Henry Bienen, the Northwestern president, says, “When I found out about the rule, the best I could understand it, it was very strange. They were being penalized for having higher academic standards.”
Maureen Harty, the school’s director for NCAA compliance, says, “It’s surreal, that’s what it is. You sit and think, `This can’t be happening.'”
Rick Taylor, the school’s athletic director, says, “What the NCAA needs is an ombudsman for common sense.”
Emotions clearly are roiling at Northwestern after an unexpected telephone call last Wednesday night resulted in two of its top women’s tennis players being ruled ineligible. Consequently, Cristelle Grier, undefeated and ranked ninth in the nation, and teammate Ruth Barnes couldn’t play in the NCAA regional tournament at the school Saturday.
The rule in question, which applies only to tennis, stipulated student-athletes must enroll in college within a year of their high school graduation or lose a season of eligibility.
The rule’s intent is to prevent Europeans from graduating from high school, playing two or three years as amateurs on the pro circuit and then enrolling in college as internationally experienced, 20-year-old freshmen.
But here is how it ensnarled Grier and Barnes, who are English. They passed what are called their O-Level exams at 16 and then spent two more years studying to pass the more advanced A-Level. The NCAA interpretation is that the O-Level represents high school completion.
“We don’t have the phrase `high school.’ But that’s our equivalent,” Barnes said. “It’s the natural progression.”
“[Passing A-Level exams] are requirements to go to college,” said Northwestern women’s tennis coach Claire Pollard, who also is English. “You can’t go to college without them.”
Without Grier and Barnes, the Wildcats’ women’s team, heavily favored to advance to its sport’s Sweet Sixteen for the sixth consecutive year, was bounced from the tourney by Kansas State.
Now the school is attempting to save the season for Grier, who is scheduled to begin individual play in the NCAA tournament next Monday in Gainesville, Fla.
“I’m going through a mixture of emotions,” Barnes, a junior, said Monday afternoon. “I’m obviously annoyed, frustrated, disappointed. It’s such a sad end to the season.”
“It’s still a little bit of a shock, actually,” said Grier, a freshman who also is ranked sixth nationally in doubles with teammate Jessica Rush.
“Hopefully, I have the individuals coming up and still have a semi-season left. The shock’s more for Ruth and the team. One of the hardest days of my life was sitting there Saturday knowing it was unjust that I couldn’t [help].”
Grier has been a sensation this season, reeling off 25 straight victories and running off with player-of-the-year honors in the Big Ten Conference. She led her team to the conference tournament title, and last Wednesday was preparing to do the same in the regionals when the labyrinthine rules of the NCAA intervened.
Bienen doesn’t accept the NCAA’s reasoning.
“O-Level probably does not get you accepted to Northwestern,” he said. “But the thinking in this is that A-Level is almost like another college. That’s patently not the case. It’s another level in the British system. It’s maddening. I think the rule’s not sensible.”
The rule, in fact, never was mentioned as Barnes played through her three seasons, nor was it mentioned as Grier swept through her one season. But then another school declared one of its athletes with a similar background was ineligible, and that athlete said Grier’s situation was the same. That school reported the news to its conference, which reported it to the Big Ten, which reported it to Northwestern with a call to Harty last Wednesday night.
“We don’t know who it was,” she said. “The Big Ten won’t tell us. That’s an unwritten rule. But it’s obviously someone who knew Cristelle from England.”
At first, Grier thought the problem would be cleared up easily.
“On Wednesday, everyone was saying, `We just need to do this, it’s such a ridiculous thing, it’ll be OK tomorrow,'” Grier said. “When Thursday came and nothing was done, I realized it was serious. I was distraught.”
Barnes couldn’t believe what was happening.
“It was such a common-sense issue, I thought it must be a mistake,” Barnes said. “When I saw the staff working so hard on Thursday, I realized it was quite serious.”
All through Thursday Northwestern was in touch with the NCAA, insisting then that the players had graduated from high school when they received their A-Levels.
Friday morning Bienen, who had been out of town, returned and was informed of the situation. He was so bothered that he immediately called NCAA President Myles Brand. When he couldn’t reach Brand, he turned to Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany.
“I told Jim,” Bienen said, “that [associate athletic director] Nancy Lyons, with her understanding of the rule, was going to declare them ineligible and that I was going to overrule her.
“Jim opined that we might be in violation and there might be sanctions. I understood that, but I was so troubled by the rule . . . I told coach Pollard as far as I was concerned, she could play the kids. I felt horrible for the kids who had pointed to this all year long. It was her decision not to [play them]. She was unwilling to risk sanctions against the program.”
Pollard had been warned of severe consequences.
“[There] could be permanent ineligibility [for both players], forfeiture of matches, maybe the loss of recruiting opportunities,” Pollard said.
“I really wanted to play them. I was so pleased and impressed by the boldness of [Bienen]. But it was so complicated and they were telling us we were wrong and I couldn’t play with their lives.”
Pollard informed the players of her decision at their team banquet Friday night and on Saturday Kansas State upset the Wildcats to end their season. Only Grier, one of 64 players invited to compete in the nationals as an individual, can move on.
Bienen argued Grier’s case when he finally reached Brand on the phone Sunday.
“I told him that the rule seemed wrong-headed to me, and that it was being applied unfairly and belatedly,” Bienen said. “If I could have reached him [before the regionals], I would have asked him to suspend the rule. Now we’re going to make our case, and I think they’ll look at it.”
On Monday afternoon, Northwestern made its case in an appeal to the NCAA offices in Indianapolis. A ruling is expected later this week.
“I have no idea if they can move quickly enough. That’s not a bureaucracy that moves at lightening speed,” Bienen said. “But I hope they can.”
Lyons is proud of Grier and Barnes.
“Whatever the outcome of the appeal, I can’t say enough about the grace and class with which the young women have handled the situation,” she said. “Now what we need is someone to stand up and say, `We made a mistake.’ But . . . we’re in a situation where we can only sit and hope.”
Hope for the best.
“We’ve been through the storm, but there’s a ray of sunshine I’m holding onto,” Grier said
“I don’t want to sit down next year,” Barnes said. “I want to play. I’m working hard every day so when the NCAAs come around next year we can win it. But, unfortunately, that doesn’t change what happened this year.
“The point is we were trying to excel as student-athletes. We were doing the best we could to get to the best university we could and . . . ” she said, her voice breaking up. “Oh, well, hopefully it’ll work out.”
