Fullerton AD Seeks Tougher Standards

Cal State Fullerton Athletic Director Ed Carroll on Thursday called graduation rates in some sports “unacceptable” and asked the school’s Athletics Council to set expectations by which coaches will be judged.

Fullerton has tied the renewal of coaches’ contracts to athletes’ academic performance, but has not set standards for graduation rate.

“We’re into results, which is graduation rate,” Carroll said. “What we need to tell (coaches) is what we expect, and how much time they’re going to have before we get another coach.”

An athletic department study Carroll presented Thursday to the Athletics Council showed that, of athletes who reached their senior year of eligibility during a five-year period ending with the 1986-87 school year:

--5 of 33 baseball players (15%) have graduated.

--3 of 14 men’s basketball players (21%) have graduated.

--5 of 21 men’s gymnastics team members (24%) have graduated.

--23 of 82 football players (28%) have graduated.

“We can’t be bragging with these numbers,” Carroll said. “We can’t be saying we’re running an academic intercollegiate athletic program.”

The Athletics Council, an advisory group to the athletic department and University President Jewel Plummer Cobb, discussed the study and formed a committee to study the problem.

The council also reviewed a number of policies instituted by the department this year in an effort to improve academic performance.

“I’m not overly impressed,” said Bill Puzo, council chairman. “I see too many suggestions for the minimum here.”

One particularly strict policy is a study-hall attendance provision.

Should a team have an attendance rate of less than 80% at required study halls during the year, that team will not be allowed to accept students who do not meet normal admissions standards, the policy states.

In recent years, more than 70 athletes a year have been admitted under university exceptions allowed for special talent or disadvantage.

In the sports of baseball, basketball and football, coaches routinely use admissions exceptions to allow them to field competitive teams.

Fullerton’s emphasis on improving athletes’ academic performance increased last spring when consultants hired by Cobb noted the low graduation rates among athletes and reported that Fullerton clearly needs to increase its academic support services.