<p>I agree with federal Education Secretary Arne Duncan; the NCAA should deny a inviation to its championship tournaments to any college that has a miserable 6-year graduation rate.</p>
<p>In mens' basketball the statistics are shameful. And the colleges can't justifiably complain that early departures to the NBA shouldn't be counted in the statistics. If the kids have no interest in attending class or being a student, the colleges shouldn't be recruiting them anyway. In my mind, the NBA-departure situtation should be used as a stick by the colleges to force the NBA be realistic about allowing teen-agers to enter the professional ranks. It works in pro baseball, where many players go straight from high school to the minor leagues.</p>
<p>I for one am tired of seeing my federal tax dollars going to waste in the form of financial aid (grants) to scholarship athletes who leave school early, never to return, and whom had no interest in school in the first place! I'm a big fan of college sports, but colleges and society at large need to be mindful of the other students when financial resources are sparse.</p>
<p>Like it or not: College sport is a de facto professional sport. Just look at the salary list for all faculties in a public university. Football and basketball coaches are the highest paid on the list, higher than Chancellors /Presidents, and much higher than any and all professors. Granted that students were not paid (publicly), there is no doubt that there is no such thing as amateur sport in Division I schools. Let’s call it what it is and think of a way to change it, if we dislike it that much.</p>
<p>You may LOVE college, but if an NBA team is ready and willing to pay you $3 million to play for them as a rookie…well, I would be very tempted to take the money and run. </p>
<p>The NCAA has. I don’t know that they’ve actually used it often, but they have banned schools from the NCAA tournaments for lackluster APR scores. APR is Academic Progress Rate BTW. Jacksonville State University, for example, was banned from the FCS playoffs in 2009 due to poor APR. </p>
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<p>The difference is in baseball, those kids go into the minor league baseball system. In the NBA and in the NFL, they go straight to the “big show.” The colleges are essentially the “minor leagues.” That’s unfortunate and it’s wrong, but I don’t think the NBA or NFL would survive if they were forced to create their own “minor league” system. Baseball thrives in that smaller atmosphere and it works pretty well.</p>
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<p>Athletics aren’t the only place to look. There are quite a bit of scholarship dollars thrown away each year by students who aren’t there for an education. How many times do you hear of students “majoring in beer” with a “minor in girls?” Or whatever. </p>
<p>Look, I’m ready for change. I think the NCAA needs some drastic reform. But people need to remove the blinders and see that the education system in general needs major overhaul and athletics are not the only problem in the system…</p>
<p>The early-exits to the NBA aren’t the problem - that is a tiny percentage of college basketball players - even D1 players. Frankly, a college basketball player who signs an NBA contract HAS graduated - they got a job in the field they went to college for. Their field just happens to be basketball.</p>
<p>The real problem is the large number of players who get recruited and come into the big-time D1 system that is NOT designed to help them succeed academically. They don’t care because they think they’re going to the NBA. But most of them aren’t. They end up with no degree and no NBA contract. The college ends up with big bucks from ticket sales, TV rights and merchandising. THOSE are the statistics that should keep teams out of the NCAA tournament - teams whose kids aren’t graduating or getting NBA contracts. And there are plenty of them out there.</p>
<p>In the book “The Last Amateurs” by John Feinstein (a great read, by the way), he discusses an instance where Holy Cross’s president Father John Brooks skewered John Thompson, coach at Georgetown, on this very subject:
<p>I absolutely agree. There is just no excuse. Coaches who want their players to succeed academically make it part of the program, coaches who don’t care should not be rewarded.</p>
<p>Even if this were true (and I don’t see why it would be, particularly for basketball) that’s no argument for colleges paying to run minor league basketball and football leagues.</p>
<p>College football and basketball have a lot of money sloshing around. Some could be diverted away from overpaid coaches to the athletes. I find it particularly egregious that many schools have a specific athletics fee, charged to all students, that goes to support college athletics. If I’m a hard-working engineering student from a middle-income family, why should I have to pay not only my own ridiculously high tuition, room and board, but also hundreds of dollars a year that’s diverted to athletic facilities that I can’t even use?</p>
<p>I agree with you! Colleges shouldn’t be minor league systems. There is a “minor league” for the NBA but it’s a bit different. It’s called the “D League” but most of those one-and-dones probably don’t spend much time there. </p>
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<p>If I’m a middle-income kinesiology student, why should I have to pay not only my tuition, room and board, and hundreds of dollars that go to the fine arts department for facilities I can’t even use?</p>
<p>It goes in many directions. Students pay for a lot of things that they are not even allowed to use.</p>
<p>Because the arts are part of the mission of a university (even if I won’t ever use the painting studio) just as engineering is part of the mission of a university (even if I won’t ever use the mechanical robot to do whatever). Sports training isn’t part of the mission.</p>
<p>Schools need to do a cost analysis and see if their athletic departments and particular sports are a drain or boon for the school. It would be crazy for some of the big sports school to lose that claim to fame. The dollars gained in name recognition alone can make up for the costs of the program. </p>
<p>I agree that the grad rates of basketball players are abysmal. I saw some of the rates some time a go and it is a disgrace. Hopefully that is being addressed. Those programs that are getting so much out of those athletes should be funneling some of the funds to them to get their education. They should be ashamed of themselves if former players are panhandling or are in jail without a degree after what they have contributed to the school in sweat equity.</p>
<p>The problem is many of these sports are untouchable. Many athletic departments don’t make a ton of money for a university and that gets blamed on basketball and football. People tend to forget that those two sports are just small parts of a university’s athletic department. In order to have those two sports, the school must offer probably 3-4 female sports right off the bat. I have never seen even ONE female sport that has its budget in the black where it makes enough money to pay its expenses. Normally they have to get their money from the “revenue sports” like men’s basketball and football.</p>
<p>I agree. And the cost analysis has to show all of this in order to be valid. If a major sport if supporting a number of programs, that really makes it more important to a college. It’s just a pragmatic thing. I think most of the schools that have high profile sports teams do well by them; they benefit the entire university in addition to other sports programs. </p>
<p>My boys only know about Butler U because of their basketball prowess. The publicity and name recognition that team brings to that school is probably priceless. I can’t think of another way a school in that category could get that kind of PR></p>
<p>Income from sports - comes from TV revenue, and a TON of revenue from Merchandising. All those t-shirts, sweatshirts and hats with the name of the college - would they sell 1/10th of those shirts nationwide if it weren’t for people who were fans of their sports teams? Specifically their football and basketball teams?</p>
<p>How many kids would have heard of some Catholic college in Illinois if it wasn’t for Notre Dame football? How much of an application increase did Georgetown get during the 1980’s in the glory years of their basketball team? Who outside of Philly would have heard of Villa Nova if it weren’t for basketball? How much does UNC get their name in the news and in front of prospective students from OOS (who pay much more in tuition) from basketball? You think it doesn’t help Duke’s reputation?</p>
<p>Sports pays off, or colleges wouldn’t do it. You may not like it, but that’s how it works.</p>
<p>It doesn’t excuse “hiring” students to play revenue sports, not allowing them enough time to study or even encouraging them to be students as much as they are athletes, and when they don’t make it to the NBA or the NFL they have nothing to show for it while the colleges soak up the money and glory.</p>
<p>(PS There’s a reason they’re called “revenue” sports - they generate revenue.)</p>
<p>and as somebody else already mentioned–it’s the COACHES (and other athletic program shot callers) who need to be held accountable. if a player can go pro early, so what? why the hell not?? that’s not the problem. for the most part, these coaches do not care about the players.</p>
<p>Without college football and basketball where would the marching bands and cheerleaders perform?</p>
<p>In all seriousness, college athletics are inportant. The participants should be limited to those who meet the same admission standards as every other student at the school. Let minor / semi-pro leagues develop to meet the needs of athletes who have no interest in academic pursuits. </p>
<p>Just to respond to an earlier comment, kinesiology and sports training are legitimate and important areas of study.</p>
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