The head of NCAA enforcement says academic misconduct is on the rise in college athletics and his department is currently handling 20 open investigations.
Vice president of enforcement Jon Duncan said Wednesday in an interview with The Associated Press the cases involve both prospective and incoming athletes trying to become eligible for college competition, and enrolled athletes receiving impermissible assistance from university and athletic department personnel.
Eighteen of the cases involve Division I schools, though NCAA policy precludes Duncan from revealing which programs are under investigation.
North Carolina has been the focus of the NCAA’s most high-profile infractions case involving academics. Last year an independent investigator found that hundreds of Tar Heels athletes over nearly two decades were steered toward sham classes that gave out high grades for little work. In the last four months, Weber State football and Georgia swimming have been sanctioned by the NCAA for academic misconduct violations.
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Enforcement staff does not make NCAA bylaws though it can help guide membership to where it wants to go with legislation.
The NCAA has been going through a stage of deregulation as it tries to simplify its bylaws, but that’s not necessarily the case when it comes to academics.
“The conversations that we have been in and that we have heard have not been deregulatory in nature,” Duncan said. “They’re just trying to find a way to distinguish between what is an NCAA matter and what is not.”
