What They Don't Tell You About That Prep School Option.

[Stallion]

in the last few years we've had several discussions about those schools like Wake Forrest in BB, Boston College and many others generally in the East who while generally not recruiting Junior College players seem to have an inordinate number of Prep School players on their roster. An article on the TCU website may explain why. In what coaches have called a new Phenomenon, a not uncommon situation and a loophole in NCAA rules some Colleges including Boston College and Maryland which were cited in the article have advised their recruits who do not have the required core GPA for initial NCAA eligibility, to either intentionally fail a class or simply drop out of their high school prior to graduation. The NCAA loophole is this: When a student graduates from High School his GPA is locked in place and can be improved only by taking classes at the school from which he GRADUATED which is often not possible. However, by not graduating a student can repeat 12th grade at any school and can still improve his core GPA by retaking classes at any school. Its all beginning to make more sense now-they may not be cutting the same corners but they damn sure are cutting corners and damn sure are in ethical and moral quick sand.

[jtstang]

Post the link to that article, please. Sounds like the right answer to this is for NCAA to close the loophole.

[EastStang]

I heard that on the radio today. Maryland is especially active in that market. Many of these prep schools give athletic scholarships. Many of them are military academies which are clearly not for every athlete. They of course get lots of students who drop out or are kicked out of school. On the other hand, these schools clearly do a great deal to help these kids learn fundamentals including good behavior. I wish we had a better pipeline with these academies. I know two here in Virginia are Baptist (one of which seems to be very close to Ohio State). Others seem non-affiliated. Two schools Oak Hill and St. John's Prospect Hall are schools where coaches recruit players to attend and only players who are on top BBall recruiting lists get invited to those schools. These schools are not the highest tier prep schools in the east and make their names through sports. For example your typical failure from a public school would not be admitted to Andover to play basketball.

[PlanoStang]

That sounds like more of the B.S. of NCAA Div. I-A athletics nowdays. When do they retake the courses? Do they sit out a year, and work out on the weights while working on the courses?

[No Cal Pony]

From what I understand, is that the student repeats their 12th grade at the prep school. They then gain the grades they need to be admitted to the university that has offered the ship. This is not a new development, and by accounts has been a practice here in the east for some time. In fact, a top recruit for nc state didn't get his grades, so off to a prep school he goes to "earn" his grades. Oh, don't worry. Those prep schools really care, as do the major, state scchhols where the kids usually end up. It is all about the betterment of the athlete.

Go Ponies!

[giacfsp]

From what I understand, is that the student repeats their 12th grade at the prep school....

Sort of. If most prep schools are like the one I went to, they don't re-take their senior year, but that's what it might as well be called. Our school had "PGs" -- post-graduates -- who essentially were part of the senior class. They took (usually) senior-level classes, although some were more advanced academically than others. (Most such schools won't accept complete slackers who have no presentable grades from HS and/or those who show no interest in academics.)

Their athletic statistics can be somewhat skewed, because in most cases, PGs are allowed to compete only against other boarding schools that allow PGs, or at least private schools. Where I went to school, PGs weren't allowed to compete against public schools. Our school was so small that we got smoked by most of the public schools anyway, and forcing us to play without the PGs (who often were the best athletes on the teams) just made those games that much more lopsided.

[No Cal Pony]

Not sure where you attended, but the schools that I have heard of do not follow the mode of your prep school. As was noted in the thread, the majority of the prep schools where this occurs is a military type.

The nc state recuit I made reference to, will attend Hargrave MILITARY Academy. He will take a couple of classes to "improve his grades" and possibly retake the SAT. They plan on the kid enrolling at nc state in the winter or spring.

Amato told the kid to look at the time at the Academy as his "training camp."

Go Ponies!

[Stallion]

Hargrave was one of the schools mentioned in the article. The point is that the kids being sent this route do not have the required GPA on the sliding scale through their High School tenure so instead of "freezing" that non-qualifying GPA they do indeed go back and retake the core courses necessary to raise the core GPA to the required level. With regard to NCAA eligibility you focus on "core courses" so they do indeed retake those "core courses" to raise their GPA.

[OC Mustang]

I believe that Dan Frieburger did this before he came to SMU back in 1989. He actually did it b/c he wasn't "discovered" until his senior year in high school, and he needed time to develop. He elected to go to the prep school in order to give him that time, not to mention a more rigorous academic regimen to get him prepped for college.