By HERALD STAFF Gordon Ernst, an accomplished tennis coach with roots in Cranston, had pleaded guilty to federal charges for his role in the "Operation Varsity Blues" college admissions scandal. According to the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney's office,
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Gordon Ernst, an accomplished tennis coach with roots in Cranston, had pleaded guilty to federal charges for his role in the “Operation Varsity Blues” college admissions scandal.
According to the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s office, Ernst, 54, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery, three counts of federal programs bribery and one count of filing a false tax return during an appearance in U.S. District Court in Boston on Monday.
His sentencing is scheduled for March 2. Under the terms of a plea agreement with prosecutors, it will be recommended that he serve between one and four years in prison, along with two years of supervised release. He would forfeit roughly $3.4 million under the agreement.
Ernst, more commonly known by the nickname Gordie, resigned from his position as women’s tennis coach at the University of Rhode Island in 2019 shortly after the university placed him on administrative leave. The charges to which he pleaded guilty stem from his time as the head coach of the men’s and women’s tennis teams at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
Prosecutors allege that Ernst “solicited and received bribe payments from William ‘Rick’ Singer and the families of prospective Georgetown applicants to facilitate their admission to Georgetown as student athletes. Ernst then failed to report all of the income from those bribe payments on his federal income tax returns.”
Ernst spent 12 years as Georgetown’s tennis coach before returning to Rhode Island for the URI job in 2018. He also previously coached tennis at the University of Pennsylvania and served as head tennis pro for former President Barack Obama’s family.
A high school tennis and hockey standout during his time at Bishop Hendricken and Cranston East, Ernst attended Brown University – where he also starred in athletics – and was drafted by the NHL’s Minnesota North Stars in 1985. He is a member of the New England Tennis Hall of Fame, Rhode Island Interscholastic Hall of Fame and Cranston Athletic Hall of Fame.
He is the son of the late Dick Ernst, who was a renowned hockey and tennis coach in Rhode Island.
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