For Tennis Parents by a Tennis Parent

This afternoon I got word of an investigation into whether or not college coaches had been bribed to include college applicants on their rosters in order to facilitate acceptance into the school. Sadly, two college tennis programs are involved: Georgetown University and the University of Texas. 

If you’re on social media at all, you’ve probably already seen the myriad of articles circulating, but in case you’ve missed anything, there are links to the ones I’ve received below. Please let me know if I’ve left off anything of substance.

What’s so incredibly upsetting to me is that, in many cases, the student in question didn’t even play the sport for which they were being “recruited.”

Just have a look at the footnote above: “At her best, she appears to have ranked 207th in Northern California in the under-12 girls division . . .” What a slap in the face to those junior tennis players who have devoted 10 years or more to become good enough to play in college! 

I’m in shock to the point of not being able to write a comprehensive article right now. Not that I’m that naive, but this is so far beyond anything I could have imagined. That said, I did want to get this information out to you. I plan to do more digging and will report back as more information becomes available. In the meantime, you can read the articles below which include the pleading in the US District Court of Massachusetts as well as a list of those implicated in the scheme.

https://www.golocalprov.com/news/breaking-gordie-ernst-charges-in-federal-corruption-scheme-uri-tennis-coach

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/investigations-college-admissions-and-testing-bribery-scheme?fbclid=IwAR1enXEPgtbzl5gwhlEHn9Vk1XQ_QPPi0w_DCVbQ7VdqUsAtVY1sU9DWNHo

https://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/college_sports/longhorns/article/Texas-tennis-coach-Michael-Center-placed-on-leave-13682548.php

https://georgetownvoice.com/2019/03/12/nationwide-college-admissions-scandal-implicates-former-tennis-coach-parents/

https://www.thedailybeast.com/georgetown-rich-kid-isabelle-henriquez-gloated-after-allegedly-cheating-sats?via=FB_Page&source=TDB&fbclid=IwAR0r4H0KPZop_YG3azhBlb-wfYG9dLbKHmb-WzpD2O4jDEdn55vPEERlYUs

https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/12/us/college-admission-cheating-scheme/index.html

And now an IMG employee is part of this mess, too: https://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20190312/img-academy-director-accused-in-college-bribery-scandal?fbclid=IwAR3nXF3ipkuciL6W3-HbXXvFDq6SWV-snhI9TSyyEQr3FJ1A6QhmCpP4now

Here is the official statement from the NCAA (which says a lot of nothing): http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/media-center/news/ncaa-statement-college-admissions-investigation

I am still awaiting an official statement from the ITA. Apparently, the Chairman of the Board was traveling yesterday and couldn’t comment.