Turns out Gabe Pruitt was ineligible and that's why he went pro

[Russ Smith]

Interesting story on many levels. I'd posted the other day on the pro board the rumor that Gabe had stopped attending classes and hired an expensive trainer and that's why he chose to sign with an agent. Turns out at least part of that's true, the Daily Trojan yesterday quoted Tim Floyd as saying Gabe was ineligible again and decided it was easier to pursue the NBA than to apply for reinstatement to USC and go back and likely be ineligible first semester next year like he was this year.

Obviously the blame goes on Pruitt but one has to wonder given all the coverage when he got back this year about how he'd learned his lesson and how USC was closely monitoring him to make sure he didn't have the problem again, it's amazing 5 months later he's ineligible again?

And the other issue which is being debated, depending on who said what first, Floyd may have violated privacy rules by disclosing that Pruitt was ineligible. Some may remember years ago a kid named Luke Axtell at Texas who was complaining about head coach Tom Penders? Penders responded to the criticism by pointing out that Axtell's grades were so bad he was going to be ineligible anyways. They were, Axtell transferred to Kansas(and got hurt and was never the same), but Penders got in real trouble for violating privacy rules by disclosing Axtell's grade problems. That resulted in a civil suit by one of Penders' assistants who took the blame for releasing the grades but then said Penders had ordered him to do it and even told him which station to fax the grades to.

Axtell sued Texas over it as well.

From the sound of it I think the reporters who broke the story already knew about Pruitt's grades and Floyd was simply answering a question they'd asked but apparently it's getting some airplay today in LA since it still may technically have violated Pruitt's rights to privacy.

Of course if Gabe had just gotten better grades.

 

[abomb]

Didnt the UA go through a similar thing with Miles Simon's grades and the media as well?

 

[Russ Smith]

Didnt the UA go through a similar thing with Miles Simon's grades and the media as well?

I think you're right.


Since Pruitt isn't leaving on the same bad terms Axtell did it's unlikely he'll sue
USC but it does point out how careful you have to be with privacy laws. Based on how it's worded I think the writer already knew and Floyd just answered the question in a way that confirmed he was ineligible, so it's not
nearly as bad as the Axtell case.

I guess with the kind of kids Floyd is recruiting he should probably really get
familiar with that rule though it will likely come up again in the near future.

 

[abomb]

I guess with the kind of kids Floyd is recruiting he should probably really get familiar with that rule though it will likely come up again in the near future.

I always laugh at the "student" athlete, as when I was in CC, I overheard a basketball player tell someone, "Nah, I already took all my Englishes".

 

[Gaddabout]

I guess with the kind of kids Floyd is recruiting he should probably really get
familiar with that rule though it will likely come up again in the near future.

Zing!

Very good point.

 

[Russ Smith]

FYI Scott Wolf of inside So Cal is reporting that Pruitt may have lowered USC's APR so low that they lose a scholarship next season. They were actually below the limit this year already but got a waiver(as did many schools) because of the smaller number of scholarship players they had on the basketball team(they didn't use all 13 this year due to transfers and guys not qualifying).

But with Pruitt being ineligible it lowers their APR even more. Wolf quotes Tim Floyd as saying it is in fact possible that Pruitt will cost USC a scholarship.

 

[Russ Smith]

and don't look now but Gabe Pruitt said on radio yesterday that he's very upset that his academic situation is being discussed in the papers and that they're making it seem like he only left because of grades.

Didn't say he was going to take any action against USC but said he was not happy his academics were made public.

 

[AZBALLER]

Didnt the UA go through a similar thing with Miles Simon's grades and the media as well?

miles was academically inelegible, then he took a Freshman course over the semester break(he wasn't a frosh), and magically he was reinstated right before ua's game against ASU during the semester break...Congrats to ua on that national title that season though...

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Making stuff up sure is fun. Simon took a 400 level class (albeit in an easy major but that's goes without saying with most scholarship athletes) which is not a freshman course over winter session to get re-instated. He also ended up getting a degree after his hoops career ended, has a diploma from one of the best high schools in Southern California, and never got in any academic trouble throughout the rest of his career at Arizona.

And thanks for reminding us how we did win the championship, something ASU has yet to accomplish in either of the revenue-producing sports.

 

[AZBALLER]

(Thanks for reminding us about national championships...ASU is recognized as a national champion in football by the NCAA. Do your homework.

Why do you feel the need to defend the JOKE that miles was? He took a frosh class in order to be reinstated. We talked about this on the old site, and you finally admitted to it. Why are you changing your story now???

Actually, that might have been another ua fan(I'm giving you the biggest benefit of the doubt ever), who claimed to know about miles. Either way, why do ua fans try and pretend that miles was eligible to play ball?

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

The NCAA doesn't recognize a national champion at all in football, so as usual you're wrong there. And if you want to refer to ASU being recognized by a couple irrelevant publications as mythical champions then you're more than welcome to although any rational college football fan will tell you ASU has won zero national titles in football.

And I've poked fun at Simon in the past, but the fact remains that he did take Family Studies 401 to regain his eligibility in 1997 and that course is not a freshman level class despite your baseless claims that it is.

 

[AZBALLER]

ASU is recognized as a National Champ in Football, but apparently you're too lazy to research it. Apparently you're even too lazy to realize that the NCAA does recognize a national champ. But what else could I expect from a college basketball fan, who thinks that ua has and has had a good football program...

 

[Dback Jon]

Actually, Baller - The only champion the NCAA recognizes are from D-II, D-III and FCS.

Appalachian State is the two-time defending NCAA Division I champion in Football.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

ASU is recognized as a National Champ in Football, but apparently you're too lazy to research it. Apparently you're even too lazy to realize that the NCAA does recognize a national champ. But what else could I expect from a college basketball fan, who thinks that ua has and has had a good football program...

Wrong again. Check the NCAA's website where it clearly states that...

The NCAA does not conduct a championship for the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (Division I FBS - formerly Division I-A)

The National Champion is determined by individual polls not affiliated with the NCAA and as of now the only ones accepted by mainstream sports fans and media is the AP and Coaches (or BCS) polls. ASU's "national championships" in football were given to them by the National Championship Foundation, Poling, and the Sporting News none of which are recognized as legitimate national championships in anybody except your eyes.

That is unless of course you think USC won a national Championship in 2004 despite losing to Texas because the Harris poll gave them that honor. Or that Oklahoma won a national championship in 2003 after getting trounced by LSU in the Sugar Bowl because something called the Berryman poll awarded them such. Or that USC shared the national championship in 2002 with two losses with an undefeated Ohio State team because the Dunkel poll awarded them their championship.

Nice to know USC has won four of the past five national championships.

 

[Skkorpion]

Okay guys, don't let this degenerate into name-calling.

Both ASU and UA, in my opinion, have always been willing to play "loose" in the way they keep athletes elligible. Accusing each school of being dirtier than the other is a little hypocritical.

Let me give you an example that may surprise you. This information might now be invalid but used to be true.

Stanford has long been regarded as THE perfect meld of academics and athletics. However, even they did afew things differently than you would expect.

1. If a student is failing a course, that student can drop the course as late as the last week of classes and not have it count.
2. A student who fails a course, or has a low grade, can retake that course and replace the old grade with the new, better grade, with the initial failure wiped from the records.

To my knowledge, Duke, Northwestern, Vanderbilt and Notre Dame (and others I don't know of) are much less lenient. Drops must be made by mid-term and failed classes can be retaken but the initial failing grade also stays on the record, along with the passing one. Poor but passing grades stay on the record and those classes cannot be retaken since the credits have already been earned.

 

[Russ Smith]

Okay guys, don't let this degenerate into name-calling.

Both ASU and UA, in my opinion, have always been willing to play "loose" in the way they keep athletes elligible. Accusing each school of being dirtier than the other is a little hypocritical.

Let me give you an example that may surprise you. This information might now be invalid but used to be true.

Stanford has long been regarded as THE perfect meld of academics and athletics. However, even they did afew things differently than you would expect.

1. If a student is failing a course, that student can drop the course as late as the last week of classes and not have it count.
2. A student who fails a course, or has a low grade, can retake that course and replace the old grade with the new, better grade, with the initial failure wiped from the records.

To my knowledge, Duke, Northwestern, Vanderbilt and Notre Dame (and others I don't know of) are much less lenient. Drops must be made by mid-term and failed classes can be retaken but the initial failing grade also stays on the record, along with the passing one. Poor but passing grades stay on the record and those classes cannot be retaken since the credits have already been earned.

1) is not true now I know because there were considerable debates about grade inflation at Stanford and that came up that the school had stiffened up the withdrawal process so you had to withdraw much earlier to avoid a bad grade.

2) Not sure about this one but I do recall that used to be the case at Stanford.


Back to USC, according to SC fans on uschoops, Lodrick Stewart did them even more wrong than Pruitt, he essentially stopped attending classes about a week after they lost to UNC in the NCAA's in March. So he failed all his classes, (he was a senior) and will also screw up their APR.

In Gabe's case he actually based the decision on his NBA chances, Lod won't be drafted and he knows that he just figured he'd rather start training
rather than stay in school.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Okay guys, don't let this degenerate into name-calling.

Both ASU and UA, in my opinion, have always been willing to play "loose" in the way they keep athletes elligible. Accusing each school of being dirtier than the other is a little hypocritical.

Don't see how I'm involved in this as I'm pretty sure I never got into name-calling nor did I call out ASU for any academic issues. Baller's only two points in this entire thread (other than the backhanded sour grapes dig at the legitimacy of Arizona's 1997 National Title) was that Miles Simon took a freshman class to regain eligibility and that the NCAA recognizes ASU as a national champion in football. All three points are blatantly incorrect and can be supported by sources (ncca.org, Time Magazine, Arizona Daily Star, etc.). Baller offered nothing except baseless diatribes with nothing substantial to support them.