<p>"An off-duty Knoxville, Tennessee, police officer who was sent to a hospital early Friday morning with head injuries after intervening in a bar brawl allegedly involving several members of the University of Tennessee football team is now in stable condition, police told CNN late Friday afternoon."</p>
<p>"The bar's co-owner, Sandy Morton, told CNN affiliate WBIR some 10 football players "just started randomly beating up a customer."
"It was total chaos," Morton said."</p>
<p>"Witnesses told police the fight started inside but bar employees pushed those involved outside onto the sidewalk. That's when Capouellez (the police officer) intervened. According to witnesses, the officer was hit in the head and kicked several times while lying unconscious on the ground."</p>
<hr>
<p>Here's the best line of all from the article. It's one more example which supports what many on CC have previously brought up regarding the special treatment given to athletes at the elite college level:</p>
<p>"We always give VIP status to the football players," said Morton (co-owner of the bar). "It won't be happening anymore."</p>
<p>Update. This names names. Two arrested so far. Four others tenatively identified. One of those arrested is an incoming freshman. I suspect he isn’t 21.</p>
<p>“Darren Myles Jr. was charged with assault, resisting arrest and evading arrest, University of Tennessee police said.
A campus police report said Myles tried to hide under a car and in some bushes as an officer tried to arrest him, then elbowed the officer in the face.”</p>
<p>^SO, THIS GUY NOT ONLY BEAT AN OFF-DUTY POLICE OFFICER TO A PULP, BUT HE ELBOWED THE OFFICER WHO WAS TRYING TO MAKE THE ARREST SMACK IN THE FACE.</p>
<p>“This is the second offseason arrest for Myles, 19. He also was charged with public intoxication, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest on April 18 after a disturbance at a Knoxville restaurant and nightclub. Dooley handled Myles’ punishment for that arrest internally, though the criminal case is still pending.”</p>
<p>^WHY WASN’T HE REMOVED FROM THE TEAM AFTER THE FIRST INCIDENCE?</p>
<p>All part of the very distressing obsession with athletics in college in America, so much so that virtual thugs are enrolled so they can win championships as long as they don’t kill someone or get expelled first.</p>
<p>The Ivy League, Patriot League (and perhaps a few others) model is the “scholar athlete” with the two parts of that name being equally important but this does not appear in most athletic leagues or colleges. If the students playing on a team are not typical students, if they are enrolled only because they can play a sport, you will have trouble – and the students will often not get an education or graduate, so you’ve cheated them. </p>
<p>The coaches of many of these “students” are paid salaries which far exceed the salaries of the college president or professors. They are hired to win games so sometimes anything goes and the athletes they coach are their to win those games, not necessarily to get an education or anything else. </p>
<p>In other countries, high schools and colleges typically do not sponsor sports teams which are completely private, more like “clubs”. They focus entirely on academics. Here in the U.S. we can’t seem to decide if a university is an academic training ground or a sports program. The two can be combined but only with care and supervision. But they usually aren’t.</p>
<p>I have one question for the critics that have posted on this thread so far bashing the thousands of student-athletes and college administrators for the actions of 12 dumb asses at the U. of Tennessee. A real simple question so don’t dodge it please. </p>
<p>Will you be starting a thread every time a few students from the general population get drunk or go to a bar or start a fight? </p>
<p>I’ll look forward to your replies. </p>
<p>I also have a suggestion. Why not bash the dim-wits involved in this incident and not EVERYONE involved in college athletics? Hello? Hello? Earth to McFly? </p>
<p>I won’t defend the knuckleheads involved in this incident but last I checked there is plenty of stupid behavior going on with college aged kids. </p>
<p>I agree with some ColgateDad’s post. I absolutely love the Patriot League, The Ivy League, The Pioneer League, etc. who clearly focus on academics equally or moreso than athletics and do not do anything to admit idiots if they can’t cut it as real students in college. </p>
<p>I also totally agree that coaches salaries are completely ridiculous as is the entire notion of being an amatuer athlete. So, yes, let’s be honest, some people are admitted to colleges only to win games not because they are acceptable academically. But the student-athletes in question here did meet the NCAA minimum qualifications which have been vastly improved since prop 48 went into affect many, many years ago. Before Prop 48 it truly was the wild west when it came to athlete admissions. </p>
<p>The point is colleges, even ones that play big time D1 sports, actually admit student-athletes that 95% of the time get something done academically (graduating at nearly the same rate as the general student population) and they do that while playing sports which isn’t easy. Some of them actually are able to function in The Real World after their sports playing days are over because most do not make the NBA or NFL. </p>
<p>Most of the football jocks at Tenn are legit students. Believe it or not.</p>
<p>“The point is colleges, even ones that play big time D1 sports, actually admit student-athletes that 95% of the time get something done academically (graduating at nearly the same rate as the general student population)”</p>
<p>95% of the time? Nearly the same? Not really. At many big-time sports schools there is a significant gap between general graduation rate and the football players graduation rate:</p>
<p>Biggest Difference in Grad Rates Between Football Players and All Students
Major Programs (Difference of 15% or more)</p>
<p>Football Players/All Students/Difference</p>
<p>UCLA 51%/89%/-38%
Texas 49%/77%/-28%
GA Tech 49%/77%/-28%
USC 58%/85%/-27%
Virginia 68%/93%/-25%
Cal 64%/88%/-24%
Texas A&M 55%/77%/-22%
Georgia 57%/76%/-19%
Maryland 60%/79%/-19%
Michigan St. 56%/74%/-18%
Arizona 41%/57%/-16%
Oregon 49%/65%/-16%
Michigan 71%/87%/-16%
Oklahoma 45%/60%/-15%
BYU 61%/76%/-15%</p>
<p>The disparities are even greater for basketball players:</p>
<p>Biggest Difference in Grad Rates Between Basketball Players and All Students
Major Programs (Difference of 35% or more)</p>
<p>Basketball Players/All Students/Difference</p>
<p>Maryland 8%/79%/-71%
Cal 20%/88%/-68%
Georgia 18%/76%/-58%
Conn. 27%/74%/-47%
Arizona 11%/57%/-46%
Washington 29%/75%/-46%
Michigan 44%/87%/-43%
USC 43%/85%/-42%
Clemson 37%/77%/-40%
GA Tech 38%/77%/-39%
Fresno St. 8%/47%/-39%
Virginia 56%/93%/-37%
Baylor 36%/73%/-37%</p>
<p>Coach Dooley has taken the appropriate disciplinary action. I would expect nothing less from him.</p>
<p>Get real, folks. Last year at Penn (an Ivy, last I checked) several varsity wrestlers (one I know received significant "need-based assistance) viciously assaulted someone outside a bar and were charged with felony assault. Not even SEC athletes and not even football players… I have many other stories that I can’t share regarding athletes at highly-selective schools. It isn’t just the paid “thugs” from the stronger athletic conferences AND surprise, surprise, many NON-athletes are involved in similar incidents but you don’t get to hear about them!
Yes, there are lots of issues with the athletic culture, but it isn’t quite the way it gets portrayed on CC.</p>
<p>It turns out when you adjust the data for the athletes who leave early for professional careers (e.g. the NBA or the NFL or MLB), the grad rates are fairly close at most schools. There are exceptions, of course, but even if a jock takes an extra year or two to finish, on his/her dime, the stats will show that athletes have lower grad rates. The average student doesn’t finish in 4-years either. </p>
<p>Adjust your data by taking out the guys that sign multi-million or big signing bonus contracts and you might be surprised. </p>
<p>By the way, we have a justice system in this country. If the jocks beat up on an off-duty cop they will pay the price in the justice system. They might or might not loss their schollys as well. In some cases, the coach just cuts them off but in other cases it makes sense to give the jock a second change often with conditions attached. If the guy blows his second chance he often ends up back where he started. </p>
<p>Tenn is an SEC school and the SEC is definitely more focused on winning than almost any other conference but the truth is these people who blindly and broadly bash student-athletes and/or athletic administrators and coaches need to update their rhetoric because the NCAA has made significant changes in the last 25-30 years not just for admission standards but, for example, limiting the amount of hours athletes can focus on their sports per week, prohibiting jock only dorms so that jocks have to mix with the student populations, etc. combined with the amount of money schools spend on student-athlete support and life skills and now you actually have the student athlete model working in the vast majority of cases. </p>
<p>“As I have referenced on many occasions, a change in culture is achieved in time through a combination of education, discipline and support. We will aggressively continue to build on the many positive changes that have occurred over the last five months to ensure our program is represented with class and dignity.”</p>
<p>From the transcript:</p>
<p>“What I will say is that there’s been a lot of positive things happen in our program in the last few months and a lot of positive changes in our culture internally with some of our players, with our team, and we’re not going to let this incident ruin the positive changes that are happening. We’re going to continue to build our structures so that we educate, we discipline, we support our players and at the end of the day we’re going to have a culture here that’s not just going to win but our fans will be proud of how we represent them.”</p>
<hr>
<p>Even the coach’s own words imply that there is indeed a culture within college athletics that needs to be changed. He admits this and is trying to make headway in making changes. As long as he has the administration backing him, he will be able to turn the environment/culture around.</p>
<p>ACCecil, the data Scipio posted is six year graduation data (the same data posted in the CDS) so it already includes part of the update you ask for. I agree that adjusting for athletes going pro will make a difference in the rates. I really doubt that will make the college grad rates similar, though. There aren’t THAT many who get to go pro.</p>
<p>Sci’s data shows major programs with differences in grad rates of 15% or more and there are maybe 15 out of 110 D1A playing schools and another 85 more D1AA schools? That data actually shows that athletes graduate at close to the general population rates…surprise, surprise…and the athletes do it while playing their choses sports. </p>
<p>nysmile,</p>
<p>Derek Dooley’s comments allude to the culture within the Tenn football program which he just took over. He has been on the job about 4 months. His comments do not refer to college athletics in general. Period. </p>
<p>By the way, his dad was the long-time and legendary coach of the U. of Georgia’s football team before he made the switch to UGA athletic director. Derek, his son, previously coached at LouTech. </p>
<p>There are quite a few athletes who have a sense of entitlement but, for the most part, athletes are far better prepared for college than they used to be because of NCAA standards implemented within the last 25 years as I mentioned before.</p>
<p>By the way, there are “thugs” in every major city in the USA. Some of them play sports and some do not. 95% of student athletes that go to college to play sports are not “thugs.” Be careful who you apply that derogatory word too.</p>
<p>It is also not quite fair to look at basketball data in the same light as football. Basketball teams have many fewer scholarship players. A couple of kids in academic difficulty can really throw the stats out of whack. The numbers are too few to make any realistic comparisons.</p>
<p>I’ve never referred to college athletes as thugs. There are too many well-rounded college athletes to cast such a wide net. </p>
<p>Yes, Coach Dooley was speaking about the culture within the Univ. of Tenn. athletics.
However, it’s a very logical assumption that the culture he speaks of is not limited to the Univ. of Tenn. </p>
<p>My hope for the future of college athletics is for college administrations to strongly back coaches when it comes to dealing with and following through with consequences when college athletes are not adhering to their college’s Honor Code (or the standards of the law for that matter). Hopefully, the old days of turning a blind eye to such behavior for the sake of a win and a championship will be no more.</p>
<p>what about when the coach doesn’t adhere to the honor code and standards of the law? what should the repercussions be in that scenario? because we all know it happens (don’t think i need to call out any particular schools here), and it’s usually a player who takes the heat for their coach’s sketchy behavior.</p>
<p>Why do you assume that those who don’t share your enthusiasm for college sports do so out of hate? Maybe, like me, they actually enjoy college sports but wish that schools focused more of their energy and attention on their ostensible mission of actually educating real, qualified students and less on providing free minor leagues for the NFL and NBA. </p>
<p>The excuse you give for poor graduation rates (jumping to the pros early) among athletes merely confirms that an alarming number of them are not there to get educated so much as they are hoping to attract the attention of the pro scouts and are quitting school as soon as they get the chance.</p>