Some interesting articles coming out of the Madison, WI press.
Of course we have all heard that three different players from the Wisconsin basketball team have had academic issues of late.
DeAaron Williams left the team but was having problems with grades that would have made him ineligible, and also Marcus Landry and Greg Steimsma have been declared academically ineligible and are done for the rest of the year.
Wisconsin has not had any basketball player academically ineligible in 11 years, and now they have three in a 2 week span.
This has apparently led to a series of hearings with the athletic director (Barry Alvarez) meeting with the UW Athletic Board, and issuing several statements to counter the negative press that this has generated.
Apparently there were allegations that the Wisconsin basketball staff had NOT been monitoring the academic progress of its players very well and were caught off guard by the three players doing so poorly.
The highly publicized excuses (one student claimed a bout of depression and one claimed a learning disability) just don't wash, since both of these kids were very good students (academically) in high school.
Only now after this fiasco has Alvarez gotten going with a plan and ..."Alvarez mentioned learning specialists and daily supervision as part of that plan".
But in summary, the explanation given by the AD blames the kids:
"Somewhere along the line, the onus has to fall back on the kids," he said. "There's only so much everyone can do."
But David Harris, the UW associate athletic director for academic services says otherwise,
"I think the students have a responsibility, academic support has a responsibility and coaches have a responsibility. Let's find a way that communication in all those areas improves."
The Madison based "Wisconsin State Journal" however thinks it's pretty negligent on the part of UW academics people to blame the kids:
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/column/index.php?ntid=70670&ntpid=3