I think the Post was feeling jealous about the NYTimes article, and had to dig and sling some dirt of their own.

Out of all the kids in college hoops who have come through that school and others like it, that article gave absolutely no indication of why the Washington Post chose to single out Omar Williams for ridicule out of all of them.  Unless I missed it, it gave no mention of his current academic progress, which is etraordinarily important to providing contet.

It also claims the Omar story "raises questions" about GW's method of getting good.  Oh really?  Raises questions in who's mind?  It doesn't say. 

To pardon the pun (and with apologies to a  more reputable paper), that was a true Hatchet job on a good kid who by all indications overcame a tough start in life.  It's the kind of purposeless public stigmatizing that can set back all the progress in life a kid has made.  I hope Omar ignore it.

MY e-mail to Schlabach:

Your article regarding the GW men's basketball team is baseless and lacks clarity. The research contributed by Julie Tate does not even contribute to the story. If Omar William's grades were certified by the Clearinghouse, then what is the purpose of writing your article? Shame on the Clearinghouse for not checking out the transcripts, instead your article places blame on GW - it isn't GW's fault that the Clearinghouse approved Williams' records. Also, the timing of this article seems to invoke the fact that you are trying to trash talk GW on the front page on the heels of a perfect conference season. Attacking Williams and Rice does no credit to The Post and makes your article seem biased and politically motivated. Your integrity as a sports journalist has been degraded due to your un-fair and biased reporting of this article.

If this were Maryland, Eric the P. would be doing a story on how Gary Williams saved his player from bad surroundings.

The timing is unfortunate and questionable and perhaps, largely driven frankly, by competition with The Times. If this is a problem in college sports, then The Post should go for it. But why  were Omar and Maureece basically the only two players named in this burgeoning scandal?

Now, I am a bit ecited after today and now upset about this quasi-revelation. So I read this quickly.  Again, if the Post feels they can do investigative reporting on sports and they can and have done so, that's fine. I'd like to see some on Maryland, for eample, too. But we're fair game, I guess.

I missed the smoking gun again, like the last piece he wrote. Someone called the NCAA Clearinghouse but didn't get an answer, so didn't pursue it and it comes out now. OMAR is a SENIOR. One big thing today in this field is questioning the motivation of sources. Why is this coming out now?

    Secondly and again, I am a bit upset about this raining, or actually pissing on our parade. But after we laid it all out in an e-mail to everyone, including season ticketholders, I must have missed the part about where this huge piece notes that Omar is on track to graduate. And Maureece is also on track in his major.

  Now, if that is not there, it is inecusable. We issued a press release about it and sent it to season ticketholders and presumably, the press (Generally the point of a press release). How are these guys doing in college after such allegedly horrible academic preparation?

 That is a natural question that anyone, reader or editor, would and should ask. Now I apologize, if I have missed it. But is sure wasn't prominent in the story, if there (and stories can change between editions too, so they could theoretically notice something and change it).

    One greater point I would make is that if we are using Omar as an eample of a local player, is there no one on Maryland, Georgetown, George Mason, Howard, UVA, Va. Tech, West Va., Bowie State, etc. with a comparable in any way  prep school situation?

  Again, one can't blame the messenger if this story is correct, though a cursory reading at least, shows they haven't nailed it. Or at least Omar and Maureece. The NCAA clearinghouse approved Omar and MAureece. It looks like there is nothing wrong with that, based again on a quick reading of the story late at night.

   I am more than willing to stand up for the Post and certainly their right to do "investigative" pieces. In fact, that is a cornerstone of society.

But they should also be carefully balanced to include perspective, balance and fairness. One at least wonders whether this was really held to the same standard as a piece that involves questions about something in the news, rather than sports. Given the way this is written about, in contrasting  the reporting of the Post and The Times and discussing who is first, this may have been rushed into print after  the Times had something, just for them to show their thing is bigger. The problem is, this greatly affects two young men and a Washington institution that is reaching new heights of success.

   We need to know about questionable behavior in every aspect  of public life. But this also requires fairness and perspective.

apparently this ass-hat also is a Georgia and Virginia Tech fan... check out his name on Amazon...he's written books including "What It Means to Be a Hokie" and "destiney's Dogs: Georgia's Championshio Season"

It would be best, when deservedly raised tempers cool down, to contact the ombudsman (who actually is a woman, I believe), with reasoned and detailed e-mails. Very important to make a case.

 If, and I don't want to look at this again right now, it indeed didn't answer the question of Omar's grades at GW--and the GW response, that would be a frue failure to both the reader and professional standards.

I

I am

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I am truly astonished at the

I am truly

I am truly astonished

I am truly astonished at the terrible reporting and clearly

I am truly astonished at the terrible

I am truly astonished at the terrible reporting

I am truly astonished at the terrible reporting and

I am truly astonished at the terrible reporting and clearly meanspirited use of the Post's ability to reach so

I am truly astonished at the terrible reporting and clearly meanspirited use of the Post's

I am truly astonished at the terrible reporting and clearly meanspirited

I am truly astonished at the terrible reporting and clearly meanspirited use of the Post's ability to

I am truly astonished at the terrible reporting and clearly meanspirited use of

I am truly astonished at the terrible reporting and clearly meanspirited use of the

I am truly astonished at the terrible reporting and clearly meanspirited use of the Post's ability to reach

I am truly astonished at the terrible reporting and clearly meanspirited use of the Post's ability

I am truly astonished at the terrible reporting and clearly meanspirited use of the Post's ability to reach so many

I am truly astonished at the terrible reporting and clearly meanspirited use

I am truly astonished at the terrible reporting and clearly meanspirited use of the Post's ability to reach so many millions of readers. The incredible attack on both Williams and Rice was totally uncalled

I am truly astonished at the terrible reporting and clearly meanspirited use of the Post's ability to reach so many millions of readers. The incredible attack on both Williams and Rice was totally uncalled for.

I am truly astonished at the terrible reporting and clearly meanspirited use of the Post's ability to reach so many millions of readers. The incredible attack on both Williams and Rice was totally uncalled for. With thousands of words, couldn't they mention that the guys are in good standing in school and, as in Williams case, a huge part of a university and on schedule to

I am truly astonished at the terrible reporting and clearly meanspirited use of the Post's ability to reach so many millions of readers. The incredible attack on both Williams and Rice was totally uncalled for. With thousands of words, couldn't they mention that the guys are in good standing in school and, as in Williams case, a huge part of a university and on schedule

I am truly astonished at the terrible reporting and clearly meanspirited use of the Post's ability to reach so many millions of readers. The incredible attack on both Williams and Rice was totally uncalled for. With thousands of words, couldn't they mention that the guys are in good standing in school and, as in Williams case, a huge part of a university and on schedule to graduate this year.

Taking this in contrast with the McCray news earlier this year, THAT IS THE STORY, you IDIOTS!!!!!

What is it about GW that can SUCCEED while MD failed. Is it something special with Mr. Williams or something special about GW? I Don't KNOW, but stop with this crap

Dolphin Michael, youve been posting long enough to know not to create multiple posts.

The thing about this article is that its the wrong story.  Who cares how long it took omar to get thru HS.  Its not like he didn't go to HS and forged his admission documents.  The fact that he struggled as an adolescent should just add to the story.  The real story here is that he has successfully completed 4 years of college and is graduating on time with honors.  That to me should just be icing on top of this incredible year.  This really should be a publicity bonanza not an epose.  It is a fairybook tale of the highest order.

BP, it's a small point but the "graduating with honors" story seems to have taken a life of its own.  When the story broke someone at the University said Omar had made the Dean's list (once, twice, thrice?).  Then yesterday at the start of the game one of the announcers said something similar.  To paraphrase, "Omar is going to graduate in May and even made the Dean's list."  I've seen it a few times here that Omar is graduating with honors but making the Dean's list once doesn't translate into graduating with honors.  Maybe he is, but in that case I'd think we'd hear his GPA in some Academic All-American capacity.  On this final note, in college football the announcers often say "Player A is studying Criminology and carrying a 3.3 GPA."  Then the color commentator will say something like "Good thing he didn't take my eample because I was more interested in beer than books..chortle, chortle."  How do these grades become public?

I have to admit, when I saw the headline:  "A Player Rises Through the Cracks -- Academic History Of GW's Williams Reveals Flaws In NCAA Process," I thought to myself:  Good, they are going to give Omar props for rising above the prep school madness.  But, obviously, that was not the thesis of the epose.  (And, in the online edition -- the Post gets a little more "edgy" -- adding additional subtitles such as "The Player Chase Manufacturing a Transcript" and "Eploiting an NCAA Loophole."  The latter, which appears under Omars picture on the home page of the Post online is accompanied by the following tet:

Omar Williams failed to graduate high school but because the NCAA Clearinghouse certified his prep school transcript without any validation, he gained admission to George Washington despite receiving no grades. (Toni L. Sandys - The Washington Post)

Omar Williams failed to graduate high school but because the NCAA Clearinghouse certified his prep school transcript without any validation, he gained admission to George Washington despite receiving no grades. (Toni L. Sandys - The Washington Post)

Here's the response I got from Mr. Schlabach when I accussed him of writing an unoriginal piece that wrongly singled out a player instead of the system.

For everyone who is saying Schlabach is merely following the Times, he did do a Philly Lutheran story three weeks ago, apparently a lot of people missed it.

That being said, if he was truly on it, I wonder why the Post didn't do the rest of it until now. And I question the timing (if they just got the story finished yesterday, it's not really something they can wait on) and I am not sure about the front-page play of the story. I think the fact that it is four years later, that the Post is not first with this info, and Omar is now at least a decent students means this story does not belong on A1. I really fail to see how it rises to that level, seeing as little that GW ever does gets to that level.

Does this story need to be written? Absolutely. To say it is an absolute non-issue that doesn't belong in the paper is a knee-jerk reaction that come from all of us as GW fans. We don't want to see our own drug through the mud. It's unfortuante that they had to run this story on the day of perhaps the greatest game in GW history. (Sorry, DH, this one has to surpass the avier game...I was at both, but this one takes the cake). It also emphasizes how we are absolutely ignored until

A point I brought up in my email to Schlabach is that if he really wants to talk about sketchy entrance policies why make the story about Omar just as he's about to graduate.  Why, I added, not interview the members of the early 1980s Hoya teams and find out how many of those fine chaps can read your newspaper.

 There is a story to be written, but this wasn't it.

There are two possible angles for the story -- one is another eamination of these high schools, with discussions of the many players on many teams who have come through them and how the NCAA is responding now that they are informed of what's going on at these high schools. 

The other story, if you have to write it about a specific player, is that is about a kid who struggled as a youth and has grown into a man because a college took a chance on him and gave him the kind of support to succeed that he likely never had before. 

But to write a story trashing his reputation from stuff that went on years ago without even so much of a mention of how the guy is doing now -- that's not a story.  That's a hatchet job.  And shame on the Washington Post for writing the story that way.

The Post's timing and placement of the Omar article are inecusable!  Also the implications are that that's why we are where we are, that Gdub is just a basketball factory, that undoubtedly our players don't go to class, and that we're the only area school that is having this problem. And will the Post pay any price for this? No-- in fact it may sell more papers. I'm not saying the topic is not a legitimate one. It is. But Post, have you no, decency?!

Sorry, I but I agree with Reality Check. This is a worthy story. (Yes, yesterday's game and this season is as magical as it gets. I'm a GW grad and a season ticket holder during many of our most frustrating season. I couldn't be more ecited about this seson. ) However, the fact is we have at least one player on our team who didn't graduate from high school and shouldn't have been admitted to GW. And another fact is, that there is no way five years ago that GW could  be on the way to being a Top 10 team without signing players that no other major university would recruit. So let's be serious here. Do we really care that much whether basketball players attend class, graduate from high school, attend classes? The NCAA sure doesn't care. We all know that much of college basketball and college football is a big fraud... Student-athletes? Let's get serious. The universities and TV networks make tons of money off these kids. Why football and basketball coaches paid more that university presidents. Why do coaches get fired quickly if they don't win. This is a major business. We can't have it both ways -- high caliber students and a major Division I basketball prgram.

So let's enjoy the games and not be shocked that a newspaper eposed what life is really like in college basketball and college football. 

In addition to think that thePost wouldn't print this story if it were Georgetown, Maryland or anyone else is silly.

Reality check, i find it pathetic that you have to hide behind a double alias to make your charges.  Clearly the Post has blown this story out of proportion simply because we are becoming news worthy.  The fact remains that to focus on omar without reporting his record as a college student is simple, purposeful distortion to promote the thesis of the story.  If you're going to report the story report the whole story.  This is shoddy journalism at its finest.

Admittedly, I did not follow the Lutheran story closely as it was being disclosed.  However, I'm not entirely convinced that the program is/was crooked or even that such programs are necessarily bad.  If i understand the process, these schools aren't alternative high schools, but rather they kick-in for students who were unable to achieve a certain academic standing after finishing high school.  The fact that the coach is also the educator perhaps isn't such a bad thing.  In many cases its a question of getting thru to these kids and making them see the significance of studying and preparing for eams.   Coach Hobbs in an interview that was quoted on the A10 board site, says he was confident in the character of both his young men and essentially satisfied they were worth the investment.  The proof is in the pudding.  Whatever Hobbs saw, whatever Lutheran did, seems to have worked for these two and i would be surprised if it hasn't worked for others as well.

We do all use an alias.  But our on-screen characters develop their own personnas that are reflections of our real selves.  Each of use builds a reputation based on our thoughts and opinions.  What are you hiding from?  Are you concerned that if we knew your alter-screen name you would lose credibility or is it that you know you would lose credibility from this point forward? 

everyone out there is wondering how GW could be good at basketball and is looking for reasons why.  gw having players who are academically ineligble is going to help a lot of people around here sleep at night because they cant deal with colonial success.  thats the only reason these stories are getting so much attention.  people cant believe gw is good and figure theres got to be a dirty secret behind the success.

with that said.  shame on karl hobbs for this one.  theres no way omar should have ever been admitted to gw, and im sure the scholarship could have gone to some1 who would have also contributed.  gw has come a long way academically over the past few years to have its reputation dragged through the mud by our hoops coach.

Re: those who posted that there was no mention of Omar's academic standing in the Post article.

Third paragraph, first sentence (before the jump): "George Washington said it followed NCAA rules when it relied on that certification in deciding to admit Williams, and said he is on track to graduate in May." It's also in the caption of the front page photo.

A) The Post is not GW's public relations wing. They had an interesting story about a problem in college basketball a few weeks ago (before The Times did) and then followed it up with a local eample that further illustrates the problems with this entire Clearinghouse system. Plus, they plan Sunday editions well in advance, so they had no way of knowing it would be published after such a thrilling win. With the NCAA currently reviewing its Clearinghouse, this is a timely issue and the paper wanted it in the biggest edition of the week.

B) How come nobody here has mentioned the quotes from Chernak and SJT????  Basically, Chernak is saying that if the school knew then what it knows now, it wouldn't have admitted Omar. And by Trachtenberg saying he trusts Coach Hobbs, he's basically saying, "Don't look at me. Coach Hobbs is responsible for who plays here."

To me, that's admirable honesty on Chernak's part, and not-so-subtle finger-pointing by Trachtenberg. Those quotes were almost as fascinating as the fact that someone who didn't graduate high school is attending GW.

I also got a response from Mark.  i tried the "be inciteful, use facts and raise arguments without cursing" approach.  Below is the email i got today.

Nice read Mark.  I promise I'm not a Terp grad.   I went to an SEC school so the GW-Maryland rivalry doesn't carry any weight with me. Prep schools are a national hot-button issue right now and we've been covering the issue for more than a month. When did beating Charlotte become an historical day? Very nice season, though. Congratulations.

Schlabach wrote a piece on UGA for the AJC.  If he's a bulldog that eplains a lot..a-hole lot!

1) Three of us didn't remember seeing the reference to Omar's standing in the first edition of the paper. Didn't say it wasn't there, but didn't see it, and it was at best half a sentence after the university issued an entire statement.

Was it changed between editions? This happens. Not saying it did, but three of us, including someone who was not finding fault with the piece, didn't recall it. Someone with better computer skills might be able to determine this.

Interestingly, the article, apparently in the works for a long time, was not in the early Sunday edition of the paper at the game.

2) Obviously this is important--a huge problem with 5,000 prep schools (which weren't detailed) and the Post should be encouraged to do investigative reporting. Like I said last night, take your best shot. No one is proud of being in this situation. The whole system is terrible and we are part of it and this particular situation is quite gray  But since there were no NCAA rules violated apparently, that is also important to bear in mind.

Now sometimes, it can't be helped that you can't answer all the questions in a story like this, I understand. But there are many questions. Just a few include:

Are there no questionable transcripts and players at Maryland, Georgetown, Maryland, Howard, Catholic, George Mason, UVa, Va. Tech and Bowie State in a  major sport? Is Maryland really so pure, as its officials were referred to in quesitoning our reliance on the NCAA clearinghouse. Why just Omar and by implication Maureece? One would think that as broad a reach as possible would strengthen this article.

Were NCAA rules violated? Did Omar, Maureece or Coach Hobbs violate them? Is there proof of any knowing involvement in any fraudulent behavior.

Was the only attempt to reach Omar by cell phone on Friday, just before this huge piece about him run? If not, should it have been mentioned in the article? The articles mention interviews conducted three weeks ago. Should Omar have been personally asked for comment? Go right up to him. Probably not hard to find. Another play

If it is just Omar, so be it. Then this is perfectly justified in eactly the way it was done. Have no problems with the idea of doing hard reporting on this and not going to refleively defend GW.

 But the timing is odd. While not seeing conspiracy theories,  it is questionable  with photos of senior day, four years after he stepped on the court. After we cap off an undefeated league season and the best record in college basketball. I believe the article said we announced his signing in 2001. It is 2006.Who is behind this? Is the coach in the blind quote an A-10 coach (it would presumably not be Chaney, who signed Keith Butler)?

If this is when the article was ready, so be it. But it is not eactly a shocking revelation, hold much of Page 1 above the fold revelation that very gray areas occur in getting basketball players and big athletes in school?

Given all the stories about Pakistan and terrorism, reports that the Administration is cracking down on leaks to reporters, the really disquieting story about handicapped people being denied transportation service etc., why the absolutely etraordinary play for this story about one college basketball player? It really is unusual play for any piece in the Post, including investigative pieces.

How may decades have there been discussions of this issue? Wasn't there a movie, Blue Chips, in the '70's and 80's. If this clarifies college basketball or makes GW a better place,  that's great. Is this a problem, yes. Been so for years. The Post is entitled to report what it wants in any case and it has contributed greatly to socieyt.  We can take our lumps and if we are the only ones with these gray area questions, shame on us. But it's also reasonable to epect across the board perspective and in these things, the goal is also really to answer questions as well as raise them.

There's no question that the article was not good for the team, the school, or any of us who are sharing in this "special season", but if you feel that the WP crossed a line, than hurt them the only way you can, with your wallet.!

Cancel your subsciptions, boycott their advertisers, don't send traffic to their websites, wipe your a** with the epress (which btw is quite inferior to the Eaminer).  As with most traditional newspapers in this country, they are already suffering from reduced readership and if you feel that you were attacked, than fight back!

Personally, I think this is a pretty good piece of investigative journalism that could have easily been written about 250 D1 programs, but our recent success, and the WP's Pro-MD, Pro-G'town, bias combine to make us an easy target.

BTW, has anyone else noticed how much Gary Williams looks like this (not safe for work/family) guy?

Big Fan nailed it. There are a lot of ways that the Post could have been more fair in this story, specifically noting that many other programs are in this boat, that it reflects flaws in the clearinghouse system, etc. I also think the line about "raising questions" about GW's success was WAY out of line. And I think the use of an anonymous source is always a bad idea, particularly when it's a hoops coach with an a to grind.

That said, I find few of the raving posters here questioning the facts in this article. The facts are very damning. That doesn't make Karl Hobbs a shady character or Omar Williams a bad guy. (sidenote -- very few if any of us know Omar Williams but we are all saying what a good man he is. We have no basis for that, really. Still, based on the coach's comments, his general demeanor on and off the court and reports about his academic progress, my take is that he is is a solid young man who is making the most of his opportunity).

In any event, we are making ourselves look like idiots with our attacks on the Post's motives, comparing this to Janet Cooke, profanity-laced emails, SEC-related conspiracy, etc...As someone posted, we are risking becoming like the other hypersensitive hoops boards where no one has any connection to reality.

Let's just enjoy our season, understand that success leads to scrutiny but continue to have faith that Hobbs will do things the right way. I feel bad that Omar was singled out but, again, the facts are not being questioned. As someone in the journalism field, I feel just as offended when someone unfairly questions the motives of a reporter as I do when people spread untruths about the Colonials.

IMO, this would have been a big story when Omar was admitted 4 years ago.  The comment that Omar "shouldn't have been admitted" rings hollow in hindsight.  He's proven himself capable by maintaining eligibility and even graduating on time.  In my mind, that demonstrates that admitting him WAS acceptable.  Giving a guy a 2nd chance isn't a problem, and it's only after we evaluate what was done with that chance that we know if it was worth the risk or not.  Attilla Cosby's case why we shouldn't have given him a 2nd chance is just as clear as Omars why we should have.  We have to leave it to the coaches/admissions cmte to determine who deserves a chance and who doesn't.  Obviously his basketball prowess playes a role in his admission.  I'm pretty sure my hailing from Kentucky instead of New Jersey helped me get admitted too.  We all bring something to the table.

So if this came to light in 2001/2002, there would be a legitimate argument that Omar wasn't worthy of admission to GW (although we don't know what the admissions cmte's true motivation was).  However, now that we have 20/20 hindsight, it's pretty difficult to say he isn't worthy.

But that's all aside from the fact that the NCAA Clearinghouse clears players to play Div 1 basketball.  There is not even a charge that GW broke any rules, only that someone doesn't deem Omar worthy of admission in spite of his subsequent success.