West point football team recruitment scandal
"Alcohol, women, and cash; it's all part of a major scandal rocking the U.S. Military Academy at West Point" (Travers, 2014).
Just last week, the United States Military Academy at West Point self-reported recruiting violations to the NCAA of an incident that occurred on January 25th of 2014. The school's football team was involved in a recruitment scandal that involved 20 cadets and 14 high school recruits in an inappropriate evening outing - supposedly an annual tradition. The Army football team tried to lure in these high school players one weekend by taking a bus trip on a charter bus, escorted by one New York state police officer, to the Palisades Mall. Cadet cheerleaders were also reportedly aboard the bus. The cadets and recruits went to a bowling alley, a place known for where underage drinking occurs. Some sources say that money from the booster funded the recruitment outing, but West Point officials state otherwise. Academy superintendent Lt. Gen. Robert L. Caslen Jr. had stated on the school's website that cadet host funds were distributed according to NCAA regulations, but the way the funds were handled were in violation of NCAA rules and regulations. A separate incident in February of 2014 was also reported that a lieutenant colonel had asked female athletes at West Point to be dinner dates for recruits. In doing so, this Lt. Col told one cadet, "we want recruits to see that there are pretty girls that go here and there are not just masculine women who attend West Point." Lt. Gen. Caslen also denied this rumor, but has taken full responsibility for the incident. Sources state that the 20 cadets that were involved, along with officers and coaches, were disciplined as a consequence, but no specific punishments were stated.
“Although cadets, officers, and coaches were found to be culpable for this incident, disciplinary measures appear to have amounted to nothing more than a slap on the wrist” (Speier, 2014).
Jackie Speier, a California congresswoman responded to the incident and considered it "simply inadequate" and wants to personally sit down with Lt. Gen. Caslen, the U.S. Military Academy superintendent. In a letter to Lt. Gen. Caslen, she praised him for taking responsibility as well as taking immediate precautions to address the incident, but she is concerned that the consequences for those involved is not enough. Speier suggested that more action should be taken, such as an investigation done by the school's inspector general as well as the athletic department.
Being a military school, the standards and expectations are different of the student-athletes compared to all other D1 colleges. Do you think what happened back in January was just a normal event? What do other colleges do differently? Should the West Point football team have a harsher consequence (assuming that the players were suspended from x number of games)?
Ex-Army football coach, Bobby Ross, was very upset about the incident and that "this is very damaging to my reputation." Ross goes on to defend the recruiting practices of when he was the coach. This annual bus ride included not only the recruits, but their parents and all of the coaching staff. Ross would take everyone to the same mall at Dave and Buster's where they were provided with a buffet and would tell the recruits and their families all about the West Point Values. He reiterates that there was no beer or women involved and that it was supervised by his staff. The only type of excitement the recruits would experience was 45 minute break to play video games. Ross states in an article that his army experience showed him that "athletes at West Point needed to be officers first, and football players second."
"These cadets are members of the military, they are on the payroll. And they also agree to live under the uniform code of military justice" (Roeder, 2014).
In terms of ethics in sport and health psychology, we talk a lot about athletes of all levels as our clients and how we would handle certain situations.
-How would you counsel a high school athlete that is going through the transition from high school to college sports (the recruitment process was not what he/she expected)?
-Going back to Ross's statement about officer first, football second, how would you counsel a student-athlete that has issues with the different roles? More specifically, how would you counsel a client that is having trouble balancing being a student, an employee, and an athlete?
References
Lilley, K. (2014, November 3). Congresswomen: response to football recruiting sins 'inadequate'. ArmyTimes. Retrieved from www.armytimes.com/article/20141103/NEWS/311030044/Congresswoman-Response-football-recruiting-sins-inadequate-
Roeder, T. (2014, October 29). Ex-army football coach defends recruiting practices amidst scandal. Colorado Springs Gazette. Retrieved from http://www.military.com/daily-news/2014/10/29/ex-army-football-coach-defends-recruiting-practices-after-scanda.html
Travers, K. (2014, October 27). West point rocked by football recruiting scandal. ABC News. Retrieved from http://abc7news.com/sports/west-point-rocked-by-football-recruiting-scandal/368623/
(2014, October 27). Coach to address violations tuesday. Associated Press. Retrieved from http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/11774026/army-says-no-booster-cash-used-recruiting-gaffe
Just last week, the United States Military Academy at West Point self-reported recruiting violations to the NCAA of an incident that occurred on January 25th of 2014. The school's football team was involved in a recruitment scandal that involved 20 cadets and 14 high school recruits in an inappropriate evening outing - supposedly an annual tradition. The Army football team tried to lure in these high school players one weekend by taking a bus trip on a charter bus, escorted by one New York state police officer, to the Palisades Mall. Cadet cheerleaders were also reportedly aboard the bus. The cadets and recruits went to a bowling alley, a place known for where underage drinking occurs. Some sources say that money from the booster funded the recruitment outing, but West Point officials state otherwise. Academy superintendent Lt. Gen. Robert L. Caslen Jr. had stated on the school's website that cadet host funds were distributed according to NCAA regulations, but the way the funds were handled were in violation of NCAA rules and regulations. A separate incident in February of 2014 was also reported that a lieutenant colonel had asked female athletes at West Point to be dinner dates for recruits. In doing so, this Lt. Col told one cadet, "we want recruits to see that there are pretty girls that go here and there are not just masculine women who attend West Point." Lt. Gen. Caslen also denied this rumor, but has taken full responsibility for the incident. Sources state that the 20 cadets that were involved, along with officers and coaches, were disciplined as a consequence, but no specific punishments were stated.
“Although cadets, officers, and coaches were found to be culpable for this incident, disciplinary measures appear to have amounted to nothing more than a slap on the wrist” (Speier, 2014).
Jackie Speier, a California congresswoman responded to the incident and considered it "simply inadequate" and wants to personally sit down with Lt. Gen. Caslen, the U.S. Military Academy superintendent. In a letter to Lt. Gen. Caslen, she praised him for taking responsibility as well as taking immediate precautions to address the incident, but she is concerned that the consequences for those involved is not enough. Speier suggested that more action should be taken, such as an investigation done by the school's inspector general as well as the athletic department.
Being a military school, the standards and expectations are different of the student-athletes compared to all other D1 colleges. Do you think what happened back in January was just a normal event? What do other colleges do differently? Should the West Point football team have a harsher consequence (assuming that the players were suspended from x number of games)?
Ex-Army football coach, Bobby Ross, was very upset about the incident and that "this is very damaging to my reputation." Ross goes on to defend the recruiting practices of when he was the coach. This annual bus ride included not only the recruits, but their parents and all of the coaching staff. Ross would take everyone to the same mall at Dave and Buster's where they were provided with a buffet and would tell the recruits and their families all about the West Point Values. He reiterates that there was no beer or women involved and that it was supervised by his staff. The only type of excitement the recruits would experience was 45 minute break to play video games. Ross states in an article that his army experience showed him that "athletes at West Point needed to be officers first, and football players second."
"These cadets are members of the military, they are on the payroll. And they also agree to live under the uniform code of military justice" (Roeder, 2014).
In terms of ethics in sport and health psychology, we talk a lot about athletes of all levels as our clients and how we would handle certain situations.
-How would you counsel a high school athlete that is going through the transition from high school to college sports (the recruitment process was not what he/she expected)?
-Going back to Ross's statement about officer first, football second, how would you counsel a student-athlete that has issues with the different roles? More specifically, how would you counsel a client that is having trouble balancing being a student, an employee, and an athlete?
References
Lilley, K. (2014, November 3). Congresswomen: response to football recruiting sins 'inadequate'. ArmyTimes. Retrieved from www.armytimes.com/article/20141103/NEWS/311030044/Congresswoman-Response-football-recruiting-sins-inadequate-
Roeder, T. (2014, October 29). Ex-army football coach defends recruiting practices amidst scandal. Colorado Springs Gazette. Retrieved from http://www.military.com/daily-news/2014/10/29/ex-army-football-coach-defends-recruiting-practices-after-scanda.html
Travers, K. (2014, October 27). West point rocked by football recruiting scandal. ABC News. Retrieved from http://abc7news.com/sports/west-point-rocked-by-football-recruiting-scandal/368623/
(2014, October 27). Coach to address violations tuesday. Associated Press. Retrieved from http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/11774026/army-says-no-booster-cash-used-recruiting-gaffe