Gameday: A Whistle-Blower's Story of the ...

Introduction

Collegiate sports are estimated to be a $16 billion business [1]. The success of collegiate sports programs greatly depends upon the academic advisors who oversee student athletes' studies. More than 460,000 NCAA student-athletes compete in 23 sports every year [2]. According to the NCAA website, member schools support their student-athletes' academic success by providing "state-of-the-art technology, tutoring and access to academic advisors.” Student-athletes look to these advisors to provide advice and guidance on academic majors and course selection. 

A CNN investigation found public universities across the country where many student-athletes in basketball and football programs specifically could read only up to an eighth-grade level [3]. For ill-prepared student-athletes, juggling academics and sports to remain eligible to play can be difficult, which has led to an increase in fraudulent ineligibility schemes [4]. 

Many schools have been reported as having disturbing trends of athletes clustering into certain courses and athletic-friendly professors who provide independent study courses too frequently to athletes [4]. At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (hereafter UNC) an academic fraud was exposed that experts argue is the most historic academic fraud case in collegiate athletics.