SD)

6. I believe that I am getting the most out of my education and

(SA A D SD)

are being treated fairly

7. I have never copied other students work

(SA A D SD)

8. I often use the Academic tutoring services

(SA A D SD)

9. Academic tutors have completed work for me

(SA A D SD)

10. I believe that the academic program I am pursuing will guide my future endeavors
(SA A D SD)