Here’s a different kind of college scandal.
It doesn’t involve bribery or free flights on Sean Hannity’s private jet.
This is a story of how an unnoticed clerical error wiped out college athletes’ careers, saw UMass stripped of an Atlantic-10 Championship and cast a shadow on the last two years of legendary UMass coach Judy Dixon’s distinguished 25-year career.
As ESPN’s Howard Bryant reported in November 2020, the story is particularly infuriating because there was no corruption. No one on the UMass tennis team gained a real or perceived advantage on court or off.
The “illegal payments” were for phone jacks for two cellphone-using players who didn’t want or need phone jacks.
The individual reimbursements were small enough they weren’t even noticed at the time. The total involved was $504, or $252 per player.
As UMass Athletic Director Ryan Bamford told Bryant:
“We gained no advantage. We did not discredit or disagree with any of the facts of the case. We admitted we made clerical errors, but we did not compromise the collegiate model. Our women’s tennis team essentially forfeited a conference championship because of a telecom fee, a fee which, by the way, doesn't even exist anymore. It was eliminated because everyone uses cellphones. There’s no need to pay for a hardwired phone jack anymore.”
I didn’t notice the ESPN story when it appeared on Election Day. And only just became aware of the case when, possibly as a result of my launching the #HannityCollegeScandal hashtag on Twitter, I saw @Brittcollens22 among my new followers.
Digging into the story only infuriated me more, so I invited Brittany Collens to do this email Q&A:
An interview with Brittany Collens
Tell us about your tennis career at U. Mass.
I was a sophomore transfer at UMass, Amherst. I played my first year at New Mexico State University on a full scholarship. It was important to me to come home and be close to my family especially my grandparents (Nana and Papa). They helped raise me and I felt like I had worked so hard and my family worked so hard to get me to where I was and they couldn't see the tennis.
I had a nice career at UMass especially my senior year. One of my best accomplishments as an individual was originally being the first alternate for the qualifying of ITA Regionals. I ended up getting in and winning qualifying and then making it to the quarterfinals of the tournament.
The ending of my college career was spectacular. We had a great season and ended up winning the Atlantic-10 Conference Title for the first time in over 20 years. We were the underdog and in the final vs VCU we were losing pretty bad and it seemed like a done deal. But the coolest thing about our win was that it was like a really slow slow comeback and you could see match by match how the tide was turning. But you had to focus on your own match so it was hard to tell haha.
We won and had the privilege of going to NCAA’s that year.
And then you became a professional tennis player?
After graduating in 2017 I knew I would be turning professional in the late summer. I spent the summer making a lot of changes with my coach Tim Mayotte (former top 10). I knew my junior year I wanted to push myself further and Tim thought that I was a coachable player who could really do something with my tennis. My first year was amazing and I did the entry-level tournaments. I mostly traveled to Turkey, Egypt, and Tunisia.
Once advancing I was able to travel to a lot of places like most of Europe and Australia but my second year in I suffered from two really bad back injuries that had me in and out of the season for about a year.
I started last year strong having some good wins over players and unfortunately the pandemic set in. Recently I’ve started playing a secondary tour to stay healthy and fit while I wait to go back on WTA/ITF tour. So far so good in 2021 so knock on wood!
Then what happened?
Oddly, last October I was driving home from my practice and as I pulled in I received a text from my coaches. It was a press release statement from the NCAA saying “UMass Gives $9,100 in Impermissible Benefits to College Athletes.” I honestly didn’t even click the link I just said that’s too bad. Then my coaches responded and said “no britt, didn’t you play on the team during 14-17” and that’s when I was like, “what?” I ended up reading about an investigation that I was in the middle of and they had already handed out the punishment which I learned was vacating most of my career at UMass, and my teammates too because any event I played in was deemed an on-court advantage.
I couldn’t figure out what I had done wrong because the title was so misleading and I didn’t understand what a telecom fee was (which I had apparently received illegally). I called my Athletics Director and coach and learned that there was an admin error where someone distributed a stipend meant for on-campus athletes to cover at the time a landline. The stipend of $252 was directly deposited into my bank account and my teammates in our lump sum of money but because we had just moved off campus we were not entitled to it.
UMass found this minor error and self-reported it. The NCAA originally agreed to a 2-year probation and a $5,000 school fine since it was a minor mistake and self-reported. However, the Committee on Infractions came back and said I had on-court advantages and would need to vacate any match I played in. I think it’s important to note this includes my senior year, our A-10 Title. Even though the fee was only distributed once my junior year by mistake.
The NCAA have also lumped us in with basketball who had different accounting errors. So out of the $9,100, we account for $504 and we all get the same punishment.
The ruling seems harsh. It seems like a commonsense review of the facts would have the ruling overturned. What is the current status of your case with NCAA?
It is incredibly harsh and in NCAA history we have seen time and time again that they let so many things slide without punishment at all even when the rules are broken with intent. In our case, a mid-major school had the integrity to self-report a small unintentional error and actually play by the rules and they give out the harshest punishment ever. It’s because they need to hold up their amateurism rules or the whole system falls apart.
The appeals process has started. Our Athletics Dirctor Ryan Bamford is one of the good guys in college athletics and I have felt like he has always put the athletes first. He’s fighting really hard to leave the athletes out of the punishment. This situation is hard because I had asked the NCAA to be a part of the hearing and trial because frankly, my bank account has never dropped below $252 meaning I never used that money. But since I am not entitled to due process as an athlete (we are not members apparently of the NCAA) then my teammates just have to wait for an answer.
We are not expected to hear anything about the appeal until mid-to-late-spring.
It was recently revealed by Salon.com that Sean Hannity gave the Wake Forest tennis team some “perks” worth way more than $504, including use of the Hannity private jet for his son’s tennis team. To me, that seems like a scandal at the “Aunt Becky” level, but the NCAA seems to have given Hannity and Wake Forest a pass. Is there a double standard being applied here or in other cases you are aware of?
There’s a lot of hypocrisy with the NCAA. Their headliner is about protecting their athletes but it’s impossible to protect the athletes when you are not impartial to the business arrangement you have with them. The schools that make them money get free passes all the time. But for the schools who don’t matter like us, well then they need to put up a front to show the world that they are who they say they are. The governing body of college sports.
But how can you be the rule maker, the investigator, the judge, and the punisher, all in one? Seems to be like a total imbalance of power. It becomes even more complicated when they are a multi-billion dollar industry that relies on the rules and outcomes to generate that money.
I think our situation demonstrates a total lack of fairness. The athletes did nothing wrong yet they will take on the harshest punishment. It just shows how much power the NCAA has.
What are you hoping to achieve next?
Since this has all happened I have really been involved in the NCAA reform world. There is a bigger picture out there. It would be amazing to get our wins back but we have the memories and this process has taught me so much. I have been connected with the most amazing people like Taylor Branch and Sonny Vacarro and so many more to discuss the inequities of college sports and where we need to do better.
There are so many athletes that have power-struggle relationships with their coaches and there is no good system in place right now to protect athletes or allow them to safely report it. The people you report it to are usually the people causing the pain for the athlete.
So for me, I am really pushing legislation like NIL (“Name Image & Likeness”) bills. I am working closely with Mass. Rep Steven Howitt and have gotten several Mass Reps and Senators to co-sign HD.337 early. I am also getting involved in Federal legislation like Senator Booker’s College Athlete Bill of Rights as well as speaking with Senator Murphy’s team. Before any of this happened I didn’t know that there were people out there fighting for athletes’ rights to have a voice or to have a little bit of control over their college athletic experience.
I feel like the money can be distributed so much better where it can go into programs that prioritize the health and safety of athletes as well as better resources for some schools where managing their education is harder. Giving athletes the option to have a little bit of economic security so that they don’t have to choose between abusive situations in college or continuing their education would be so impactful. Providing safer environments like impartial investigations for athletes would also be great.
I think the biggest thing I can say about these bills is that people sometimes misinterpret them for college players just wanting to be paid on top of their scholarship. It’s more about the behind-the-scenes things that spectators can’t see. It’s about giving them a say in a relationship where they really have zero say at all.
In the short term, one of the most important things we are doing is trying to get signatures as possible to get our situation overturned. You can help by sharing and signing our petition: https://www.change.org/UMTennisPetition.
I am also doing charity work by raising money for The College Athlete Advocacy Initiative. They help players who need representation but may not be able to afford it when their rights have been violated. This may be an athlete who has been physically or mentally abused. They also have been pushing awareness campaigns (like I am) on the major legislation coming up that we need to push our officials to pass.
By buying a shirt/sweatshirt/crewneck all proceeds with go to the charity and help not only raise awareness for us but also provide athletes with legal help they need.
Don’t forget to sign Brittany’s petition! Follow her @Brittcollens22 on Twitter and Instagram.
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