College boosters wield powerful influence

Mike Fish of ESPN.com examines the role of the college booster, finding "It's a love-hate relationship that binds a college and its boosters. They are often the first ones pointed to when recruiting violations surface. And the first ones called upon when facilities need an upgrade. With their money comes their two cents. Some call it influence. Others say it's meddling." The series looks at Phil Knight's relationship with University of Oregon; Oklahoma State University benefactor T. Boone Pickens; Joe Malugen's support of Troy University's football team; Tulane's athletes as ambassadors for the storm-ravaged university; and mandatory donations tied to college ticket sales.

Pete Thamel and Duff Wilson of The New York Times used academic transcripts and documents obtained through a freedom of information request to show that University High, a correspondence school which has no classes and no educational accreditation, offered students little more than a speedy academic makeover. "Athletes who graduated from University High acknowledged that they learned little there, but were grateful that it enabled them to qualify for college scholarships. " The man who founded University High School and owned it until last year, Stanley J. Simmons, served 10 months in a federal prison camp from 1989 to 1990 after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud for his involvement with a college diploma mill in Arizona. Among the activities Simmons acknowledged in court documents were awarding degrees without academic achievement and awarding degrees based on studies he was unqualified to evaluate.

Jean Rimbach and Gregory Schutta of The (Hackensack, N.J.) Record have a two-part series on spending by the non-profit association that oversees New Jersey high school athletics: "It's a good thing the organization that oversees high school sports in New Jersey is making money because it's spending plenty, too. On handsome salaries. On generous retirement packages. On out-of-state trips and cars for its directors." A second piece details how the group does not split revenues from tournaments with the host school, a practice that "is the norm for schools chosen as tournament sites to benefit from the ticket sales."

Danny Robbins of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram used the Texas Public Information Act to show that "the Texas A&M University and University of Texas at Austin athletic departments have routinely purchased tens of thousands of dollars worth of dietary supplements labeled as containing ingredients that make them impermissible for distribution to student-athletes under National Collegiate Athletic Association rules." The two universities have spent about $120,000 during the past four years on such supplements.

Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette spent two months delving into the finances of the Pittsburgh Pirates, owned by a private company, to project "that the Pirates will make a $12.8 million profit in 2005." The average Major League Baseball franchise generated about $4.4 million in profits last year, and the Pirates' payroll has been among the lowest in the league - it increased by $1.4 million since 2004. The team's managing partner said that "the team has chosen to apply most of that profit toward a debt that is estimated by knowledgeable sources at $110 million. The rest, he added, is being used for capital projects such as the $2 million scoreboard the Pirates bought for PNC Park this year."

Marcia Gelbart of The Philadelphia Inquirer used city records to show that more than 1,000 seats in luxury suites at professional baseball and football games went "mostly to people with clout." Among the top recipients were members of the city council, aides to Mayor John Street and members of his family. Street has distributed another 72 tickets to non-profit groups and police officers.

Carter Strickland of The Oklahoman used the state's Freedom of Information Act to obtain phone records from Oklahoma University's men's basketball program showing improper contact with high school recruits. "Coaches are allowed one phone call a week to recruits, parents or legal guardians. But phone records obtained by The Oklahoman show representatives of the OU program called an Amarillo, Texas, player and his mother 18 times last August. Members of the OU staff called a Seattle recruit and his family 13 times in September."

Duff Wilson of The New York Times found errors in Dr. Elliot Pellman's stated credentials and education. Pellman is the medical adviser to Major League Baseball, whose testimony praised the recent congressional hearing on steroids. Pelman "has said repeatedly in biographical statements that he has a medical degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. But Dr. Pellman attended medical school in Guadalajara, Mexico, and he received a medical degree from the New York State Education Department after a one-year residency at SUNY-Stony Brook, state records show." Other descrepancies include he stated that he is an associate clinical professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, which he is not. He is an assistant clinical professor, which is an honorary position given to thousands of doctors.

David Leonhardt and Ford Fessenden of The New York Times used regression analysis to show that "over the last decade, black NBA coaches have lasted an average of just 1.6 seasons, compared with 2.4 seasons for white coaches ... That means the typical white coach lasts almost 50 percent longer and has most of an extra season to prove himself." The paper used all coaching tenures since 1989 involving 110 men who are not currently working as head coaches in the league (more on methodology).

Marc Topkin, Damian Cristodero and Louis Hau of the St. Petersburg Times examines the ten-year history of Tampa Bay's major league baseball franchise, finding that the Devil Rays' lack of success can be attributed to a number of factors:

* Major League Baseball put the new owners in a financial hole before the team ever took the field, raising the expansion fee to an unprecedented $130-million and forcing them to forfeit millions in national TV revenue at a time when the overall costs of competing were soaring. The financial wherewithal of the Tampa Bay ownership group was immediately challenged, and has been a persistent concern.

* While the Rays stocked their inaugural roster with veteran players, they fielded too many rookies in key management positions. The owner, Naimoli, had never owned a sports team; the general manager, Chuck LaMar, had never been a general manager; the manager, Larry Rothschild, had never managed. Of the six department-leading vice presidents on the 1998 staff, only one had done his same job before.

The paper also conducted a poll among area baseball fans to gauge their support and concerns.