USF Scandal

TAMPA, Fla. — The University of South Florida’s men’s basketball program has violated numerous NCAA rules over the past months, a former USF assistant coach, former USF players and other school sources told FanHouse.

Most of the NCAA violations involve USF video and conditioning assistant Terrelle Woody, who was hired Aug. 26, 2008, in a non-coaching position by USF coach Stan Heath (right) as part of a package deal to guarantee the signing of highly touted Maryland transfer Gus Gilchrist.

The violations include Woody providing transportation to student-athletes, watching “open gyms,” coaching players and illegally working out USF players.

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Tampa – The controversial former USF linebacker was cut from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers practice squad. Ben Moffitt was  alleged to have cheated while attending the University of South Florida. Although the employer of his wife disciplined her for writing papers and taking tests for Ben Moffitt, USF never took action to investigate their former star linebacker. 

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TAMPA – During the past year, University of South Florida leaders have overhauled the academic support for student-athletes and made scholastic success among players a top priority.

NCAA data released this week shows that job may be harder for some sports than others.

Just 56 percent of football players who entered USF between 1998 and 2001 graduated in six years. That compares with the national average of 67 percent in Division 1-A football.

It’s also the worst graduation rate among Big East football teams.

In men’s basketball, it’s worse. At USF, the graduation rate among student-athletes in that sport was 42 percent, compared to the national Division I average of 62 percent.

USF’s graduation rates among student-athletes in those sports have fallen while national averages have improved. NCAA figures from last year showed that USF’s football players had a graduation rate of 61 percent. That rate dropped five percentage points this year.

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Center Gene Teague, who signed with USF this spring but failed to meet NCAA initial eligibility requirements, intends to spend this year at a prep school with the hopes of returning to USF in 2009, his father said Monday.

Teague is the third signee from the incoming class lost to academic problems, joining point guard Dwan McMillan — who could also return next season — and forward Teeng Akol, who has since committed to Oklahoma State.

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TAMPA – With Gus Gilchrist’s personal trainer, adviser and spokesman Terrelle Woody officially on the University of South Florida payroll, the school submitted Gilchrist’s hardship waiver to the NCAA so the 6-foot-10 center can play immediately and not be required to sit out a season after transferring from Maryland.

The appeal was submitted on Tuesday, the same day USF announced Woody’s hiring, USF men’s basketball coach Stan Heath said Tuesday night. The school expects to receive an answer from the NCAA in two to three weeks, USF assistant sports information director Jeff Wuerth said Wednesday.

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TAMPA – When Gus Gilchrist, a 6-foot-10, 235-pound center, signed a basketball scholarship with the University of South Florida two months ago, the Bulls landed the most electrifying recruit in program history.

But in doing so, will USF also have to acquire someone else?

Throughout his dizzying basketball travels – at age 18, he already has attended two high schools and signed letters-of-intent with three universities – Gilchrist has been aligned with Terrelle Woody, 38, his personal trainer, adviser and spokesman.

Now, Woody is in line for a job in the USF athletic department, a non-coaching position that has not been advertised and for which school officials say “there is no record” of what the job might pay or what the qualifications are. Woody does not have a college degree.

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USF is experiencing a financial crisis. The university is eliminating 450 jobs – many of which are vacant positions – and plans to lay off 70 people, while reducing the budget by $50.4 million. The school also is reducing the available seats in some classes to counter a shortage of faculty positions.

“I hope the athletic department is not tone deaf for the funding problem across the university,” said Sherman Dorn, head of USF’s faculty union. “The question I have: Is this particular position appropriate?”

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USF’s athletic department is self-reporting a secondary rules violation to the NCAA after men’s basketball coach Stan Heath and his assistants spent nine more days on the road recruiting than allowed during the 2007-08 school year.

The coaches “mistakenly calculated” multiday tournaments as a single day, the report shows, and USF has offered to reduce the number of recruiting days, normally 130, by 14 in 2008-09, a penalty of 1.5 days for each extra day taken. Heath and his staff did not travel for player evaluations last weekend as a result of being over the limit. Once spring classes have ended, coaches have unlimited days to recruit during the summer.

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A state audit of USF found that the University paid out too much money in travel expenses to employees and that there was no independent review of staffers’ cell phone bills to see if they reimbursed USF for personal calls. Also procedures for using purchasing cards – which work like University-issued credit cards – were not followed, resulting in purchases that violated USF policy.

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TAMPA – Now that a new admissions committee at the University of South Florida has weighed in on some of Jim Leavitt’s prospects, its decision and the timing of its actions are likely to affect the coach’s recruiting long into the future, two analysts said.

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The committee didn’t meet with Leavitt until last Thursday, but Leellen Brigman, USF’s associate vice president for enrollment planning and management, said the committee tried unsuccessfully to schedule a meeting with Leavitt in mid-January.

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