2008 Woodie Awards
Transfer's academic past questioned
Marc Egerson's high school grades puts Delaware in national spotlight
by Jason Tomassini
Issue date: 4/10/07 Section: Sports
Despite coming off its worst season in school history, the outlook for the men's basketball team has been unusually sunny so far this off-season. Head coach Monté Ross had enlisted two transfers and four freshman recruits to join the team for his second season at the helm.
But shortly after the season ended, yet another dark cloud moved in to loom over the program.
A March 30 report by Pete Thamel of The New York Times indicated one of the Hens' transfers, sophomore forward Marc Egerson from Georgetown, did not meet the NCAA's minimum academic requirements while at McKean High School and Glasgow High School in Delaware.
Because Egerson was unable to graduate from those public high schools, he went to a year of prep school at Lutheran Christian Academy in Philadelphia, a school with suspect academic integrity according to The Times report. After graduating from Lutheran, he gained eligibility for the NCAA and was given a scholarship from Georgetown.
The report was published during Georgetown's NCAA Tournament run to the Final Four and put the academic standards of its basketball program, as well as Delaware's, under fire.
Ross said Egerson met all academic requirements while at Georgetown and had no reason to question Egerson's ability in the classroom when recruiting him.
"No favors were done for me, for the basketball program, in regards to Marc," Ross said. "What happened was, he went to Georgetown University and based on his grades at Georgetown, he was admitted to Delaware."
Egerson could not be reached for comment.
Ross said when recruiting a transfer, high school academic performance does not come into play. He looks at the player's academic standing at his previous university and determines if the athlete could compete in the classroom at Delaware.
"One of the stories that should be written that has not been written is about a young man who did not do well in high school, but turns himself around and got things done at a prestigious university like Georgetown," Ross said. "But, you know what? That will never sell newspapers."
But shortly after the season ended, yet another dark cloud moved in to loom over the program.
A March 30 report by Pete Thamel of The New York Times indicated one of the Hens' transfers, sophomore forward Marc Egerson from Georgetown, did not meet the NCAA's minimum academic requirements while at McKean High School and Glasgow High School in Delaware.
Because Egerson was unable to graduate from those public high schools, he went to a year of prep school at Lutheran Christian Academy in Philadelphia, a school with suspect academic integrity according to The Times report. After graduating from Lutheran, he gained eligibility for the NCAA and was given a scholarship from Georgetown.
The report was published during Georgetown's NCAA Tournament run to the Final Four and put the academic standards of its basketball program, as well as Delaware's, under fire.
Ross said Egerson met all academic requirements while at Georgetown and had no reason to question Egerson's ability in the classroom when recruiting him.
"No favors were done for me, for the basketball program, in regards to Marc," Ross said. "What happened was, he went to Georgetown University and based on his grades at Georgetown, he was admitted to Delaware."
Egerson could not be reached for comment.
Ross said when recruiting a transfer, high school academic performance does not come into play. He looks at the player's academic standing at his previous university and determines if the athlete could compete in the classroom at Delaware.
"One of the stories that should be written that has not been written is about a young man who did not do well in high school, but turns himself around and got things done at a prestigious university like Georgetown," Ross said. "But, you know what? That will never sell newspapers."
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