In its report to the Faculty Senate, the faculty athletic committee at the University of Tennessee evaluated grade changes among all male and female athletes and compared the findings to grade changes among the general student population, using data provided by Provost John Peters.

The committee based its analysis on the entering class of fall 1996 and considered the seven semesters between then and fall 1999. There were a total of 70 athletes and 3,566 non-athletes in that 1996 entering class. The grade changes Peters considered were of three types:

• from one passing grade to another passing grade, such as D to C.
• from "incomplete" to a passing grade, such as I to B.
• from F to passing grade, such as F to C.

Here's what the committee found in its report, according the committee chair Burton English:

Grade-change statistics
Percentage of credit hours taken involving grade changes for athletes	1.5%
Percentage of credit hours taken involving grade changes for non-athletes	0.7%
Conclusion: Athletes are twice as likely to get a grade change than regular students
Percentage of credit hours taken involving grade changes of Incomplete to a passing final grade for athletes	0.8%
Percentage of credit hours taken involving grade changes of Incomplete to a passing final grade for non-athletes	0.2%
Conclusion: Athletes are 4 times as likely to receive an Incomplete that was later changed to a passing grade
Percentage of credit hours taken involving grade changes of F to a passing grade for athletes	0.1%
Percentage of credit hours taken involving grade changes of F to a passing grade for non-athletes	0.1%
Conclusion: Athletes are just as likely to have received a failing grade changed to a passing grade
Percentage of credit hours taken involving grade changes of a passing grade to another passing grade for athletes	0.4%
Percentage of credit hours taken involving grade changes of a passing grade to another passing grade for non-athletes	0.5%
Conclusion: Athletes and non-athletes are roughly as likely to have a passing grade changed to another passing grade

Neither Peters nor the committee analyzed the grade-change data based on sport, or by the academic standing of the athletes within those sports.

To consider how football players would fare in such an analysis, Outside the Lines used the records provided by Bensel-Meyers and studied the individual grades given over the course of their academic career to those players who started at least three games on offense or defense for the Volunteers during the 1999 season.

Applying the same criteria as to what constitutes a grade change as was used by Peters and the faculty committee, the survey found that the vast majority of grade changes went to those starters with the poorest grades:

Football players' grade-change statistics
Percentage of credit hours taken involving grade changes for all starters	4.3%
Percentage of credit hours taken involving grade changes for the nine football starters who were at most risk of losing their eligibility (those with 2.2 cumulative GPA or less)	7.1%
Percentage of credit hours taken involving grade changes for the nine football starters who were at least risk of losing their eligibility (those with 2.48 cumulative GPA or better)	1.9%

So, starters in "eligibility danger zone" are:

• 3 times as likely to receive a grade change as those players with the top nine GPAs on football team
• 5 times as likely to receive a grade change as all athletes*
• 10 times as likely to receive a grade change as a non-athlete*
  * when compared to data on grade changes in the faculty athletic committee report.

Football players' grade changes involving incompletes
Percentage of credit hours taken involving grade changes of incomplete to a passing final grade for all starters	3.2%
Percentage of credit hours taken involving grade changes of incomplete to a passing final grade for the nine football starters at most risk of losing their eligibility	6.2%
Percentage of credit hours taken involving grade changes of incomplete to a passing final grade for the nine football starters at least risk of losing their eligibility	0.4%

So, starters in "eligibility danger zone" are:

• 15 times as likely as those players with the top nine GPAs on team to receive an incomplete that is later changed to a passing grade
• 8 times as likely as all athletes to receive an incomplete that is later changed to a passing grade*
• 31 times as likely as a non-athlete to receive an incomplete that is later changed to a passing grade*
  * when compared to data on grade changes in the faculty athletic committee report.