LJWorld.com / KU star Darrell Arthur’s eligibility questioned

Archive for Friday, May 16, 2008

May 16, 2008, 11:34 a.m. Updated May 16, 2008, 4:51 p.m.

Officials are investigating whether Kansas basketball star Darrell Arthur was eligible to play in high school, which could affect whether he should have ever played for the national champion Jayhawks.

South Oak Cliff High School in Dallas, which already has forfeited its 2006 title because of improperly altered grades for another player, is investigating whether Arthur’s grades also were improperly altered, WFAA-TV in Dallas-Fort Worth reported.

The 6-foot-9 Kansas sophomore was second on the NCAA champion Jayhawks in scoring at 12.8 points a game and second in rebounding. He has applied for early entry into the NBA draft.

According to a former teacher and transcripts obtained by WFAA, Arthur was not passing math as a junior but his grade was changed without the teacher’s knowledge.

Arthur was one of the nation’s top recruits out of high school. The McDonald’s All-American led South Oak Cliff to consecutive state titles, earning tournament MVP both times.

Winford Ashmore, Arthur's math teacher at South Oak Cliff who is now working elsewhere, said he stands by his story.

"In this case, Darrell is not the villain. He's the victim, not the villain. A student is going to do just what the adults allow him to do," Ashmore told the Journal-World today. "It's not about Darrell. It's about uncovering the whole system and what's going on.

"This is something that I told administration about back when it first occurred. They brushed it aside."

The station said the NCAA told its reporter that if a player is found to be ineligible, his college team might have to forfeit any or all games involving that student.

However, Jim Marchiony, KU’s associate athletic director for external affairs, said he believed that the investigation into Arthur would not affect the school’s basketball program.

"There's nothing right now that says anything improper occurred," he said. "I think we have to start from that perspective. Right now, all that's out there is the word of a former teacher.

"In our mind, we obviously had nothing to do with the situation. The high school sends the transcript to the NCAA. The NCAA decides whether the player is eligible. The NCAA declared Darrell Arthur eligible. I can't imagine a scenario where Kansas would be affected by this."

"I know fans love to speculate," Marchiony said. "The media loves to speculate. But I don't think any of that is productive."

Added KU coach Bill Self in a statement released late Friday afternoon: "“We are aware of the allegations as described in the news story. I’m sure the high school and the school district will do a good job determining the facts. It would be premature and inappropriate for anyone to comment any further until the process in Dallas takes its course.”

Discussion

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16 May 2008 at 11:38 a.m.

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ralphralph (Anonymous) says…

Sounds pretty shady to me …
16 May 2008 at 11:54 a.m.

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cato_the_elder (Anonymous) says…

The jealousy emanating from the State of Texas is palpable. We made an arguably bad decision to join up with them in the first place, and now they can't stand the fact that we've won an Orange Bowl and a national basketball championship in the same year.
16 May 2008 at 12:15 p.m.

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rhd99 (Anonymous) says…

Take a Texas Two step HIKE, you Longhorn freakshows!
16 May 2008 at 12:25 p.m.

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aha (Anonymous) says…

Seems a bit Axtell-esque to me.
16 May 2008 at 12:41 p.m.

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taucetiman (Anonymous) says…

not to take any thunder away from here but fark.com has a thread on this story
16 May 2008 at 1:48 p.m.

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srj (Anonymous) says…

I think nothing will happen to KU, but the NCAA might make sure he did all the work he was supposed to do here. I think that's fair.
16 May 2008 at 2:04 p.m.

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Catbacker (Anonymous) says…

Math b hard.
16 May 2008 at 2:31 p.m.

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toe (Anonymous) says…

Does anyone really think athletics is about academic success? These kids should just play sports and to heck with being students. Then we would all be on the same page.
16 May 2008 at 2:54 p.m.

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duplenty (Anonymous) says…

Harderfaster manages to be an a$$ on every thread he visits.
16 May 2008 at 3:37 p.m.

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Eride (Anonymous) says…

I don't know who the station spoke to within the NCAA organization but it was obviously someone who didn't know anything remotely applicable to the situation. KU has no control over nor the responsibility of ensuring that the transcripts remitted for approval to the NCAA clearing house are devoid of fraud. The transcripts were cleared by the NCAA and KU acted in good faith as is expected.

There is no way KU would have to drop any games because of the acts of Arthur's high school administration.
16 May 2008 at 3:46 p.m.

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taucetiman (Anonymous) says…

found this elsewhere in a thread on this story thought it was interesting

“I went to KU. Here is my story:

Spring semester senior year, I finally get into a class I'd always wanted to take: 'The History of Jazz”. I dig jazz and wanted to learn more about it. And I didnt want to be too burdened my last semester, if you know what I mean.

I still remember walking into class the first day: it was literally a sea of letter jackets. I hit the jackpot. The entire football team was there. The swim/dive team was there. Baseball. Basketball. You name it. I wasnt an athlete, so I dont know how I was able to get into that class.

The professor was brilliant, I learned a ton, but it was one of the easiest and funnest classes I took while at KU. We listened to records the entire time, fer cryin out loud.”
16 May 2008 at 6:46 p.m.

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LiberalDude (Anonymous) says…

“The professor was brilliant, I learned a ton”

Uhhh…..isn't this the point of taking a class, to learn about the subject matter. Who cares if the class was easy or if you listened to records the whole time? The notion that a class has to require many long essays and confusing multiple choice tests to justify it as a legitimate class is ridiculous. Here's to learning!!!
16 May 2008 at 6:58 p.m.

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jayhawks71 (Anonymous) says…

taucet, was the professor the late Dick Wright? I didn't take the class you listed, but it sounds a lot like American Popular Song or something along those lines, which I did take. I just remember spending most of the time listening to music and getting Professor Wright's commentary on the state of the world at the time the music was composed/popular.

As for KU's championship, it isn't in danger. The NCAA clearinghouse cleared him. KU must rely on and abide by what the clearinghouse does. If there was something shady (yeah I couldn't resist) going on at KU, as a previous poster said, then that would be a different story.
16 May 2008 at 7:06 p.m.

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1wetwilly (Anonymous) says…

This situation can not be a surprise to anyone. Similar circumstances have happened at many colleges and universities for decades.

The KU athletic department including the coaching staff completely knew about Arhtur's questionable academics in high school before, during and after KU's recruiting efforts.
16 May 2008 at 7:07 p.m.

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notajayhawk (Anonymous) says…

I agree with those who've said KU shouldn't/can't be penalized. If the NCAA already approved him to play, I don't see how they can impose penalties for changing that decision retroactively.

(Although, I wonder - say a little league kid uses a fake birth certificate, which was accepted as legitimate and the team even has a copy of it - if the kid is found out later to be too old, what happens? And yes, I know, the NCAA isn't little league, but you get the idea.)

And if it looks bad - who cares? You think this would be the first time a kid used bogus high school grades to play in the NCAA? It's not exactly as if the NCAA really cares about whether these guys can read or write when they leave. Did anyone hear Marchiony on the radio? He basically said the math teacher should be the one penalized, for breaking the rules on keeping grades secret.

Nope, as I said in the other thread, if there turns out to be any truth to this, about the only impact will be guaranteeing Arthur doesn't withdraw his name from the draft. The NCAA isn't about to have a huge public scandal by taking away a national championship; they'd rather let the high school take the heat and pretend to be shocked and outraged rather than let it come out that this kind of thing happens all the time, and everybody knows it.
16 May 2008 at 7:58 p.m.

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jonas (Anonymous) says…

“I know fans love to speculate,” Marchiony said. “The media loves to speculate. But I don't think any of that is productive.”

Marchiony wins the thread, preemptively.
16 May 2008 at 9:37 p.m.

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labmonkey (Anonymous) says…

Lets just hope nothing shady happened while he was at KU….although I don't ever see them taking away the championship, I would hate to see them on probation.
16 May 2008 at 9:41 p.m.

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mom_of_three (Anonymous) says…

Does anyone know how the math teacher knew the grades were altered, other than Arthur was allowed to play?
And when the school was investigated for improperly changing grades for the other student, why wasn't all the players investigated then? Or perhaps they were and nothing was found?
It would be interesting to know what his ACT grades were in math. But, of course, that is private information.
16 May 2008 at 10:13 p.m.

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notajayhawk (Anonymous) says…

mom_of_three (Anonymous) says…

“Does anyone know how the math teacher knew the grades were altered, other than Arthur was allowed to play?”

From what I've heard on news reports on the radio, the teacher says he was directly asked by the coach and the principal to change the grade himself, and he refused. At that point Arthur was taken out of the class and given a passing grade (reportedly). The transcripts the TV station says it has supposedly show no grades being posted until the final grade which was changed to a 70 without explanation.

“And when the school was investigated for improperly changing grades for the other student, why wasn't all the players investigated then?”

If one kid in a class cheats on a test, do you make them all re-take it? If one person at work is found to be stealing, can you search everyone's pockets?

“It would be interesting to know what his ACT grades were in math.”

It would be interesting to know what his grades are *now*. He wouldn't exactly be the first guy that went pro early 'cause they were going to be academically ineligible anyway. But once again, it's not as if the purpose of an athletic scholarship is to give these kids an education.
17 May 2008 at 1:18 a.m.

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jmorgan54 (Anonymous) says…

This story appears tonight in Arthur's hometown newspaper …

SOC basketball coach disputes report that grades were changed for Arthur

01:08 AM CDT on Friday, May 16, 2008

By damon l. sayles / The Dallas Morning News
dsayles@dallasnews.com

South Oak Cliff boys basketball coach James Mays II is disputing a story aired Thursday by wfaa-tv (Channel 8) alleging that grades were improperly changed for former SOC standout Darrell Arthur.

The story, supported by transcripts obtained by WFAA, said Arthur had grades changed in September 2005 and should not have been eligible to play basketball according to UIL rules. Arthur, a 6-9 sophomore forward for Kansas, declared for the upcoming NBA draft after helping the Jayhawks win the NCAA championship in April. He was a key player on SOC's 2005 and 2006 state championship teams.

“That's just ridiculous,” Mays said of WFAA's report. “He [Arthur] has always been an excellent student, and I can't say anything but good things about him.”

WFAA reported Arthur's transcripts showed he received no grades during the fall 2005 semester, but a final grade in math was changed to a passing grade. Mays said Arthur's academics, however, have never been an issue.

“He finished with a 3.0 grade point average this semester [at Kansas], even though he entered the draft.” Mays said. “We're not talking about a dumb jock here, and that's what this story makes it sounds like.”

Dallas ISD athletic director Jeff Johnson declined to comment, and calls to DISD superintendent Dr. Michael Hinojosa were not returned. WFAA reported DISD officials were planning to investigate the allegations.

Kansas associate athletic director Jim Marchiony, who spent 17 years working for the NCAA, said he is aware of the situation but said any comment “would really be premature.” “Mays on Thursday denied reports that he and former SOC principal Donald Moten – who is no longer with the district – asked a former SOC teacher to award Arthur an unearned passing grade

WFAA reported similar grade improprieties in November, when the eligibility of former SOC player Kendrake Johnigan was questioned.

The investigation led to a January announcement by Hinojosa that SOC would forfeit its 2006 championship. The UIL, however, has yet to officially strip SOC of that title. SOC also won state titles in 2007 and 2008.

Staff writer Chip Brown contributed to this report