The University of Rhode Island, where beleaguered tennis coach Gordon Ernst currently coaches the women’s team, released a statement on Friday asserting that it had no knowledge of Ernst’s suspected involvement in a nationwide college entrance bribery scheme when it hired him last summer. Ernst allegedly accepted bribes to help 12 students earn admission as tennis recruits to Georgetown University—where he was then a coach—though some of them did not play competitive tennis at all.

URI placed Ernst on administrative leave when the news broke on Tuesday. URI’s statement says that, before hiring Ernst, the university’s athletic director “personally called Georgetown’s athletic director in July 2018 and received a positive reference check from him.”

This, despite the fact that Georgetown asserted in a statement earlier this week that “Ernst has not coached our tennis team since December 2017, following an internal investigation that found he had violated University rules concerning admissions.”

In a statement with further detail to the Georgetown Voice, a Hoya spokesperson said that the Admissions office “discovered irregularities in the athletic credentials of students who were being recruited to play tennis. This triggered Mr. Ernst being put on leave in Dec. 2017, an internal investigation, and Mr. Ernst’s separation from the University in 2018.”

In a letter circulated to the Georgetown students, staff, and faculty, university vice presidents Lisa Brown and Erik Smulson said the university’s investigation had revealed that Ernst broke university policies, but did not discover criminal misconduct, the Voice reports.

Despite the true reason for his departure, however, Ernst was apparently given a good review from the university’s athletic director while looking for new jobs. A university spokesperson tells DCist that “it was widely known that Mr. Ernst had been on leave since Dec. 2017 and was not permitted to coach students since that time. Any statement Georgetown made after asking him to resign focused on his athletic record only.”

The university also took down a July 1, 2018 press release regarding Ernst’s resignation from the university on Tuesday, the day the scandal broke, the Voice reported. The release thanked Ernst “for the many efforts Gordie has made over the years to create a first class tennis program at the University, both athletically and academically.”

Ernst gave a statement in that press release, too: “I am lucky and blessed to have coached so many outstanding student athletes over the last 12 years. I will always cherish my time here on the hilltop and wish nothing but success for the programs in the future,” he said.

Ernst is among 50 people the FBI charged this week with either offering or accepting bribes to help the children of wealthy, well-connected parents cheat on their college entrance exams and/or earn admission to elite universities as college athletes, despite not playing competitive sports. One current student who allegedly gained admission through this scheme with Ernst wrote in her college admissions essay that she had spent years “three-four hours a day grinding out on and off court workouts with the hopes of becoming successful enough to play college tennis especially at Georgetown,” according to court documents. She did not play tennis.

Previously:
A Georgetown Junior Reportedly Schemed With Her Parents To Earn Admission Via A ‘Side Door’
Former Georgetown Tennis Coach Indicted In Widespread College Admissions Bribery Scheme