Sure the grading is honest?
My mother's teaching career ended because she dared to flunk the star women's basketball player. (She was considering retiring anyway, but wasn't given a choice after giving a completely honest grade. And, yes, I know it was honest because I was the one actually doing the grading--true/false, I didn't need to know the material to grade. Getting ~25% on a true/false with no guessing penalty is quite an accomplishment.)
Same thing nearly happened to my great uncle. Not all were able pass his math class. He was pressured to change the grades to passing for some players. He dared them to fire him, refused to change the grade ….and later became principal.
All the basketball players were white.
There has been a lot of pressure to pass athletes regardless of their achievements since before either of us was born.