Valvano’s Program Comes Under Attack

Jim Valvano should choose between his role as athletic director-basketball coach at North Carolina State and his outside interests, said Hugh Fuller, director of the school’s academic tutoring program.

In an interview published Monday by the News and Observer of Raleigh, Fuller also said that:

--Academic tutors hired by the athletic department did course work for basketball players, who then submitted it as their own.

--Athletic department officials abused policies that allow students to withdraw for medical or psychological reasons in order to keep players academically eligible.

--School officials persuaded instructors to give players who were in academic trouble incompletes, rather than failing grades, allowing the players to remain eligible.

--Top university officials ordered one star basketball player reinstated to a study hall after the player had been kicked out for disrupting other students.

--Players were steered toward courses taught by sympathetic instructors.