Edgar Ndayishimiye was a mainstay on the Trojans men’s basketball squad. That is, until his name disappeared off the roster at the conclusion of the SAIT Holiday Classic, Dec. 27 – 29, 2012.

“Edgar did not fulfill the academic requirements in order to retain his athletic eligibility,” explained head coach Michael Stevens.

Stevens also said the situation left a dent in the Trojans roster.

“Edgar has definitely been missed, he was a very skilled player who has the ability to play university ball,” he explained.

“On the other hand, the team has done a great job in compensating for the loss of Edgar.”

According to SAIT regulations, student athletes are required to be enrolled in nine credit courses, and they must acquire six of those nine credits while maintaining a grade point average above 1.5.

According to Ndayishimiye, his case is similar to this. Ndayishimiye was enrolled in academic upgrading, and was taking three courses: Biology, Math and English. He was unable to maintain a passing grade for Biology, and his GPA was at a 1.9. Having fallen below a 2.0, Ndayishimiye’s scholarship money was revoked.

Without funding he said he was unable to raise his GPA above a 2.0. Ndayishimiye attempted to appeal his grades as he was only a few percentages below the required grade. His appeal would have taken 10 business days. Ndayishimiye would have run out of time as SAIT does not allow for students to attend class while not having paid their tuition.

However, he said he did not leave SAIT with a sour taste in his mouth.

“I admit I slacked off,” explained Ndayishimiye. “SAIT didn’t do anything wrong.”

With all this being said one must ask how much effort is being put forward by the student athletes to maintain a GPA of 2.0?

“There needs to be some initiative taken by the student athlete,” explained Stevens.

“They can find a tutor, they can talk to a coach, or they can talk to a teammate. Ultimately, grades are a student’s responsibility.”

According to Ndayishimiye, he did utilize a tutor; it just, “wasn’t enough.”

Ndayishimiye claims there is a large disconnect between the academic side of SAIT and athletics.

“I think SAIT suffers somewhat of a communication issue when it comes to athletics and education.”

He has plans to attend Mount Royal University to finish his academic upgrading in the spring of 2013.

“I have had interest from a few different schools both in the CIS [Canadian Interuniversity Sport] and the ACAC [Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference],” explained Ndayishimiye.

Whether or not Trojan fans will see him in a Trojans uniform next year, Ndayishimiye says he doesn’t want to rule anything out.