Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys if this story is true in The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/02/sports/ncaabasketball/02harvard.html?_r=1&ref=sports&oref=slogin) on the front sports page of Sunday's (3/2/2008) paper. (The paper no longer requires a paid online subscription so the story is open to all.)
Quote from: New York Times... the group of six recruits expected to join the [Harvahd] team next season is rated among the nation's 25 best. This is partly because Harvard Coach Tommy Amaker ... has set his sights on top-flight recruits. It is also because Harvard is willing to consider players with a lower academic standing than previous staff members said they were allowed to. Harvard has also adopted aggressive recruiting tactics that skirt or, in some cases, may even violate National Collegiate Athletic Association rules.
Harvard's efforts in basketball underscore the increasingly important role that success in high-profile sports plays at even the most elite universities. In the race to become competitive in basketball, Harvard's new approach could tarnish the university's sterling reputation.
Two athletes who said they had received letters from Harvard's admissions office saying they would most likely be accepted have described tactics that may violate N.C.A.A. rules, including visits from a man who worked out with them shortly before he was hired by Harvard to be an assistant coach.
One thing the article did not mention was the fact that (maybe it's not a fact - please correct me if I'm wrong), coupled with the recent tuition waiver for students of modest means, Harvard's decision to lower its academic standards for basketball players essentially is an end around the Ivy prohibition against athletic scholaships.
Here's an interesting take on the NYT article.
http://collegebasketball.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=1146&CID=781264
I like the part about Harvard being the UNLV of eastern Mass.
I almost did not get past the first sentence:
Quote from: Harvard has never won an Ivy League title in men's basketball and has not reached the N.C.A.A. tournament since 1946.
And I thought Cornell Hoop's two-decades-old dry spell was bad.
[quote Nathan Chicowdy 92]One thing the article did not mention was the fact that (maybe it's not a fact - please correct me if I'm wrong), coupled with the recent tuition waiver for students of modest means, Harvard's decision to lower its academic standards for basketball players essentially is an end around the Ivy prohibition against athletic scholaships.[/quote]Seems to me that the tuition waiver can be viewed as an end run on the prohibition against athletic scholarships, independent of any fudging the Academic Index they might be doing.
Edit: And to think I used to like Tommy Amaker because he was doing a good job at Seton Hall. (Now I like him because he destroyed Michigan's basketball program and now it's starting to look like he's going to destroy Harvard's too. ::uptosomething:: )
[quote Josh '99][quote Nathan Chicowdy 92]One thing the article did not mention was the fact that (maybe it's not a fact - please correct me if I'm wrong), coupled with the recent tuition waiver for students of modest means, Harvard's decision to lower its academic standards for basketball players essentially is an end around the Ivy prohibition against athletic scholarships.[/quote]Seems to me that the tuition waiver can be viewed as an end run on the prohibition against athletic scholarships, independent of any fudging the Academic Index they might be doing.[/quote]
The former thought is shortsighted because of its focus on athletics at the expense of the more important mission of the university (and universities in general), but to the extent that Harvard is undermining the Academic Index Amaker should be ashamed.
That said, I'm not sure that we can afford to be too high-and-mighty here. The subtext of the article is not that Harvard is admitted athletes that fail to meet the minimum Ivy League academic criteria (though it may be recruiting them) but that they fail to meet HARVARD's traditional Academic Index. In other words, Harvard is possibly now taking guys who in the past could only have gone to Cornell.
[quote Josh '99](Now I like him because he destroyed Michigan's basketball program and now it's starting to look like he's going to destroy Harvard's too. ::uptosomething:: )[/quote]
Destroying HARVARD's basketball program.
DESTROYING Harvard's basketball program.
Destroying Harvard's BASKETBALL program.
Destroying Harvard's basketball PROGRAM.
Nope, no matter how I try, that thought just does not compute. ::screwy::
[quote Robb][quote Josh '99](Now I like him because he destroyed Michigan's basketball program and now it's starting to look like he's going to destroy Harvard's too. ::uptosomething:: )[/quote]
Destroying HARVARD's basketball program.
DESTROYING Harvard's basketball program.
Destroying Harvard's BASKETBALL program.
Destroying Harvard's basketball PROGRAM.
Nope, no matter how I try, that thought just does not compute. ::screwy::[/quote]
Josh must have meant the women's program. Though how Amaker managed to screw that up is beyond me.
[quote min]I almost did not get past the first sentence:
Quote from: Harvard has never won an Ivy League title in men's basketball and has not reached the N.C.A.A. tournament since 1946.
And I thought Cornell Hoop's two-decades-old dry spell was bad.[/quote]
I totally hear what you're saying, but when you realize that Cornell's two most recent league titles and NCAA appearances sandwich only 2 other schools (yes I know Yale split it once), there are several Harvards in this league.
[quote Nathan Chicowdy 92]One thing the article did not mention was the fact that (maybe it's not a fact - please correct me if I'm wrong), coupled with the recent tuition waiver for students of modest means, Harvard's decision to lower its academic standards for basketball players essentially is an end around the Ivy prohibition against athletic scholaships.[/quote]
Everyone else at Harvard of modest means gets a free ride so you can give a free ride to 12 guys in baggy shorts who jump up in the air every 30 seconds? I kind of like that. Would that it were contagious in Ithca.
BTW the Michigan Daily, culling public records, reported that Amaker was making $170K a couple years back (and if I recall, the women's coach was at parity). (Plus shoe contracts and so forth.) Harvard is probably paying him even more notwithstanding no positive winning record since his Seton Hall days.
I'd guess he isn't making as much money on the side at Harvard as he did at Michigan.
[quote ithacat]Here's an interesting take on the NYT article.
http://collegebasketball.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=1146&CID=781264
I like the part about Harvard being the UNLV of eastern Mass.[/quote]
Like the part about Jerry Tarkanian at 77 being willing to come out of retirement to coach the Cantabs if Amaker goes elsewhere. Maybe there's some place for Jimmy the Greek as well. He hasn't said anything controversial in more than a decade.
The League is planning to investigate.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/05/sports/ncaabasketball/05harvard.html
Harvard loses its prize center recruit Ben-eze. Report says it may improve their academic index.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/recruiting/basketball/mens/news/story?id=3287508
A Yalie chimes in on the ESPN story about hoops recruit Ben-Eze going elsewhere than Cambridge.
Quote from: Yale gradNot going to Harvard is a terrible choice. If you are a good player, but not one of 20 or so best in the country then wasting an opportunity to go to Harvard is absurd. I am an alum of Yale and the prestige of the degree opens doors unimaginable. People throw jobs at you and the alumni of sports teams at Ivies are very tight. I am an athletic alum and, trust me, it's tighter than any frat. If this kid is NBA material, that's one thing. If not, HUGE BLUNDER.
... and they teach you phrasing not seen since William F Buckley departed these shores golden.
[quote billhoward]A Yalie chimes in on the ESPN story about hoops recruit Ben-Eze going elsewhere than Cambridge.
Quote from: Yale gradNot going to Harvard is a terrible choice. If you are a good player, but not one of 20 or so best in the country then wasting an opportunity to go to Harvard is absurd. I am an alum of Yale and the prestige of the degree opens doors unimaginable. People throw jobs at you and the alumni of sports teams at Ivies are very tight. I am an athletic alum and, trust me, it's tighter than any frat. If this kid is NBA material, that's one thing. If not, HUGE BLUNDER.
... and they teach you phrasing not seen since William F Buckley departed these shores golden.[/quote]
And also Bushisms.::dribble::