Feb 3, 2015 5 min read

The beleaguered football team at California University of Pennsylvania has been viewed on campus as entitled, overfunded and privileged, an independent review of the program found in the wake of the arrests of six players in an off-campus assault.

Others at Cal U. reported that the program’s practice of recruiting Division I players with “serious criminal backgrounds” needed to end, according to the report issued Saturday by The Compliance Group, which was hired to conduct an independent review of the program.

Cal U. hired the Kansas-based consulting firm Dec. 3 and paid it $60,000 to perform the independent review of its football program following the assault that left a man severely injured.

Chuck Smrt, who worked in the NCAA office from 1981 to 1999 investigating major infractions, led the investigation.

TCG has said its review was designed to help Cal U. “create and maintain policies and practices best-suited to recruit, retain and graduate student athletes in the football program who understand and embrace the educational opportunities.”

The football players were charged with the Oct. 30 beating of a West Chester man on Wood Street in California. The victim, Lewis Campbell III, 30, spent eight days at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh with brain trauma, but recovered from his injuries.

The players, Corey Ford, 22, of Harrisburg; James Williamson, 20, of Parkville, Md.; Jonathan Barlow, 21, of Pittsburgh; Rodney Gillin, 20, of Reading; D’Andre Dunkley, 19, of Philadelphia; and Shelby Wilkerson, 20, of Harrisburg, are awaiting trial in the assault.

Those arrests brought the number of Cal U. football players with scrapes with the law to 43 over the past two years. The majority of those players were cited for being at a disorderly house party, marijuana possession, public drunkenness, underage drinking or criminal mischief.

The review indicated former Cal U. President Angelo Armenti Jr. had “controlled the operations of the athletic program, especially football.” During his leadership, which began in 1992, a third of all sports scholarships went to football players, with costs reaching a total of $863,164 in the 2010-11 academic term, the highest amount cited in the study.

TCG did not recommend any personnel changes in the Cal U. athletic department.

The review also found that current football coach Mike Kellar was regarded as having better onfield discipline with the players, although “opinions were mixed” about how he applied punishment for off-field problems. It also suggests that Kellar recruited fewer high-risk transfers than did his predecessor, John Luckhardt.

TCG also found that Cal U.’s interim president, Geraldine Jones, has brought about significant budget cuts to the athletic programs since she took office in May 2012, reducing the perception that the football team was entitled.

“As the individual ultimately responsible for the operations of Cal U.’s intercollegiate athletics program, I will not tolerate behavior that is unworthy of our institution. I will not permit the actions of a few to tarnish the reputation of this university and its students. I expect our student-athletes to fulfill their obligations as members of a living-learning community that is focused on student success, both in academics and in life.”

Jones vowed to place a high priority on reviewing the university’s drug-testing policies.

“I will appoint a panel to evaluate potential two- and four-year transfers and other football prospects,” she said. “The decision about whether to give a ‘high-risk’ student an athletic opportunity should not lie with the coaching staff or the Athletics Department alone.”

The review resulted in 32 recommendations to Cal U., one of which involved increasing supervision at the Vulcan Village apartments, where the number of student-athletes has increased, as they are provided housing waivers to live there.

TCG also suggested increasing the involvement of campus police in the borough, as it appeared athletes have more confidence in the campus police than they do in the borough police department.

It suggests allowing police officers to address the football team and coaches each year. It also recommends integrating the football program more into community and school events.

”Campus (and borough) police are frustrated by the perceived lack of respect for authority from football student-athletes,” the report states.

Cal U. should have a “tracker chart” set up to monitor the arrests of athletes, the report states. It also recommends any athlete who is charged with a crime to self-report the arrest, something that Ford did not do when he was charged in a hit-and-run crash in Washington, D.C., in January 2014.

The university should conduct a drug test of all players by the end of 2015 and increase the number of random drug tests of athletes. It also pointed to university records that suggest the number of athletes who were drug-tested has dropped from 100 in the 2010-11 term to 35 this term.

Cal U. also needs to give presentations to entering freshman and transfer students that “details the expectations regarding the consequences of criminal behavior or misconduct generally,” the report states.

The review suggests the football program’s use of recruiting transfers has helped contribute to the problems. It recommends the college appoint either an individual or group outside of the athletics department to approve recruitment of two- or four-year transfers who are considered to be “high-risk” students.

Staff writer Emily Petsko contributed to this story.