AU men's basketball has academic scandal; players positive about upcoming season

By Chris Rickerson | Sports editor

Augusta University men’s basketball will be without Coach Dip Metress for the first five games of the season after he and his assistant coach aided a student-athlete on an online exam last spring.

Metress was first suspended for six weeks without salary, but after the investigation AU Human Resources concluded, he had only served five weeks unpaid. Therefore, Metress will be suspended for the first two exhibition games and the first three regular-season games of the upcoming season.

Former assistant coach O’Neal Armstrong was fired after his involvement in helping the student-athlete cheat on the virtual exam. According to an article by The Augusta Press (based primarily on documents from a Georgia Open Records request), Armstrong denied answering questions for the athlete, but after an investigation by AU HR and based on video and transcripts from the Criminal Justice exam, it was determined that he did assist with answering test questions. The investigation also stated that Metress tacitly promoted the cheating and knew his assistant coach was with the player while the latter was taking the exam.

As a result, Armstrong was terminated on Aug. 27 for failing to comply with NCAA bylaws.

Armstrong has not spoken about the outcome of the situation. The Bell Ringer attempted to get in contact with him via email, but Armstrong did not respond.

Metress responded to an email, but he said he cannot talk about the situation.

“I am unable to comment at this time,” wrote Metress.

The report also stated that Metress was too involved with his players’ academics, even helping them with assignments and having access to confidential information. “You assumed academic responsibilities that were outside their job positions/descriptions,” according to the report.

The AU men’s basketball program will also suffer several other penalties due to this incident. The program will lose one of its 10 scholarships in Fall 2022 and will also have to forfeit its nine wins from the 2020-2021 season. In addition, the university will not be allowed to have any presidential exemption admissions beginning in Fall 2022.

The Jaguars will begin their season on Nov. 12 at Barton College without Metress. Zach Tinkham, previously second-year volunteer assistant coach, has stepped up as the assistant coach and will be one of the main coaches at the first three regular season games. Tinkham recently graduated from Marywood University in Pennsylvania in May of 2020, played four years of college basketball and was a team captain.

“It’s a little strange having someone so young be a presence on the court, but his knowledge of the game is under no question and he has worked under one of the great Division II basketball coaches in Dip Metress,” said senior forward Jack Johnson of Tinkham.

Johnson also said former UConn player and AU assistant coach Lenny Carlson will be returning to help with the team in the absence of Metress. Carlson’s last coaching position was as a volunteer assistant coach from 2006 through 2018 at AU alongside Metress. Carlson is a long-time evaluator of basketball talent who played military ball at Fort Gordon. Carlson helped integrate AU’s basketball program in its early stages when he was an assistant under Marvin Vanover. Carlson would go on to coach at Indiana State before returning to Augusta to assistant Metress.

“I know his penalty right now is for the first three games and really it is not much of a difference for us,” said Johnson about Metress. “We have Coach Tinkham, as I mentioned, and Coach Carlson who has stepped out of retirement as well. We don’t see this as an obstacle. We just see it as a part of the season, and it is not taking too much effort to step over it.”

Johnson also says expectations are still high, and the Jaguars will continue to compete at a high level.

“We have a lot of talent coming into this year, and we are returning some of our key players from last year, especially Troy Cracknell and Miguel Arnold, and some very talented transfers in David Viti and Ja’Queze Kirby,” said Johnson. “We still have very high expectations for ourself and the locker room talk has been not just winning a Peach championship, but a national championship.” 

Note: At the top of the page, Dip Metress appears at the left. O’Neal Armstrong is third from the left. (staff photo)

Contact Chris Rickerson at crickerson@augusta.edu.