Varsity Blues | The Side Door | 2

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0:30It's late afternoon in 2005 at the Sacramento County Day School. Classes are over and the campus has begun to empty. Groups of students drift toward the parking lot while teachers carry briefcases and armfuls of papers to their cars. Inside the headmaster's office, Steve Repture sits behind his desk, running through his schedule for the rest of the week. Country Day is one of the top private schools in Sacramento, and Repture has been its headmaster for the past two years. Yeah, come in. The chair of the math department steps inside, Closing the door behind him. Hey, Steve, you have a minute? Rapture nods toward the chair opposite him.

1:09Yeah, sure, what's up? It's about Rick Singer. Oh, not again. Yeah, I'm afraid so. Another parent called this afternoon. One of Singer's clients. They said we're grading their son too harshly and it's hurting his college application. But I assume the grade is correct? Yeah, I checked it myself. Kid has earned his C. They want me to turn it into an A - though. Rapture shakes his head. This is getting out of hand. I've got teachers who say they don't want Singer's clients in their class anymore. Not because of the kid's behavior, but because of his. I know the math department used to be regarded as a weak link around here, but we've worked hard to turn it around, so I'm upset that he's out there bad-mouthing us to parents.

1:49Yeah, yeah, I know. Well, I've tried speaking with him. I invited him to meet with me, but he never showed. I gave him another date and the same thing. No explanation? None at all. He didn't even call to apologize. So what now? Repsher leans back in his chair. Well, I've spoken with the principals at Rio Americano in Granite Bay about this. He's doing the same thing there. They've stopped inviting Singer to speak at school events, and perhaps it's time we did the same. Well, he's got plenty of support among the parents. Yeah, but the board hired me to run the school, not Rick Singer. Tomorrow morning, I'll let the staff know he's no longer welcome on campus.

2:26And if he turns up anyway, then I'll have to have security escort him off the property. Parents are entitled to hire whomever they like, but when someone starts undermining my teachers, my staff, my school, then it becomes my business. For months, Steve Repture has hoped he could resolve the issues with Rick Singer without such drastic action. But each new complaint has made that harder. Again and again, Singer has encouraged anxious parents to believe that disappointing grades are the school's fault and that they can get a different outcome if they just apply enough pressure. But now rupture has had enough.

3:01Singer is no longer welcome at country day. And as other elite schools in the area are also closing their doors to him with any luck, Rick Singer won't be in the college counseling business for much longer.

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4:39From Audible Originals, I'm Lindsey Graham, and this is American Scandal.

5:03By early 2005, Rick Singer was telling the world that his new college counseling business was thriving. In a profile for a newspaper in Sacramento, he claimed he had hundreds of clients across the country working with a network of 12 specialist coaches. He may have been exaggerating, but one thing was certainly true. He was making plenty of money. He drove a Porsche, he cultivated connections at Sacramento's exclusive Arden Hills Athletic and Social Club, and increasingly, he moved among California's status-conscious elite. But losing access to Sacramento's private schools was a real blow. They had been the bedrock of his business, and without them, Singer was forced to look farther afield for new clients.

5:45Fortunately for him, there was no shortage of wealthy parents willing to invest thousands of dollars in their children's education. And before long, Singer would discover a new way to extract even more money from them. This is Episode 2, The Side Door.

6:04It's a cool mid-morning in January 2008 in Palo Alto, California. Inside a modest house not far from Stanford University, former admissions officer John Ryder sits at his dining room table with his laptop open. On its screen is the website of independent college counselor Rick Singer. Over the years, Ryder has heard some unsettling stories about Singer. High school staff have complained about his confrontational style. Other college counselors have said he stretches the truth about his clients' achievements. But parents describe him as someone with unique insider knowledge of the admissions process, a man who can help their children win a spot at the university of their dreams.

6:44And Ryder has seen plenty of consultants make bold claims over the years. There's now an entire industry built on reassuring anxious parents that admission can be engineered with the right guidance. But it isn't Singer's salesmanship that is bothering Ryder tonight. It's his company's advisory board. Prominently displayed on Singer's website is a list of current and former leaders from some of the most prestigious universities in the country. Ryder knows them all. They've spent decades building impeccable reputations in higher education, and they're all apparently advising Rick Singer. Something doesn't feel right.

7:20If people of this stature were advising Singer, Ryder feels sure he would have heard about it. So he studies the page again, puzzled that so many respected educators would choose to associate themselves with such a divisive figure. Ryder decides there's only one way to find out why. He opens his email, and then one by one, he writes to the members of Singer's advisory board. It's the same message to each of them, explaining what he has heard about Singer and bluntly asking them, do you want to be associated with this guy? He is the epitome of sleaze in the private counseling business. How did he get your names onto his website?

7:56Ryder adds a link to Singer's page, checks what he's written one last time, and then clicks send on each email. He doesn't hear anything until a few hours later when the telephone rings. It's one of the men he emailed, former Dean of Admissions at Princeton, Fred Hargiden. Until he retired, Hargiden was one of the most respected admissions officers in the country, and Ryder knows him well. But on the phone, Hargiden sounds bewildered. He's just read Ryder's email and visited Singer's website. He tells Ryder that he has absolutely no connection to Rick Singer or his business. He has never authorized the use of his name and has no idea how it ended up on the website.

8:34If Singer is presenting him as part of an advisory board, then Singer is doing so without Hargiden's permission. Ryder isn't surprised to hear this. Fred Hargiden is not the kind of guy who would lend his name to any business, let alone one like Singer's. The conversation lasts only a few minutes more, but it confirms all Ryder's suspicions. At least one of the names on Singer's website does not belong there. And if Singer isn't telling the truth about his advisory board, Ryder wonders what else he's lying about. But by the time Ryder begins asking these questions, Singer's website has already been live for a few years.

9:11With private schools in Sacramento having closed their doors to him, Singer had been forced to turn to the internet to drum up new business. Fortunately for him, in the mid-2000s, online learning was becoming more common. A growing number of schools had started offering virtual classes that students could complete remotely from anywhere in the country. Singer immediately saw the business opportunity this represented. Online education would allow him to reach students from across the United States while avoiding any contact with skeptical teachers or guidance counselors. So he soon secured a deal that allowed him to coach students through Sagemont School, a Florida-based institution offering programs over the web.

9:52Later, he also started working with Laurel Springs, another rapidly growing online school out of California. Around the same time, he changed the name of his company from College Source to the Edge College and Career Network, though he usually referred to it simply as The Key. This rebranding was deliberate. Singer had stopped thinking of himself as just a counselor, and that title felt too restrictive. He wanted his clients to see him as something bigger, a mentor, a life coach, a man who could unlock a student's potential and help them achieve the life they deserved. This new approach has paid off.

10:28By 2008, Singer's sleek website and its illustrious advisory board are helping him find clients not just in the United States, but abroad as well. Among these clients is Douglas Hodge, an executive at the investment management firm PIMCO. In early 2008, Hodge is based in Tokyo, Japan, heading up the firm's interests in the Asia-Pacific region. But 5 ,000 miles away, his oldest daughter is finishing classes at one of California's elite boarding schools. Being so far from home has left Hodge feeling disconnected from his family, especially now that his daughter is beginning the process of applying to college.

11:05Thankfully, one of Hodge's colleagues made a suggestion. His children recently went through the college application process, and they found the help of an independent counselor to be invaluable. In the colleague's words, Rick Singer is the best there is. So Hodge has hired him to oversee his daughter's application. And even though Hodge is all the way in Tokyo, Singer makes sure to keep him updated on progress.

11:31Hodge is in his office, high above the streets of Tokyo. He has stacks of work to do, but when he sees who's calling, he picks up the phone straight away. Hey, Rick, how are you? I'm great, Doug. Is now still a good time? Yeah, perfect. I just got into the office. Well, you're starting your workday just as I'm finishing mine. I was just reviewing your daughter's file. Hodge turns toward the window and kicks his feet up onto a credenza. Ah, so what's your assessment? Well, she's a strong student. Good school, good profile, but I'll be candid with you, Doug. I know she wants to go to Georgetown, but that's going to be tough.

12:04It's getting swamped with applications right now. All right. What do you think her chances are? Well, best case, 50-50. Oh, wow. It's no reflection on her, Doug. I mean, she is great. But schools like that, they reject valedictorians every year. We're talking kids with perfect scores. It's insane. Ah, that's disappointing. What about the donor route? In the circles Hodge moves in, everyone understands that money can open doors. Admissions officers are always willing to take a closer look at an application linked to a major donor. Well, it's an option, yes, but it's not where I'd spend my money.

12:39It's inefficient, if you understand me. You can sign a huge check and still get no certainty. And how much would we be talking about? Well, to really move the dial, eight figures. Eight? You're kidding. No, I'm completely serious. There are too many wealthy families chasing too few spots. So what do you recommend? Well, there are only a few ways into any university. There's the front door, which is grades, scores, and essays. A normal application process, right? But there's the back door, donations. And then there's what I call the side door. Side door? What do you mean? It means I may be able to help your daughter get where she wants to go without relying on chance or eight-figure donations.

13:18What I need to know, Doug, is whether you'd be interested in me pursuing that. Rick Singer's so-called side door into Georgetown depends on a personal connection inside the university, Georgetown's tennis coach, Gordon Ernst. Singer first met Ernst years earlier through his college counseling business in Florida, and the two men have stayed in touch ever since. As a coach, Ernst occupies a powerful position. Athletes recruited by coaches receive special consideration when it comes to their college applications. And as long as they meet basic academic standards, they are almost always admitted.

13:54It's a loophole that Singer has learned he can exploit, as long as he can identify a coach willing to go along with him. But on the surface, Ernst hardly seems like the sort of figure to become entangled in a criminal conspiracy. Around campus, he's known for his easy sense of humor. and on court, his players appreciate his relaxed style and encouraging manner. But behind that upbeat demeanor, Ernst is under pressure. As head coach of Georgetown's tennis program, his job depends on the team's success, but he operates with limited resources. Georgetown may compete in Division I athletics, but the university's priorities are obvious to everyone.

14:33At Georgetown, basketball is king. It dominates attention, prestige, and funding. Gordon Ernst operates in an entirely different world. His equipment budgets are tight, facilities are shared with other sports, and Georgetown offers only a single half-scholarship for tennis, far less than many competing schools. Then there's Ernst's salary. Despite coaching at a prestigious university, Ernst earns roughly$65 ,000 a year. It's a respectable income by ordinary standards, but tiny compared to the$2 million paid to the school's basketball coach. But in Ernst's unhappiness, Rick Singer has spied an opportunity.

15:12On one side, he has Douglas Hodge, a wealthy, worried parent, desperate to help his daughter gain admission to Georgetown. On the other side is Gordon Ernst, an underpaid coach dealing with institutional indifference. The two men have matching needs, and Singer can profit from them both. The arrangement begins to solidify in February 2008. Hodge is at his breakfast table in Tokyo, a mug of coffee cooling beside him. when the email from Singer comes through. He quickly scans the short note. One sentence jumps out immediately, reading, I spoke with my connection at Georgetown, and he will work with us.

15:50Hodge checks his watch. It's still late afternoon in California, so rising from the table, he walks toward the apartment window overlooking the Tokyo skyline, dialing Singer's number as he goes. Singer answers quickly. Hodge asks for details of this Georgetown connection, and Singer explains his plan. Hodge must make a targeted donation to the university's tennis program. In return, Gordon Ernst will identify Hodge's daughter as an elite tennis recruit and support her application. Singer frames it as a practical, efficient solution. There's nothing improper about helping an underfunded athletic program, and once Hodge's daughter arrives at Georgetown, she won't even have to play.

16:31No one's going to keep track of whether a tennis recruit shows up to practice or not. After ending the call, Hodge remains standing by the window, Blackberry still in his hand. He understands the mechanics of the arrangement now and recognizes the opportunity it represents, but it still nags at him. Hodge's daughter has played tennis casually in school and at summer camps, the way many teenagers do, but she is not a Division I tennis player and she never will be.

17:01The Roomba became a billion-dollar product, not by being the smartest robot, but by being the dumbest. And then, the company that made it ended up nearly losing everything. Hey, I'm David Brown, the host of the podcast Business Wars. Every season, we bring you the true stories behind the companies that shape our world, their rivalries, their reinventions, and their spectacular rises and falls. In our new season, we tell the story of iRobot and Roomba, the little vacuum that swept into 50 million homes and brought in billions in revenue. But the Roomba couldn't hold its lead forever. When Chinese competitors figured out how to give customers more for less, the company that created the category faced an existential threat for survival.

17:46Follow Business Wars wherever you get your podcasts. Audible subscribers can binge all episodes of Business Wars early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts. Hey, it's Mike Corey, host of Against the Odds from Audible Originals. In our latest episode, Sujo John tells the story of surviving 9-11 in his own words, his escape from the World Trade Center's North Tower, and his desperate search for his pregnant wife, Mary. Listen to Against the Odds on Audible or wherever you get your podcasts.

18:31In 2008, the same year that Douglas Hodges' daughter applies to Georgetown, more than 400 ,000 students participate in a long-standing American tradition, college sports. In the United States, sports are not just a fun addition to campus life. They're a huge business in their own right. Every weekend, thousands of fans pack into stadiums across the country, millions more watch on television, and networks pay top dollar for the rights to broadcast college football championships and the annual March Madness basketball tournament. This all means that recruiting talented new players is not simply a matter of school pride, but one of financial imperative.

19:09For many universities, success on the field translates to cash in the bank, and that gives athletes a powerful advantage in the admissions process. The very best athletes receive scholarships covering tuition, housing, meals, and other living expenses. Over a four-year degree, a full ride can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, but the numbers are strictly limited. The National Collegiate Athletic Association regulates how many scholarships schools may offer in each sport. So to build a competitive team, coaches rely on a second pathway for talented athletes, walk-on recruits. Walk-ons receive no financial aid, but they are still formally approved by coaches and supported through admissions.

19:52Like scholarship athletes, these walk-ons must meet minimum academic standards, including acceptable transcripts and standardized test scores. But once those thresholds are met, admissions officers rarely reject an applicant with a coach's endorsement. As a former college basketball coach himself, Rick Singer understands the system. More importantly, he recognizes that it's vulnerable to abuse. There are few checks and balances. Coaches can recommend any student as a walk-on recruit, and for the right price. Some might endorse an applicant even if they're not a deserving athlete. All Singer needs is a coach willing to participate, and in Georgetown tennis coach Gordon Ernst, he has exactly that.

20:34Singer assembles an impressive fictional tennis profile for Douglas Hodges' daughter. According to her application to Georgetown, she's a top-tier youth player who's won multiple tournaments sanctioned by the United States Tennis Association. In reality, she's never even entered a single competitive event. Nevertheless, her application moves forward. And in November 2008, Coach Ernst flags Hodge's daughter as a tennis walk-on recruit and recommends her admission. The following month, she receives a conditional acceptance letter. As long as her grades remain stable through the end of senior year, she will join Georgetown's incoming freshman class.

21:12And the following fall, after his daughter enrolls at Georgetown, Hodge mails two checks totaling$75 ,000 directly to Gordon Ernst's home address. The money never makes it to Georgetown's tennis program. Instead, it goes straight into Ernst's pocket. Hodge's daughter never shows up to tennis practice, but since Ernst doesn't say anything, no one seems to notice. Over the next few years, Singer expands this successful operation to more schools. Each time, the procedure follows a similar path. Affluent families pay a brine, a corrupt coach flags their child as a walk-on recruit, and Singer profits from every transaction.

21:53In the fall of 2012, one satisfied client becomes a repeat customer. By now, PIMCO executive Douglas Hodge has been promoted to the firm's chief operating officer and has moved back to the United States. And when it comes time for his next daughter to apply for college, he knows just who to call. Rick Singer is, of course, delighted to hear from him. And soon, a meeting is arranged at the family's sprawling hillside property in Laguna Beach, California.

22:22Singer looks around at the polished stone floors, modern artwork, and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Pacific. Doug, this place is unbelievable. Oh, thank you. It's my wife who deserves the credit. She does all the decorating. Please sit down. The two men settled into a sitting room facing the ocean. Hodge poured sparkling water into two glasses and hands one to Singer. So, here we go again. Yeah, here we go again. Where are we looking this time? Well, my daughter, she wants USC. Okay, that's workable. You got people there, too? Oh, Doug, I've got relationships all over the place. That's good.

22:58She's good. Smart. But USC? Just as competitive as Georgetown. Every top school is. Yeah, I know. So let's go through the details. Your daughter was adopted internationally, right? Yeah. From Morocco? Right, yeah. That's useful, actually. Hodge frowns. Well, I don't see what that's got to do with anything. Well, schools respond to a good story. They want a personal journey. An international adoption gives us that. We can build on it. Well, I guess. I know what I'm doing, Doc. We'll shape her application around questions of belonging, identity, navigating between cultures. Admissions officers eat that stuff up.

23:34But at the end of the day, that's still the front door, right? There's always uncertainty attached to it. We want to be certain about this thing. Of course. So does your daughter play any sports? Well, she's more of an academic type. That could be a problem. Singer shakes his head. No, not at all. You just let me work my magic. Singer stands and offers his hand to Hodge. So should we set this thing in motion? I think we both know how this works by now. In December 2012, Douglas Hodge's younger daughter submits her application to the University of Southern California. This time, Rick Singer's side door runs through the women's soccer program.