Dip Metress, Augusta University men’s head basketball coach, admitted to and apologized for aiding a student-athlete beyond what’s allowed. An HR department investigation concluded the student-athlete could barely read and should not have been academically qualified for college sports.
“It was never my intent to do anything that would reflect negatively on me, my program, or the university,” Metress wrote in an Aug. 18 email to AU Athletic Director Clint Bryant. “I have worked very hard over the past 17 years to manage a basketball program to be proud of.”
Metress’ actions with the student led to his suspension earlier this season. Metress was suspended for five games, and former assistant coach O’Neal Armstrong was fired after an investigation conducted by AU’s human resources department found both had violated NCAA policy. The NCAA is also independently investigating this matter.
The email continued, “I am sorry that me being overzealous has caused this investigation, and I am prepared to take steps to continue my career at Augusta University and the success of this program and my student athletes within whatever parameters necessary. I realize my honesty, my apology, and my feelings of being responsible to monitor these student athletes do not absolve my responsibility of these violations, and I can assure you that I have used this time of suspension to reflect on my mistakes and how I can move forward and regain your trust.”
AU provided the HR department’s investigation report in a packet of more than 8,400 emails obtained through a Georgia Open Records Act request.
According to the report, Metress violated university rules when he obtained access to basketball players’ emails and online learning accounts and when he provided excessive aid in helping the student-athlete write a paper. Armstrong violated the rules when he helped the student-athlete with an online exam. He also violated the rules by having access to basketball players’ emails/online learning accounts.
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The Augusta University student-athlete at the center of an investigation of the men’s basketball coaches was not capable of doing college-level work, but Metress believed he was worth the extra help, according to the report.
The student-athlete’s name is being withheld for privacy reasons.
Armstrong told Metress the student-athlete was “incapable of doing the classwork,” but Metress would periodically comment to Armstrong that [the student-athlete] “was worth it because he was a good basketball player and in the starting line-up,” according to the investigation report.
“It was clear from the beginning that [the student-athlete] was not capable of completing college work,” the report states.
Armstrong said the student-athlete “could hardly read, he had great difficulty with writing concepts, basic writing skills, and comprehension,” according to the report. “[He] was struggling greatly in his classes in the 2020-21 academic year.”
Armstrong told the HR investigators that the student-athlete would get extra chances and re-dos on schoolwork assignments, according to the report.
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Bethany Stanley, a student assistant in the university’s Academic Success Center, confirmed that the student athlete, and others in his English class, received opportunities to redo work because the professor would “give all of her students chances to revise their work so that they could pass.”
Metress indicated that he “assisted [the student-athlete] with grammar and that he was essentially teaching [the student-athlete] the English class. He estimated that he spent about one hour per day before class with [the student-athlete]. On occasion, Coach Metress would meet again with [student-athlete] before and/or after basketball practice. He also stated that [student-athlete] was unable to put thoughts together and frequently made run-on sentences.”
The report continues on to say that as Metress aided the student-athlete with “discussion related school work.” When the student-athlete was asked about the discussion posts by Paula Owens, an academic success coordinator at the university, the student-athlete said “he only enters what his coach tells him.”
The HR investigators concluded that the student-athlete was “enabled over the years with regard to successfully completing schoolwork assignments, papers, and exams” and “showed little motivation to learn.”
Investigators Debra Arnold, the university’s director of employee relations, and Steven Goldberg, director of affirmative action/equal employment opportunity officer, found that one of Armstrong’s primary responsibilities was to “ensure that players show up to study hall (AU Success Center), that they get there on time, and that they do their school work.”
Stanley was also assigned to tutor the athlete and his team members, but she left the ASC in December 2020 when she was offered an assistantship in the Writing Center at AU. That left Armstrong to spend “90% of his available time with [student-athlete] and 10% with the other players.”
Stanley said she and other tutors in the Academic Success Center were assigned several entire teams of athletes to provide academic assistance to.
“I had the men’s and women’s basketball teams, the golf team and the tennis team,” Stanley said. “One time, I had all of the women’s basketball team in there at one time trying to see me. It was about 15 girls all trying to see me at once. Men’s and women’s basketball were my more troubling students.”
Stanley said Owens would “do what she could to help the students but without doing the work for them. It was a very clear boundary.”
Owens helped with study skills and organizational aspects of the schoolwork to try to set students up for success, according to Stanley.
According to the report, Armstrong declined to speak to NCAA investigators after an initial meeting. He indicated to the HR investigators that “he felt if he had said something about Coach Metress to NCAA investigators, it might have been seen as negative and that he didn’t want to hurt Coach Metress professionally. Armstrong said that he would get another job rather than hurt Coach Metress.”
Emails sent among members of AU leadership and AU athletics personnel indicate Armstrong was indeed reluctant to speak to NCAA investigators at first.
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Katherine Sulentic, associate director on enforcement with the NCAA, wrote to fellow NCAA enforcement personnel on Aug. 17 that “Armstrong would like to see the draft NOA (Notice of Allegations) first before he commits to a processing option. I mentioned to him that everyone is anxious to get moving on this one way or another. He responded that he is not concerned with what the institution and/or Coach Metress wants.”
Sulentic corresponded with Armstrong in late August 2021. Armstrong eventually agreed with allegations leveled against him and asked Sulentic, “When will this be over?”
Sulentic replied that a summary disposition takes 75 days to submit whereas a hearing could take six months to process. Armstrong agreed to a summary disposition, to which Chris Melcher, AU’s vice-president of legal affairs and general counsel, replied, “Excellent. We will avoid a drawn out hearing.”
Attempts to contact the NCAA for a status update on their own investigation were unsuccessful. A contact form on the NCAA website has not been responded to in over a month, and Sulentic did not respond to phone calls.
The Augusta University men’s basketball team is currently 8-0.
Tyler Strong is the Business Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at tyler@theaugustapress.com
