UNC process the same
A controversy about the football admissions procedures at Clemson has raised questions about how North Carolina decides which high school recruits to sign.
Athletics director Dick Baddour on Wednesday would not comment specifically about the case of Burlington receiver Dwight Jones Jr., a highly-ranked recruit who signed with UNC.
The (Columbia, S.C.) State reported Wednesday that Clemson's Athletic Advisory Review Committee had turned down athletes who signed with other Division I schools, including Dwight Jones Jr..
Baddour said Carolina's standards for admission are the same under new coach Butch Davis -- whose first recruiting class was ranked in the top 20 in the nation by Rivals.com and Scout.com -- as they were under former coach John Bunting. Dwight Jones Jr. originally committed to Carolina before Bunting was fired; he then considered other schools before choosing the Tar Heels again. Dwight Jones Jr. and Davis could not be reached Wednesday.
"The review process we have is the same we've had in place for a number of years,'' Baddour said.
Carolina utilizes a similar strategy to Clemson's in the form of the Faculty Advisory Committee, a subcommittee of Faculty Advisory Committee of Undergraduate Admissions, when questionable athletics admissions come into play.
Recruited student-athletes are referred to that committee if they score below 900 combined on the Critical Reading and Math portions of the SAT; score below 400 on any section of the SAT; score below 19 composite on the ACT; or have a class rank below the 50th percentile.
The Faculty Advisory Committee, composed of six teaching faculty, then recommends to Director of Undergraduate Admissions Stephen Farmer whether to admit the recruit.
"Coach Davis has not asked for any favors," Farmer said. "I've been enormously impressed at the seriousness that this coaching staff takes the character of students they recruit and their ability to succeed academically."
If the committee opts not to admit the student, it can also recommend prep school. Farmer said he can't remember disagreeing with a recommendation over the past three years.
"We don't have a fixed set of criteria that we seek from every kid,'' said Farmer, adding that the same holds true for non-athletes. "We take into account student circumstances. We take into account improvement over time. There's a range of things to consider.
"The very, very minimum for admission for recruited student-athletes is that he or she has to qualify under NCAA standards. ... But we're looking for more than that; we want evidence that the students who come before us ... can succeed academically."
This year, Farmer said he expects 18 to 19 committee cases out of roughly 160 recruited student-athletes. About a dozen of those, he estimates, are football players -- about half of Davis' recruiting class.
"And that number has fallen quite a bit," said Farmer, who said the school has averaged about 25 committee cases in past years. "It's fallen as coaches have gotten more adept at recruiting student-athletes who meet the admission standards."
Farmer, like Baddour, would not comment on a specific case, citing student confidentiality. But in the general sense, he said different schools make different decisions about who to enroll, even if they have different selectivity levels.
Added Baddour: "I'm certain we have turned down a number of students that have been admitted at other schools. That's simply going to happen."
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