<p>Great news for UW fans. Now just need a decent QB to emerge and off to the BIG title game.</p>
<p>With Ohio State’s postseason ban and Penn State’s coaching transition and surrounding scandal, Montee Ball returning all but guarantees the Badgers will be back in the title game and, hopefully, Pasadena.</p>
<p>More important for Monty Ball would be to get his degree for life beyond football- that happens for all NFL players, no matter how good.</p>
<p>I too am happy he is staying. He seems like a very bright guy. But none of the articles mention his academics or a need for a degree. I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt that finishing school was an important factor, even if the reporters don’t seem to care.</p>
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<p>In an interview that I heard on ESPN Montee Ball did specifically say that getting his degree was an important component of his decision. He even went on to explain that he knows that NFL running backs have very short career spans on average, and that he wants to be prepared for life after football.</p>
<p>^Nice! Didn’t see anything in the Cap Times/WI St. Jrnl. Good for Montee. I look forward to see him play next year.</p>
<p>Every college student benefits from finishing a degree, it doesn’t matter what the press reports. Good to hear this young man is thinking beyond football. The benefits to UW athletics Don’t matter that much.</p>
<p>“The benefits to UW athletics Don’t matter that much.”</p>
<p>Yeah, they do. Millions in cash and more in publicity. It really matters. Esp. in otherwise tough times at the UW.</p>
<p>Disagree. There is a lot more to life at UW than athletics. Fortunately, academics are still the reason to attend. There are plenty of UW students and alumni who couldn’t care less about sports. Having to pay the bills is a necessary business thing, not the foremost in most people’s mind (most do not major in business nor care about it).</p>
<p>NSS. Not what I said. It is by far the highest profile activity the UW does. All the rest is great but winning sports has improved the UW image 500%. Most now wish they could major in business. Ask any bio grad now unemployed or at Starbucks.</p>
<p>Many of us dislike business and would prefer other options, hence the many diverse majors chosen. Business is a way to make the money to do what you really want to for many. Only some like it just as only some like every other field. Despite increased numbers of students choosing business majors in recent times all over most do not.</p>
<p>Not sure how Montee Ball returning for one more year correlates to former students wishing they would have majored in another area… but whatever, that’s about on the same level of logic your posts are normally on so I guess we’ve become accustomed to it.</p>
<p>A winning football team doesn’t make your education experience. Your education does. A good football squad could make your overall 4-5 experience more memorable, but in no way does it shape your education.</p>
<p>Actually I never said it had anything to do with it. Try to follow the threads… Also never said foobtall directly impacts education. But advertising brings awareness and football on national TV can be a great way to showcase everything about the unique UW experience which has helped attarct more and BETTER apps which in turn impacts the level of students and hence even your education. Is that clear enough?</p>
<p>UW doesn’t need more or better applicants. UW doesn’t need to turn down a higher percentage of appplicants. At this time there is enough interest to provide a good peer group for the top applicants, especially important for those instate residents who need to go with their financially best choice. UW especially doesn’t need applicants who have heard of it but don’t plan on attending if accepted. The quality of students taking advantage of the honors programs- has it changed significantly in recent years? Has the quality of matriculated OOS students changed much in recent years? UW doesn’t need more OOS applicants who get accepted but don’t choose to attend. Instate top students are less influenced by the football team’s success.</p>
<p>The whole shift of this thread to an academic focus is to put the football player’s choice into that of what is best academically for him instead of merely athletics and promoting UW. I am pleased he made a good long term decision. The impact on his life will be there by the time he is in his thirties.</p>
<p>Schools ALWAYS need more and better applicants and students and one usually leads to the other. UW has plenty to sell and if it can get the word out better it will be better off. Yes, the quality of students has improved markedly in the last 20 years, 10 years, and five years. It now is at or near the point where it becomes part of the basic list for very good students looking for very good larger schools. If you are not getting better you are getting passed. The perceived quality of the school is VERY important in getting jobs, and top grad school admits. The numbers are very clear. And I am very glad some of our best players mix academcis and sports. When they are interviewed on TV they make very good impressions compared to many I saw in the big game last night or from Oregon in our game. People notice such things. My wife who has no dog in this fight always notices and comments how well spoken the UW players usually are compared to many she sees on TV. She’s a Washington Husky fan.</p>
<p>I agree with barrons, aside from much needed money, athletic success helps improve a school’s image and increases people’s awareness of it which leads to more applicants – this increases the value of the degree since more people are aware of UW, and it also tends to increase the quality of the student body which also eventually leads to an increase in how prestigious the degree awarded is. Despite UW’s great reputation and stature, there are plenty of people out there who aren’t even aware of its existence, much less what a good school it is. When UW plays on a national stage like the Rose Bowl and acquits itself well in interviews as well as on the field, people get a positive view of who, and what, the University of Wisconsin is about. To top it off, there are the TV ads that run during the game, touting UW’s many off-the-field accomplishments.</p>
<p>Exactly. Outside certain pockets UW is nowhere near as well known as the facts would justify. Being a person who has worked in most parts of the US I have seen this more often than not. UW has long done a terrible job of general PR and people there seem afraid to claim excellence and especially any sort of “elite” status. Most of our peers have no problem with that and even embrace it. Weird but true.(And I know the supposed reasons why that is and they are stupid)</p>