I think people are getting angry because wording seemingly suggested there was "cheating" going on. While athletes are given advantages, those are not cheating because they are not prohibited and not academically dishonest. The perks of athletics are uneven, but ubiquitous.
My sons were recruited for "Olympic" sports. In the Ivy League there are no athletic scholarships, but one of the perks to being an athlete is admission to an institution with prestige that you might not have been admitted to, but for your participation in sport. This is true even at the D3 level.
Years ago SI had an article about big time college football training tables. The players are served great food, more abundant than in other student cafeterias, if not unlimited. Big linemen might have special diets to follow to loose weight. Everyone is getting protein from muscle growth.
In some places, like faculty lounges, it is difficult to accept that an academically competitive student body is drawn to a school where they can watch major college basketball on winter nights. It is easy for professors to resent the coaches salaries, and see the programs as costly excess. There were/are academics who favor ending the existence of college athletics. Lawrence Summers, before he aspired to the Fed Chair, was President of Harvard and I believe he wrote in support of dismantling interscholastic athletics. So, I understand why the teams have to know who is going to grade a student down for missing classes when they have a game in Germany.
