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USC professor calls for better oversight
After Cook case, USC faculty leader says school needs a better way to monitor athletes in class
Written by JOSEPH PERSON
jperson@thestate.com
Posted on 12.23.08
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survey:
Outback Bowl
WHO: Iowa (8-4) vs. USC (7-5)
WHEN: 11 a.m., Jan. 1
WHERE: Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Fla.
TV: ESPN (channel 26 in Columbia, HD channel 950)
RADIO: WNKT-FM 107.5, WISW-AM 1320
LINE: Iowa by 3.5
TV, radio notes
Sean McDonough will do the play-by-play, Chris Spielman will offer analysis and Rob Stone will be on the sidelines. The game can be heard on WNKT-FM 107.5 and WISW-AM 1320 with Todd Ellis and Tommy Suggs in the booth and former USC and NFL star Duce Staley on the field.
After reading reports that USC safety Emanuel Cook might have mailed it in academically midway through the fall semester, a faculty leader questioned the Gamecocks’ method of monitoring athletes’ classroom performance.
Bill Bearden, a marketing professor and the school’s NCAA faculty athletics representative, said Monday he plans to meet with athletics director Eric Hyman and other athletics officials about the department’s academic procedures.
Cook is one of three USC players ruled ineligible for the Outback Bowl for failing to pass the six credit hours required by the NCAA. Reserve offensive lineman Kyle Nunn and fifth-year linebacker Dustin Lindsey are the others.
The NCAA denied Lindsey’s appeal, sources said. Punter Spencer Lanning is awaiting word on his appeal.
But it was the case of Cook, the Gamecocks’ leading tackler the past two seasons, that most concerned Bearden.
After announcing Cook’s status last week, USC coach Steve Spurrier suggested the junior had “tossed it in midway through” the semester and shifted his focus to the NFL. The next day Spurrier said coaches did not learn of Cook’s academic problems until late in the season.
“The fact that you hear at the last moment a student that might have been planning to go pro, you might have thought they would have known in advance that he had checked it out, if that’s the case,” Bearden said.
“Somebody should have known — the coaches or the (academic) center, those advisors.”
Bearden wondered whether the class-attendance policy needs to deal with athletes “on a more personal, deeper level.”
Raymond Harrison, USC’s director of academic services, said class absences and a lack of effort combined to hurt Cook. Harrison said Cook was not suspended for any practices or games because he attended extra study-hall sessions to offset missed classes.
Hyman said he had planned to review the academic policies before Cook’s situation arose, saying he began talking to coaches and other athletics directors two to three months ago.
“(Cook) wasn’t even on the radar screen,” Hyman said. “What do we need to do to achieve the objective we need to achieve and be able to have success academically?
“We deal with people from all walks of life that come from all different kinds of backgrounds, where sometimes education is emphasized more than other times. So how do you get that message to them?”
Reach Person at (803) 771-8496.
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