Just Preps : The New Math for Athletes : Higher Academic Standards Result in Much Tougher Path to College Scholarships

It used to be that good high school athletes could expect college recruiters to beat a path to their doors, scholarship in hand.

Now the path goes through the guidance counselor’s office, where it may stop, no matter how many touchdowns were scored, baskets made or aces served.

College recruiters have become amazed and somewhat dismayed with the growing number of high school senior athletes who can’t qualify for a scholarship because of academic problems or failure to score well enough on the Scholastic Assessment Test or American College Test.

Tommy Prince dismayed UCLA.

A standout guard at Division II state basketball champion Dominguez High, Prince took his SAT as a junior and did not qualify for a scholarship offered by the defending national champion Bruins, who wanted him badly. Prince kept trying, taking it three more times before scoring high enough in May of his senior year to qualify.

His score was ruled invalid by the Educational Testing Service and he failed in a re-take. UCLA withdrew its scholarship offer.

“When I found out he couldn’t go to UCLA, it broke my heart,” said UCLA assistant Lorenzo Romar, who spent a good part of a year recruiting Prince, who decided in August to attend Arizona State as a Proposition 48 player, responsible for his expenses in his first year and ineligible as a freshman.

At least Prince took the SAT early enough to recognize that he had a problem. Too many don’t.

UCLA assistant Gary Bernardi, who heads the Bruin football recruiting program, believes that many high school athletes are misinformed.

“There’s a place for every kid who wants to continue playing in college,” said Bernardi, who has coached at the college and high school level. “The problem is that many have not kept their options open by preparing themselves before their senior year.”

By the time a student-athlete becomes a senior, most college recruiters have an idea as to whether they are interested, particularly in light of the diminished number of available scholarships.

“Parents and coaches should start early,” said Jim Muldoon, assistant commissioner for the Pacific 10 Conference. “So often, a [student-athlete] gets to be a senior and they start looking ahead to college, but most of the time it is too late [to repair academic problems].”

With the competition for scholarships getting tougher every year, fewer athletes are recruited as late-bloomers, and those only if they are in good academic shape.

“Kids have to know how the process works,” said Glenn Martinez, athletic director at La Puente Bishop Amat High, which averages up to 10 scholarships from its programs a year. “They must know the guidelines that are needed to be fulfilled in order to get into a college. That means that they must have good enough grades in the proper core courses, and scored well enough on the SAT tests.”

To qualify for a scholarship in an NCAA Division I sport, students must pass 13 required courses, including four in English and two each in math, social science and natural or physical science and electives.

Three years ago, the NCAA also implemented a requirement called the “clearinghouse letter,” which basically is an academic information package put together for colleges to identify a high school athlete.

The process can be slow, which is why Martinez encourages all athletes at Bishop Amat to begin it before their senior year.

“Two years ago, Rodney Sermons [a sophomore running back at USC] almost did not qualify after a mistake was made with his clearinghouse letter,” said Martinez, who also coaches baseball and football at Bishop Amat. “After that, we’ve made sure to get our athletes started early.”

The mistake involved identifying a Bishop Amat course necessary to complete NCAA requirements. It was corrected only after an agonizing wait.

Many student-athletes are not aware of toughened admission requirements mandated by the NCAA. For example, this year if a high school senior scores 820 on the SAT, the student must have at least a 2.5 grade-point average in core courses. There is a sliding scale of requirements and it’s different--and higher--than the old minimum standard of a 700 on the SAT and 2.0 GPA.

“High school coaches need to be better educated with what is going on and what changes have occurred,” Bernardi said, “because the rules that are changed come from the NCAA directly to us and not to the high schools.”

Most college recruiters also agree that it’s important for youngsters and their parents to be realistic.

“Often, there are cases when kids have the wrong perception about where they belong in college,” Bernardi said. “Not every athlete can play Division I. Sometimes, a kid can play Division II. . . . They need to look for their right match.”

Still, occasionally an athlete can be overlooked, even in Southern California, and that’s where a recruiting service can help. Another option is junior college.

“In the Pac-10 for example, there are only about 200 football scholarships available [each year] and there are thousands of kids in California alone who compete as [high school] seniors,” Bernardi said. “You have to decide how bad do you want to play in college, and sometimes going to a JC may be a good option.”

But it all begins with homework, and it all begins early.

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Help Along the Recruiting Trail

NCAA Guide for Recruiting, $5; NCAA Guide for Financial Aid, $5.

NCAA Publishing, P.O. Box 7347, Overland Park, Kan. 66207-0347.

Clearinghouse Hotline, (319) 337-1492.

Recruiting Services:

Court Magazine (Western Girls Athletic Services), P.O. Box 1838, Oxnard, Calif. 93030, (805) 647-4700.

Scouting Evaluation Assn., P.O. Box 651, Fallbrook, Calif. 92028, (619) 728-7505.

Super Prep, P.O. Box 487, Laguna Beach, Calif. 92652, (714) 494-7866.

College Bound Student-Athlete, 23861 El Toro Rd. Suite 700, El Toro, Calif. 92630, (714) 588-2326.

Double-Pump, 800-678-0935.

TEST DATES

SAT : Oct. 14, 1995; Nov. 4, 1995; Dec. 2, 1995; Jan. 27, 1996; March 23, 1996; May 4, 1996; June 1, 1996.

ACT : Oct. 28, 1995; Dec. 9, 1995; Feb. 3, 1996; April 13, 1996; June 8, 1996.

Some tips:

--Take a realistic look at the student-athlete’s athletic ability and college potential.

--Enroll in college preparatory courses throughout high school career.

--Take PSAT early in junior year.

--Enroll in an after-school SAT or ACT study program.

--Research colleges student-athlete is interested in.

--Take SAT test for the first time no later than May of junior year.

--Take SAT or ACT at least twice during senior year. (Between the two tests, student can take entrance exams as many as 10 times before graduation).

--Do not discount attending a junior college.

NCAA Scholarship Core Courses for 1995-96

--At least four years English.

--At least two years math (one year algebra and one year geometry, or one year of a higher-level math course for which geometry is a prerequisite).

--At least two years social science.

--At least two years natural or physical science (including one lab course, if offered by your school).

--At least one year of additional courses in English, math or natural or physical science; and two additional academic courses in any of the above areas or foreign language, computer science, philosophy or comparative religion.

Test Score Requirements

SAT : 820 and a 2.5 GPA; sliding scale 1,010 and a 2.0 GPA.

ACT : 68 (based on sum of four subscores) and a 2.5 or above grade-point average; sliding scale to 86 and a 2.0 GPA.