Is Amaker the Ivy League Kelvin Sampson?
It would make a wonderful movie. A young, enthusiastic and black head coach inherits a moribund basketball institution at a stodgy white university. Through sheer determination, he reinvigorates a culture of failure, endowing the players with a healthy dose of winning and valuable life lessons. Throw in a love-story, a personal epiphany and Denzel and it is an instant Oscar nomination. There is only one problem - ist’s Harvard.
Harvard is, to put it delicately, not a basketball school. The Crimson have never won an Ivy League title. They last qualified for the NCAA Tournament 62 years ago. They have won eight games this season. With intense academic requirements and without athletic scholarships, the team had resigned to its fate.
Therefore, it shocked when first-year Harvard Head Coach Tommy Amaker amassed a Top 25 Recruiting Class, with neither notoriety nor scholarships to offer.
This has led to a general debate about academic policy at the school. Harvard had traditionally maintained far tougher academic standards than those mandated by the Ivy League. A player requires at least a 171 on the Academic Index score to play (approximately a 3.1 GPA and a 1,560 out of 2,400 on the SAT). Harvard has traditionally held to an average of 202, effectively preventing the team from recruiting players who scored lower than 195. Under Amaker, these standards seem to have lapsed.
Prized recruit Frank Ben-Eze, a 6′10″ Center, has yet to receive a “likely letter” from Harvard because he has failed to meet the 171 on the Academic Index. Three of the other recruits have received such letters, though their indexes are believed to be well below what the University had accepted in the past.
More importantly, the NCAA may investigate Harvard for what appear to be substantial recruiting violations.
Two recruits claim to have worked out with Harvard assistant coach Kenny Blakeney. The contact occurred before Harvard hired him, but the NCAA would deem the conduct censure worthy whether or not Harvard employed Blankeney while the contact occured.
Tommy Amaker also allegedly approached the parents of a potential recruit in a grocery store, during a time when contact with players was restricted.
Harvard hired Amaker with the intention of revitalizing the basketball program, unfortunately ambition appears to have trumped ideals.
Teams that have traditionally been successful in the Ivy League have done so through discipline and coaching, not lowering standards and outfoxing other teams to higher-caliber recruits. Rather than follow a similar path, Harvard’s hubris sought the short-cut and the big-time coach. Perhaps appropriately, the project may blow up in their face.
