Syracuse In The Midst Of Restructuring Academics In Athletics Programs

Over at Syracuse.com, John O'Brien, Nate Minsk and Chris Carlson have a new update on the whole academic kerfuffle that seems to be plaguing Syracuse Orange basketball, especially with the news that the NCAA is possibly investigating "major" violations.

While DOC Gross has gone into hiding in terms of speaking about the academic issues, they uncovered that Gross did speak to the university's Senate Committee on Athletic Policy on Feb. 15. The committee has sent Gross a list of questions following the revelation that SU had a basketball player suspended in consecutive years for academic issues.

Some interesting notes...

• Stan Kissel wasn't the only person related to SU basketball who left "to spend more time with his family." Two other SU employees who used to work with SU basketball no longer do.
• SU is in the midst of hiring an assistant provost for student-athlete academic services, who's job will be to oversee athletic academics. Kevin Quinn said publicly that the move to the ACC was the reason SU was creating this position, though Gross never brought the ACC move up when speaking to the committee.
• Gross told the committee that Syracuse has made a solutuion "to last year's problem", a.k.a. Fab Melo's new nickname. However, he said that process broke down and Southerland's issue was noticed thanks to "the increased level of oversight interest" from "last year's problem."
• This was the first time the committee had ever sent Gross a list of questions before this meeting. /tugscollar

Long way to go on this whole thing, internally and externally. What can we expect as fans? Tighter academic restrictions, for one thing. You better believe that SU athletes across the board are going to be held to high academic standards and don't be surprised if that affects the eligibility of one or two athletes down the road.