Yale is investigating claims by football coach Tom Williams that he was a candidate for a Rhodes scholarship at Stanford nearly 20 years ago.
The school began an investigation Thursday, a day after the New York Times reported that officials form the Rhodes Trust said they had no record of Williams applying for the scholarship when he graduated from Stanford in 1992.
Williams referred to himself as a Rhodes candidate on his resume, the Times reported.
The issue came to light recently as Yale quarterback Patrick Witt was forced to make a decision between playing in Saturday's game against Harvard, or traveling to Atlanta for a Rhodes scholarship interview. Witt decided to play in "The Game," forgoing a chance at being a Rhodes scholarship.
Williams made statements that he once had to make a similar decision, choosing to attend a mini-camp for the San Francisco 49ers instead of going to an interview as a Rhodes candidate.
According to the New York Times, Williams tried to clarify his statements on Wednesday.
"I was in the preliminary stages at Stanford and I had to decide," he said. "But the interview wasn't official."
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On Thursday, Williams said he was endorsed to apply for the scholarship by a faculty adviser, but never followed through.
"There is no intent to deceive," Williams said. "I never said I was a finalist for the Rhodes candidacy. The Rhodes shouldn't have any record of me, because I didn't do it. I didn't go through the process. I pulled out long before it got to that point."
Yale President Richard Levin released a statement on Thursday announcing he had instructed the university's general counsel "to commence immediately a review of the facts surrounding Tom Williams' assertions about being a candidate for a Rhodes scholarship."
