Wednesday, September 29, 1999 - The Michigan Daily - 13
Vols investigate fraud allegations
ESPN: Internal memos show officials knew of tutors' academic forgery
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Tennessee
officials are currently investigating whether
tutors did schoolwork for football players, as
N reported on Sunday.
'Tennessee President J. Wade Gilley, who
started his job last month, said Monday that
the school is following "normal procedure
and has turned this matter over to the (uni-
versity's) general counsel's office for
review."
"Once this review is complete, the univer-
sity will announce its findings and, if neces-
sary, take appropriate action," he said.
Athletic Director Doug Dickey said the
university also has reported the matter to
* theastern Conference commissioner Roy
Kramer.
ESPN reported that internal memos show
high-level administrators in the athletic
department were told of four tutors who may
have done schoolwork for at least five foot-
ball players, possibly violating the universi-
ty's honor code and NCAA rules.
Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer has not
commented on the allegations.
None of the information was passed on to
toproper campus authorities charged with
investigating possible rules infractions, said
Malcolm McInnis, Tennessee's NCAA com-
pliance officer.
The alleged incidents dated to 1995, and it
was unclear whether any of the players were
on the 1998 national champion team. Three
of the five players have transferred, the net-
work said.
Meanwhile, four Tennessee redshirt fresh-
men, including kick returner and NCAA
champion sprinter Lenard Scott, were held
out of Saturday's game against Memphis and
placed on indefinite suspension as a result of
the school's internal investigation.
"It is pretty early at this time to know
where any of this may go," NCAA spokes-
woman Jane Jankowski said. "Typically, in
these kind of scenarios it is very common
that the university and the NCAA will be in
touch."
Though the NCAA is aware of the allega-
tions, it's unclear what action might be taken
by the school or the NCAA if the allegations
are proven.
In June, Minnesota coach Clem Haskins
resigned under pressure amid accusations of
academic fraud in the school'smen's basket-
ball program.
Tennessee has investigated allegations of
academic fraud before.
In 1992, the university rescinded the
advanced degrees of two University of
Tennessee Space Institute graduates who
provided government contracts to a profes-
sor who supplied them with plagiarized dis-
sertations. All were later convicted of feder-
al fraud charges.
Three years later, the university found that
41 athletes charged s26,000 in long distance
telephone calls to a stolen university phone
card. Two players were suspended for a sea-
son and others received lesser punishment.
The new allegations come less than a
month after Tennessee touted a much-
improved graduation rate of 57 percent for
all football players who enrolled in 1992.
The graduation rate for players enrolled in
1991 was 1l percent - one of the worst in
the country.
Dickey said the most pressing issue is to
determine the eligibility of Scott and the
three other players - Reggie Ridley, Keyon
Whiteside and Ryan Rowe - before this
week's game against Auburn.
"We really have not done anything about
longer-term problems that might be out
there," he said.
School investigators will want to deter-
mine how many current players might be
involved, the "failure to report" the problem
to higher-ups in the program, and the "over-
all picture of who is managing what,"
Dickey said.
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AP PHOTO
Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer would not comment on the allegations of violating NCAA rules. Sunday,
ESPN reported that some Volunteers may have had tutors doing academic work.
SOCCER
Continued from Page 11
A particular strength has been their
ability in the air to win jump balls, an
advantage the Wolverines have used to
launch counterattacks at the opposition.
They have held their opponents to just
12 goals on 50 shots for the season. In
the young Big Ten season, they have
only allowed two goals in four games.
At the same time, the Wolverines have
put 97 shots on goal this season.
Despite the Wolverines' solid three-
goals-per-game scoring average, Belkin
remains unsatisfied with offensive
production - they have a mere 9.1%
shooting percentage. A point of empha-
sis in practice this week has been finish-
ing-- Belkin feels that they have squan-
dered too many good scoring opportuni-
ties.
In addition to the team's finishing
problems, Belkin feels that the team's
ball possession could improve. As
Michigan plays tougher opponents, the
execution of Belkin's ball-possession
game will be more crucial to future suc-
cess.
Although the team will not admit to
targeting specific opponents, there
seems to be a little extra incentive to
polish off Minnesota and Wisconsin en
route to the Big Ten Championship.
Both teams defeated the Wolverines last
year, and relegated them to a fifth-place
finish.
Only time will tell if the Wolverines
can maintain a consistent level of play in
the very balanced Big Ten conference,
riding their young, dynamic defense and
an experienced ball-control offense.
INDIVIDUAL HONOR: Michigan junior
Kacy Beitel was named Big Ten co-
player of the week after scoring two
goals last weekend. Beitel became the
first Wolverine this year to achieve the
honor.
"It was a real surprise to me," Beitel
said. "It's great to have the team so
excited for me, but honestly, individual
awards aren't as important as team suc-
cess."
Beitel scored the game tying goal
Friday against Illinois in Michigan's 2-1
overtime victory. Then she netted the
insurance goal Sunday in the second
half of Michigan's 2-0 win over Iowa.
MOVIN' ON up: The Sept. 27 NSCAA
national rankings rewarded Michigan
for its undefeated weekend by moving
the Wolverines up seven spots to No. 15.
It matches their pre-season ranking and
is their highest ranking of the season.
"We deserve to be highly ranked,
because we're playing excellent," Beitel
said. "Still rankings don't mean that
much to us."
The Wolverines are the second high-
est ranked team in the Big Ten, behind
No. 5 Penn State. No other Big Ten
teams are ranked in the top 25.
BERDOWSKY INJURY HEALING:
Senior Amber Berdowsky saw her first
action last weekend since reinjuring her
ankle in practice earlier in the season.
While Berdowsky saw just limited
action, she hopes to get more playing
time this weekend and in the season to
come.
"I definitely want to make an impact
on this team, I hope I can come back
strong," Berdowsky said.
The original injury was a torn liga-
ment in her ankle during a summer
league game in July. After rehabilitating
the injury, Berdowsky reinjured the
ankle in practice after Michigan's first
game of the season.
Within the next couple of weeks,
Berdowsky believes she will be back to
100 percent. Michigan's all-time goal-
scoring leader can only add fire to the
offense. Right now, quick turns are the
main area in which the injury hinders
Berdowsky.
"It mainly hurts when I'm cutting the
ball," Berdowsky said. "Straight run-
ning doesn't bother me."
U 1
v
Actuaries or
M I !'4Lt WLLL 5LL uaLVOy
i ite moving up seven spots in the national rankings, Laurie Peterson (No. 7) and the rest of the Wolverines feel they have
many things to work on for the upcoming games - especially against conference foes Minnesota and Wisconsin.
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