You’re reading a story from Sidelines 100, a project showcasing a century of student storytelling at Middle Tennessee State University. Sidelines 100 plans to highlight 100 stories from the newspaper archives this fall and spring.

This story originally ran in the March 28, 1980, edition of Sidelines. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay on top of all things Sidelines 100.

The story has been updated for current basic AP style, but the wording in the story has not changed. Any ideas, perspectives or opinions do not necessarily reflect those of Sidelines.

Recent disclosures from the FBI was investigating several NCAA schools for alleged transcript doctoring have raised some eyebrows, but if MTSU athletic director Charles “Bubber” Murphy has anything to do with it, the Blue Raiders will never be involved in such a scandal.

The scandal has reached such tremendous proportions that several coaches have resigned under fire and one is even being charged in court with fraud.

“I don’t think any of this goes on in the OVC,” Murphy said of the transcript doctoring. “I’ve talked to many of the other athletic directors around the conference, and we all feel that conference is okay.”

“As long as you go by NCAA rules, you won’t get in trouble,” he continued. “We used to be able to get a boy’s transcripts from his high school, but we can’t anymore. We aren’t allowed to.”

Instead, a recruit must send his high school transcripts to the dean of admissions. The transcripts must be broken down into the four-point grading systems, instead of the A-B-C-D-F scale as used by most high schools. Therefore, Murphy feels the university would not be liable for any wrongdoings if the college does not have direct access to a student’s high school records.

“If any cheating goes on, it would have to be the school that sent the transcripts,” Murphy said. “we don’t have any chances to do anything with the transcript. And if we did have a chance, we wouldn’t.”

MTSU has never been involved in any type of illegal practices and has never been placed on probation. However, Murphy said, several years ago the conference used a conversion table that transferred SAT scores to ACT scores. Former OVC commissioner Art Guepe asked the NCAA for a ruling as to whether or not the use of SAT scores was legal, and it was ruled as illegal.

The results were that the athletes were deemed ineligible that entered school under the plan, but the individual schools did not get in trouble. MTSU lost only one player.

As for the current scandal, Murphy feels the dimensions have been blown out of proportion.

“I don’t think it is as big as people are led to believe,” Murphy admitted. “There is some violations going on, but people are led to believe everybody is doing it.”

MTSU assistant basketball coach Larry Slaughter, who oversees basketball recruiting, has found that the scandal has raised some questions in the minds of many possible athletes.

“About the only thing I have found is that the athletes ask more questions, as do their parents and coaches,” he said. “For example, they ask if the athlete gets in trouble academically, will we send him some place else to raise his grades? The answer is no. We may try and get them to go to summer school, but we don’t send them some place else to raise their grades. That’s where these other schools have gotten in trouble.”

Slaughter went on and stressed that his bosses, coach Stan Simpson and athletic director Murphy, impress him on the importance of recruiting legally.

“We try to keep everything honest,” Slaughter explained. “We don’t want to get our program in trouble, so we stay on the up and up.”

Murphy agrees with assistant coach.

“No, I have never seen any recruiting violations here,” he said. “We give the coaches a pamphlet and tell them to read it. It tells them what they can and can’t do. We have never been on probation and don’t ever plan on it.”

To contact the Sidelines 100 editor, email sidelines100@mtsusidelines.com.

For more news, visit www.mtsusidelines.com, and follow us on Facebook at MTSU Sidelines and on X and Instagram at @mtsusidelines. Also, sign up for our weekly newsletter here.