*** Friday afternoon Clemson Athletics Director Terry Don Phillips was joined by Dori Helms, Clemson's Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, where the two met with reporters in the Banks McFadden Auditorium to address Clemson's report on admissions procedures. The following is an edited transcript.

"We greatly appreciate President James Barker putting the Task Force together. It greatly affects a lot of things, including recruiting, and how we go about determining the admissions process."

"The people on the committee have brought a lot of information with regard to educating on exactly what is happening out in the field, how other schools are recruiting, and what issues they're facing."

"At the end of the day we believe we came up with a solution that provides a level playing field and addresses academic integrity. Those were the charges. And we believe we accomplished that."

Question: How did the National Letter of Intent get moved back to where it became an issue?

Dori Helms: "There were several reasons for that. We typically looked at records in saying that this was a prospect that maybe we shouldn't continue to go after (way back in the fall), which happens at all institutions. What happened this time is that we got up to the point of the release of the NLI, and we were still waiting for records from the fall. The time crunch caught us. Also, there was a renewed concern from the people in the AARC that we really shouldn't issue an NLI to a prospect that we probably were not going to admit in the spring."

"This was a case where we had good intentions as a committee, but didn't realize what the effects would be from those good intentions of making sure that a student could sign with someone else if we were not going to sign that person. It has become very apparent in our interactions when you do that, you're not looking at the full record of the student. You're looking at what happened in the junior year or scores from the junior year. You're looking at grades from the fall semester, at best. We really needed to wait until the spring to look at the total academic record to see what happens with the NCAA qualifications according to the core grade reports. In that case the NLI had to be there and had to be signed. So that's one of the important things we have done. We needed to unhook the release of the NLI from the decisions we make on a student and whether or not he comes to the university."

Question: Would these changes have taken place had there not been such a huge public outcry?

Dori Helms: "I think so. Terry Don had to come to me with these more so than he had in the past. It was a concern to both of us. We would have probably asked to review this process had there not been a public outcry, but certainly this was a piece that pushed us to do it and to examine it."

Question: Were you surprised at the reaction this got on National Signing Day?

Dori Helms: "Yes."

Question: You never saw that coming?

Dori Helms: "I never saw that reaction over two people who were not admitted coming. There are lots of other schools who have turned down two, three, four, five. I think it was the timing that created the problem and the outcry. Remember when we did this, none of these kids were NCAA qualified yet. Some of them will not get into the schools that they signed with because they won't be NCAA qualified in the end."

Question: Do you feel like this resolution (issuing of the NLI) will help you avoid further controversy?

Terry Don Phillips: "Yes, because it allows our coaches to continue to recruit and issue the NLI before the admissions decision is made. It's a practice of other universities, so that's an important step."

Question: Essentially what you're saying is that you'll still admit at the same level of academic expectancies from the past except the steps taken now simply extend the deadline and buy more time for potential student-athletes.

Terry Don Phillips: "We'll have the benefit of going through the entire (senior) year, and decisions will be made, mostly in June and July after all the information is in."

Question: If a kid has a 2.5 core GPA for example, and an 820 on the SAT, if he's NCAA qualified, do you see any scenario whatsoever where you would not admit him?

Terry Don Phillips: "I don't want to get in specific situations, because there are a lot of things that could come into play. The essence of what we're doing with the academic progress rate, and the graduation success rate, using those provide great flexibility for our programs, so long as they continue to be strong, we have good solid flexibility."

"What I'm trying to say to you is that this isn't a situation where everyone out there that is NCAA qualified gets in, regardless because they're going to be reviewed by the admissions director, but the significant difference is that they're going to be reviewed in context of the performance of a particular program."

Question: So if the football coaching staff for example is recruiting the No. 10 linebacker recruit in the nation, he's NCAA qualified, there is a chance that the prospect may not be able to get in without a Presidential Admit, correct?

Terry Don Phillips: "We would go through the process with the admissions director, go through all the files, look at the individual sport and where it is relative to their APR and GPR, and make a determination whether or not an additional review would be needed."

"Again, I go back to that we have very good flexibility. Our coaches can recruit aggressively and effectively because they'll know what their status is going into the year regarding the performance of their program. I believe we would be in good shape."

Question: Do any other ACC and SEC programs incorporate the APR and GSR into this process, in terms of giving the benefit of the doubt to certain programs?

Terry Don Phillips: "Not at this time. But I think that's going to be a natural progression you'll see with other programs. I can't say that with certainty."

"The APR is a measure of retention and eligibility. If you remain solid in that, that says you're retaining your kids, moving them toward a degree, and ultimately having a good solid graduation success rate."

"On the reverse side of that, if it falls below a certain measure, for example if it falls below a 925, and you lose points based on points and retention eligibility, you lose scholarships. You could lose up to ten percent of your scholarships. Now, if you want to be disadvantaged, start loosing scholarships. That's the whole point of the APR. Now, I know it's new, and a lot of people don't understand it. People talk about a level playing field, advantages and disadvantages; again, I go back, if you begin to lose scholarships, those kids you want to sign, you don't have scholarships to sign them to."

"This helps us measure a program, our individual programs, but at the same time you don't want to get on the negative side of 925 because then it could have a significant (negative) impact to your program. It's a logical process of how you review the academic health of your program."