Ryan Robbins said:
>University of Maine Athletic Director Michael Ploszek says UMaine
>freshman defenseman Jeff Tory is eligible to play for the Black
>Bears. The NCAA, however, says Tory is not eligible. As a result,
>the defending national champion may have to forfeit both games
>of its season-opening series against Providence College, which
>Tory played in.
 
I have to wonder why the NC$$ didn't make up its mind until now. They have
known probably since March that Tory wanted to go to Maine, so why didn't they
check then, or over the summer? That in mind, I don't think that Maine should
be penalized if they made an error in good faith. If they thought Tory was
eligible, and weren't told otherwise, then I see no reason why they wouldn't
have played him.
 
>[...]
>Wednesday the NCAA's Academic Requirements Committee ruled that
>Tory, who attended high school in British Columbia, Canada, failed
>to achieve a 2.0 in high school. In high school, Tory took some
>some pass/fail courses. At issue is what his pass marks should be
>on a 4.0 scale.
>
>Many universities and colleges calculate a pass mark as a C-.
>Because the NCAA doesn't recognize pluses or minuses on trans-
>cripts, Maine claims Tory is eligible because a C puts him over
>the 2.0 threshold.
 
I guess the question here is, "If I were applying to Maine to study Political
Science, what would they count any pass grades that I had as?" It seems to me
that it should count as 0/0, because you can't tell what the grade is. But I
have to wonder what this guy was taking, because in British Columbia, all the
main academic Grade 12 courses have provincial exams and are certainly NOT
pass/fail. It doesn't sound like he was taking a courseload that would
ordinarily steer someone towards a university.
 
>In an opinion column in Friday's Bangor Daily News, it is written
>by sports writer Mike Dowd that Tory's high school's grading
>scale for a C- is 50-59 percent. The NCAA, Dowd writes, requires
>a minimum average of 60 percent for a C-.
 
Since I went to high school in British Columbia (Esquimalt '90), I can say that
Dowd is right. B.C. does not use D's as a pass. In B.C. a D can only appear on
a mid-term report, and means that the student is failing.
 
The standard grade scale in B.C. for final reports is this:
0-49% = F; 50-59% = P; 60-66% = C; 66-73% = C+; 74-85% = B; 86-100% = A
 
A P is a bare pass, a C-. On a mid-term report, someone with 57% would have a
C-.
 
>Woody Carville, Maine's academic compliance coordinator, claims
>Penticton High School's grading scale is irrelevant as far as
>the NCAA rules are concerned because Tory graduated with at
>least a 2.0.
 
Pardon my ignorance, but I have never dealt with a 4 point scale. What is 2.0
in letter-grade terms? Is it a C?
 
>[...]
>Alaska-Fairbanks and Northern Michigan stopped recruiting Tory
>when their questions were answered.
 
I'm inclined to wonder why Maine didn't ask that question. If UAF and NMU were
both told that he was ineligible, it seems to me that the NC$$ had made its
position clear regarding Tory. OTOH, I have to ask why the NC$$ didn't make a
formal decision at the time when UAF and NMU asked.
 
>[...]
>Maine is appealing the decision. If the appeal is denied, Tory
>will have to sit out the season because of Proposition 48, which
>requires an incoming freshman to have a minimum SAT score of 700
>and a minimum grade point average of 2.0 in core curriculum
>courses.
 
It sounds to me like Tory is lucky to even be at a university in the first
place. If he is worrying about whether he has a C average or not, then I have
to wonder if he could have gotten into any of the B.C. universities to begin
with. I never took the SAT, so I can't comment on that.
 
BTW, could someone please define "core curriculum courses?" It is on this
point that I fail to understand what the concern is about. As I said before,
no academic Grade 12 courses in B.C. are pass/fail. Exactly what does the NC$$
look at?
 
See you later,
John
 
--
John C.K. Edwards       ONLY _16_ DAYS UNTIL I GO HOME!!!! :-) :-) (Dec.19)
Poli Sci/Law III      GO CATS GO!!! (9-19)     TOUCHDOWN SEAHAWKS!!!!! (5-6)
CUSA Arts/SS Rep    [log in to unmask]    [log in to unmask]
Ottawa, ON        Unfortunately, my opinions aren't those of CUSA or Carleton