USC’s Student-Athlete Program Director Resigns After Disagreement With McGee

Willie Wu, director of USC’s student-athlete academic program, has resigned, effective June 30, in a difference of opinion with Athletic Director Mike McGee over a policy that Wu said put financial considerations ahead of the academic well-being of athletes.

Wu said Friday that the policy implemented by McGee last fall requires USC athletes to complete 28 credit hours a year, an average of 14 a semester, to be considered for athletic department financial aid after they have completed their athletic eligibility. National Collegiate Athletic Assn. rules require only that an athlete complete 12 credit hours a semester to be eligible to compete.

The 28-credit hour policy means that most athletes will complete work toward their degrees in 4 1/2 years, and the university will be providing financial aid for only one semester after an athlete had completed his eligibility. It is not unusual for athletes to take at least five years to graduate.

Wu said he resigned because he was not consulted about the decision and because the policy seemed to be motivated by McGee’s desire to save financial-aid money.

“A lot of it is just a disagreement in the way that you ought to handle student-athletes from a counseling point of view.” Wu said. “It’s simply a case that I wasn’t sure if the priorities they set were right. Sometimes the constraints on the student-athlete made it difficult for them to make the progress McGee wanted.”

Wu said that McGee’s decision did not consider that the academic and athletic loads put on some students make it unreasonable for them to complete more than 12 credit hours a semester.

The policy went into effect before the start of the fall semester in 1986. Wu said that he tried to counsel the student-athletes in line with the policy, but that he could no longer do so.

“I felt like I was caught in the middle,” said Wu, director of USC’s student-athletic academic program since 1980. “I was caught in a situation where I was trying to enforce a policy I personally did not agree with.”

Attempts to reach McGee for comment Friday were unsuccessful.