Just when you thought that ESPN had cornered the market on overblown bullshit:
Higher learning? Professor confirms grade change in Ohio St. case
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- A second instructor has acknowledged a grade was changed for a former Ohio State basketball player who is part of an NCAA probe into the school.
Boban Savovic's grade in a class called Algebra and Trigonometry and Their Applications went from an incomplete or failing grade to a C, according to Bostwick Wyman, a math professor. The change gave Savovic enough credits to remain eligible for the team, The Columbus Dispatch reported Saturday.
Wyman said he approved the change in summer 1999 after Savovic, a Serbian, missed the final exam because he went out of town to resolve a visa problem.
"We declared this was a legitimate excuse," said Wyman, who was vice chairman in charge of instruction for the school's math department at the time. "The guy would have been deported if he had not gone to New York to talk to his lawyer."
Savovic was granted a makeup exam, which he passed, Wyman said. His grade was then recomputed, and it averaged out as a C.
Wyman said he did not approve the change to satisfy Ohio State coaches or the athletic department.
"Nobody hassled me, nobody talked to me about Savovic, who I had scarcely heard of," Wyman said.
The only special treatment Savovic got was that his grade change was handled quickly so that he could meet an NCAA eligibility deadline, Wyman said. That request came from the counseling department, he said.
A university spokesman did not return a message seeking comment.
Kathleen Salyers, an OSU booster who says she housed Savovic, has said she persuaded professors to change Savovic's failing grades so he would remain eligible to play. Salyers said she asked for the grade changes at the request of then-assistant basketball coach Paul Biancardi.
Now head coach at Wright State, Biancardi has denied the allegation in court filings.
Last month, a former OSU sociology teacher said he changed Savovic's F to a D or an incomplete after an appeal from Salyers.
Savovic played at Ohio State from 1998 to 2002.
Salyers said in a lawsuit against her former employers that they agreed to pay her to let Savovic stay with her. The case was one reason the NCAA investigated the school's athletic department, which resulted earlier this year in the NCAA notifying Ohio State of nine allegations of rules violations. Seven of those accusations concern the men's basketball program, though none allege grade-fixing.
Ohio State has until July 26 to respond to the NCAA.
Higher learning? Professor confirms grade change in Ohio St. case
<hr>
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- A second instructor has acknowledged a grade was changed for a former Ohio State basketball player who is part of an NCAA probe into the school.
Boban Savovic's grade in a class called Algebra and Trigonometry and Their Applications went from an incomplete or failing grade to a C, according to Bostwick Wyman, a math professor. The change gave Savovic enough credits to remain eligible for the team, The Columbus Dispatch reported Saturday.
Wyman said he approved the change in summer 1999 after Savovic, a Serbian, missed the final exam because he went out of town to resolve a visa problem.
"We declared this was a legitimate excuse," said Wyman, who was vice chairman in charge of instruction for the school's math department at the time. "The guy would have been deported if he had not gone to New York to talk to his lawyer."
Savovic was granted a makeup exam, which he passed, Wyman said. His grade was then recomputed, and it averaged out as a C.
Wyman said he did not approve the change to satisfy Ohio State coaches or the athletic department.
"Nobody hassled me, nobody talked to me about Savovic, who I had scarcely heard of," Wyman said.
The only special treatment Savovic got was that his grade change was handled quickly so that he could meet an NCAA eligibility deadline, Wyman said. That request came from the counseling department, he said.
A university spokesman did not return a message seeking comment.
Kathleen Salyers, an OSU booster who says she housed Savovic, has said she persuaded professors to change Savovic's failing grades so he would remain eligible to play. Salyers said she asked for the grade changes at the request of then-assistant basketball coach Paul Biancardi.
Now head coach at Wright State, Biancardi has denied the allegation in court filings.
Last month, a former OSU sociology teacher said he changed Savovic's F to a D or an incomplete after an appeal from Salyers.
Savovic played at Ohio State from 1998 to 2002.
Salyers said in a lawsuit against her former employers that they agreed to pay her to let Savovic stay with her. The case was one reason the NCAA investigated the school's athletic department, which resulted earlier this year in the NCAA notifying Ohio State of nine allegations of rules violations. Seven of those accusations concern the men's basketball program, though none allege grade-fixing.
Ohio State has until July 26 to respond to the NCAA.
