Texas to launch review of academic-athletic ties

The President of the University of Texas is calling for an independent review of its academic support system for athletics in the wake of allegations detailed last week by The Chronicle of Higher Education.

UT president Greg Fenves told the Austin American-Statesman on Monday that the review will be conducted by attorney Gene Marsh, who spent nine years on the NCAA's Committee on Infractions beginning in the late 1990s.

The allegations center on three players recruited during Rick Barnes' tenure as the Texas men's basketball coach: P.J. Tucker, J'Covan Brown and Martez Walker. Barnes was fired this year and now coaches at Tennessee.

Fenves told the American-Statesman that Marsh already is looking into three specific allegations cited by the Chronicle.

"We take every allegation seriously, and we are looking into that," Fenves told the newspaper. "We felt Gene Marsh will get to the bottom of it, but at this point, I have no concerns there were improprieties. It's prudent and responsible to look at them in depth."

Texas released a statement last week that said it "has no information that suggests" Barnes knew of or was involved in any academic improprieties.

The statement continued, "we determined that the university had no knowledge of two former student-athletes allegedly receiving improper help with high school coursework before they enrolled."