Knight to return to action next month for Lehigh
12/9/2005 2:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
That bylaw states: "The calculation of credit hours to meet this requirement [the cumulative credits required under the progress toward degree bylaw] shall be based upon hours earned or accepted for degree credit."
Prior to his arrival at Lehigh as a transfer student, Joe Knight had completed 93 hours (credits). He has completed an additional 35 in his first year at Lehigh. Lehigh interpreted the bylaw such that Knight had met the provisions of the progress toward degree requirements because these were all credit hours that were “earned” even though some of those completed hours do not apply to the Lehigh degree program Knight is pursuing.
Lehigh felt comfortable that Knight’s overall college progress met the NCAA provisions defined by the bylaw, but submitted an official request for interpretation because Knight’s total number of credits toward his Lehigh degree was less than the number that would normally be expected for a fifth year student. Lehigh was quite surprised to learn of the differing interpretation and appealed the interpretation through the standard NCAA process. Throughout the cumbersome and time-consuming process, Lehigh chose to keep Knight out of competition. The decision to withhold his participation ultimately helped avoid further game penalties.
The NCAA has interpreted the language in the bylaw such that only the credits earned that are applicable to his Lehigh degree program can be used to fulfill his progress toward degree requirements, even though the specific language as written seems to indicate that credits “earned OR accepted for degree credit” would be applicable.
Joe Knight remains in good academic standing, and he is on track to earn his Lehigh degree in June. Knight will have completed more than the required number of hours by the end of the fall 2005 semester. At that point, he will have met the NCAA expectation for completed credits at the certifying institution (Lehigh), and will need just the spring semester and one course in the first summer session to graduate with his Lehigh degree. In addition to completing his Lehigh degree in June 2006, Knight will have completed an additional 57 college credits at the time of his graduation.
The misinterpretation and misapplication of the bylaw on the part of Lehigh resulted in the assignment by the NCAA of a penalty wherein Knight is required to sit out several games in addition to the ones already missed. Joe Knight will be eligible to return to the court when Lehigh hosts Navy on January 11.
