A Second Chance for Tarnished Athletes
Young men facing serious charges such as sexual assault or felony drug dealing often are booted from college sports teams as coaches face pressure to take a hard line about off-field misconduct.
But when such behavior gets them kicked off of one team, the players may get another shot at stardom elsewhere.
At least 108 college athletes who faced serious charges—including armed robbery and rape—were accepted by another school’s sports program, often on scholarship, from 2011 through June 2016, according to a Wall Street Journal review of team disciplinary actions and criminal charges against football and men’s basketball players at Division I schools.
The tally includes charges that resulted in plea deals or convictions for assault and battery, narcotics trafficking, violent sexual crimes and weapons possession. It doesn’t count charges related to drunken driving, traffic infractions or misdemeanor marijuana possession, nor does it include cases handled internally at schools that didn’t reach the legal system, those where an individual was found not guilty or those where charges were outright dismissed.
Alex Figueroa is one of the promising student-athletes with legal baggage who have been given a second chance.
Mr. Figueroa lost his spot as a linebacker at the University of Miami after he was arrested and then charged with sexual battery of an intoxicated 17-year-old girl in the summer of 2014, according to school statements and police and court documents.
Mr. Figueroa, in an interview, maintains the sex was consensual. But to avoid what could have been a lengthy legal process and, if convicted, a prison term, he took a deferred prosecution deal on felony charges of sexual battery with multiple perpetrators, and agreed to sex-offender treatment and community service.
Then Mr. Figueroa went back to playing college football.
Now 22 years old, he spent the past two seasons at Garden City Community College in Kansas, helping the Broncbusters win the 2016 National Junior College Athletic Association championship. He transferred to the University of Central Oklahoma this semester, with a full scholarship to play on its Division II football team.
John Green, athletic director at Garden City, said small classes and close relationships with administrators and coaches help keep student-athletes in line.
“We’re not just prostituting these kids for athletic ability,” he said. “We are going to challenge them to do the right thing.” He counts Mr. Figueroa as a success story.
Central Oklahoma athletics spokesman Chris Brannick declined to comment on Mr. Figueroa specifically but said the university tries to provide a “positive environment” for students.
Mr. Figueroa completed his deferred prosecution deal last March, meaning the charges have been dropped. He said he buckled down on school work at Garden City, even earning a handful of As, and had support from his family and girlfriend.
“They had my back,” he said of the school. He still hopes to make it to the National Football League.
Of course, athletes aren’t the only ones who commit crimes or otherwise cause trouble on college campuses, but they often receive generous scholarship packages and play an outsize role representing their schools, sometimes on national television, as part of the billion-dollar college sports industry.
And while there have been efforts in recent years to open the doors of higher learning wider to people with criminal pasts, including by the Obama administration, some schools are accepting athletes with serious criminal records without fully vetting them, activists say.
Still, of the tens of thousands of athletes playing football and men’s basketball for Division I schools, only a fraction are suspended each year for violations.
A few hundred Division I football players, and more than a thousand basketball players, announced plans to transfer in the five years reviewed by the Journal, for reasons that include seeking more playing time or disciplinary issues.
Supporters of second chances for college athletes say participation in organized sports, with their discipline and teamwork, can help troubled youth.
Alabama football coach Nick Saban, who has given another shot to a number of athletes after off-field legal issues, has said he would rather see players pursuing degrees than be on the streets, and that there are more success stories than failed attempts at rehabilitation.
Others disagree. “Coaches pitch it as, ‘They need second chances,’ not realizing the second chance is probably not the second chance. It’s probably the third or fourth or fifth,” said Kathy Redmond, founder of the National Coalition Against Violent Athletes, which provides legal guidance and counseling to victims of assaults by athletes.
She said a number of such cases haven’t gone through the courts, so the students don’t have criminal records—which is the threshold some schools have for barring players. Yet in situations that were handled by school judicial panels or coaches, she said, team recruiters could likely find out about such disciplinary issues if they asked.
Young men facing serious charges such as sexual assault or felony drug dealing often are booted from college sports teams as coaches face pressure to take a hard line about off-field misconduct.
But when such behavior gets them kicked off of one team, the players may get another shot at stardom elsewhere.
At least 108 college athletes who faced serious charges—including armed robbery and rape—were accepted by another school’s sports program, often on scholarship, from 2011 through June 2016, according to a Wall Street Journal review of team disciplinary actions and criminal charges against football and men’s basketball players at Division I schools.
The tally includes charges that resulted in plea deals or convictions for assault and battery, narcotics trafficking, violent sexual crimes and weapons possession. It doesn’t count charges related to drunken driving, traffic infractions or misdemeanor marijuana possession, nor does it include cases handled internally at schools that didn’t reach the legal system, those where an individual was found not guilty or those where charges were outright dismissed.
Alex Figueroa is one of the promising student-athletes with legal baggage who have been given a second chance.
Mr. Figueroa lost his spot as a linebacker at the University of Miami after he was arrested and then charged with sexual battery of an intoxicated 17-year-old girl in the summer of 2014, according to school statements and police and court documents.
Mr. Figueroa, in an interview, maintains the sex was consensual. But to avoid what could have been a lengthy legal process and, if convicted, a prison term, he took a deferred prosecution deal on felony charges of sexual battery with multiple perpetrators, and agreed to sex-offender treatment and community service.
Then Mr. Figueroa went back to playing college football.
Now 22 years old, he spent the past two seasons at Garden City Community College in Kansas, helping the Broncbusters win the 2016 National Junior College Athletic Association championship. He transferred to the University of Central Oklahoma this semester, with a full scholarship to play on its Division II football team.
John Green, athletic director at Garden City, said small classes and close relationships with administrators and coaches help keep student-athletes in line.
“We’re not just prostituting these kids for athletic ability,” he said. “We are going to challenge them to do the right thing.” He counts Mr. Figueroa as a success story.
Central Oklahoma athletics spokesman Chris Brannick declined to comment on Mr. Figueroa specifically but said the university tries to provide a “positive environment” for students.
Mr. Figueroa completed his deferred prosecution deal last March, meaning the charges have been dropped. He said he buckled down on school work at Garden City, even earning a handful of As, and had support from his family and girlfriend.
“They had my back,” he said of the school. He still hopes to make it to the National Football League.
Of course, athletes aren’t the only ones who commit crimes or otherwise cause trouble on college campuses, but they often receive generous scholarship packages and play an outsize role representing their schools, sometimes on national television, as part of the billion-dollar college sports industry.
And while there have been efforts in recent years to open the doors of higher learning wider to people with criminal pasts, including by the Obama administration, some schools are accepting athletes with serious criminal records without fully vetting them, activists say.
Still, of the tens of thousands of athletes playing football and men’s basketball for Division I schools, only a fraction are suspended each year for violations.
A few hundred Division I football players, and more than a thousand basketball players, announced plans to transfer in the five years reviewed by the Journal, for reasons that include seeking more playing time or disciplinary issues.
Supporters of second chances for college athletes say participation in organized sports, with their discipline and teamwork, can help troubled youth.
Alabama football coach Nick Saban, who has given another shot to a number of athletes after off-field legal issues, has said he would rather see players pursuing degrees than be on the streets, and that there are more success stories than failed attempts at rehabilitation.
Others disagree. “Coaches pitch it as, ‘They need second chances,’ not realizing the second chance is probably not the second chance. It’s probably the third or fourth or fifth,” said Kathy Redmond, founder of the National Coalition Against Violent Athletes, which provides legal guidance and counseling to victims of assaults by athletes.
She said a number of such cases haven’t gone through the courts, so the students don’t have criminal records—which is the threshold some schools have for barring players. Yet in situations that were handled by school judicial panels or coaches, she said, team recruiters could likely find out about such disciplinary issues if they asked.
