Ron Brown: Don’t blame admissions

Regarding the Aug. 26 letter “The role of UNC admissions”: As a former admissions officer, I can say unequivocally that, in the UNC system, admissions officers decide admissibility based on academic qualifications as a predictor of success in a college curriculum.

If an athlete was admissible on that basis, we never heard from the coaches and probably never knew that it was an athlete’s application. On the other hand, if a recruited athlete had an NCAA mandated 2.0 GPA but did not meet standards set by the school’s admissions committee, a coach would inevitably show up in the office to use an exception.

Yes, it was mostly football, but that is where the majority of the athletes were, too. Do the math.

In fairness, I saw the same thing happening for talented individuals in other sports and even in nonathletic fields, though very rarely.

For coach Brette Simmons to say that the admissions offices have any role in admitting unqualified athletes is just blaming the person who signs the letter.

This story was originally published September 28, 2015 at 4:20 PM with the headline "Ron Brown: Don’t blame admissions."