<p>mini ,</p>
<p>Could you please name an industry that prefers to hire formal football players? Just for curiosity … </p>
<p>It can’t be academia, can’t be art, banking, finance or computer… what is it?</p>
<p>Government job, my guess. Something that has government contracts … DoD … ?</p>
<p>“NCAA Division 1 athletes actually do have a slightly higher graduation rate than non athletes.”</p>
<p>May be colleges try really hard to retain these students, if they are good players.</p>
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<p>EMM1, thanks for the link!</p>
<p>“Just look at Saturday’s commencement ceremony for more evidence of Texas’ commitment to its player academics. Eighteen football players graduated this spring. Of those, Ryan Roberson and Jeremy Hills still have a year to play but have handled the academic rigors to complete their degrees already.”</p>
<p>For players who return to finish their degrees: “‘We don’t care if you’ve made $20 million we’ll pay for it,’ Brown said. ‘It doesn’t make any difference.’”</p>
<p>“Could you please name an industry that prefers to hire formal football players?
It can’t be academia, can’t be art, banking, finance or computer… what is it?”</p>
<p>From specific personal knowledge:</p>
<p>Agents for one very large national insurance company or brokerage (I think it is the latter, but I’m not 100% sure). The person who got the job was a football player who went to a school that people on this list would look down on and was told explicitly that they only hired athletes. </p>
<p>A small hedge fund compliance consulting concern. The person who got the job was told that they had tried engineers from Lehigh and much preferred the mindset of athletes.</p>
<p>And if you don’t think that being a college varsity athlete is looked upon very favorably by many people in finance and banking, you are living in ivory tower land.</p>
<p>“Could you please name an industry that prefers to hire formal football players? Just for curiosity …”</p>
<p>Counseling (I know that one firsthand.). Insurance sales. Auto sales (it seems). Regional brokerage (I’m told).</p>
<p>Sometimes a company will hire football players as salesmen because their clientele are fans of that team.</p>
<p>Many times they like football players because they are used to playing 50-100 plays before having a big one. (So they tend toward both patient and aggressive - a very rare combination.)</p>
<p>Summary of jobs suggested for former football players : Insurance sales. Auto sales. Education. Marriage Counselors. Personal Trainers. </p>
<p>Ok, got it. Do they really need college degree for it? Is it possible to assume that many athletes find jobs and drop college?</p>
<p>I loathe the NCAA and I genuinely think that it aids and abets forces that create an environment rife with the potential to ill use the student-athletes in revenue-producing programs. The data that xiggi have provided do not surprise me at all. With the NCAA and the environment that it establishes, it’s not just about the cartoon-villain exploitation (allowing players to be passed through without genuine attention to their studies just so they can play, etc.), it’s about an entire culture that breathes hypocrisy at every turn. To wit-- </p>
<p>Funny that at the non-revenue Division III level the NCAA harps on travel time/distance to the point where, in some sports (baseball and basketball, for example), “out of region” games can only factor into the selection of at-large teams for playoff bids after numerous other factors have been considered. However, once there’s $$$$$$$$ to be made, out come the mega-conferences and suddenly no one has a problem–except those whiney professors who were probably total losers in school and are only jealous of the athletes, amirite?!–with making students travel long distances (and not always in the most efficient ways), disrupting the social and campus rhythms that can help students adjust, having students miss class, or having students miss opportunities to get the consistent out-of-class support that all students, but especially struggling ones, need. </p>
<p>Transfers are another issue. Many people have long pointed out that coaches may “run free” while any athlete that wishes to transfer must sit out a year unless s/he receives a hardship waiver. The NCAA has long been criticized for its opaque method of granting hardship waivers; the NCAA’s initial decision to deny Kerwin Okoro a hardship waiver so that he could transfer from Iowa State to Rutgers in order to be nearer his family after he lost his father and brother to illnesses in the span of three months was only reversed after national outrage and advocacy from visible figures in the college basketball world, but not every student-athlete who receives a patently unjust decision from the NCAA is lucky enough to have those types of advocates. These types of cases pop up every year–not a good record for an organization that claims to protect the interests of student-athletes.</p>
<p>This isn’t even getting into the NCAA’s hypocritical attempt to pretend that specific student-athletes don’t serve as revenue-generators. Jay Bilas showed them up fairly effectively on this matter with his “search the online NCAA store” experiment that forced the NCAA to change its website–because, remember guys, the people just want to buy an A&M jersey. It has nothing to do with any specific person, no, not at all–any old person would generate all that revenue! </p>
<p>The one thing I can say about the NCAA is that at least it isn’t FIFA…</p>
<p>“Ok, got it. Do they really need college degree for it? Is it possible to assume that many athletes find jobs and drop college?”</p>
<p>In many cases, not just college degrees, but masters degrees (all the people we hired were required to have masters degrees.)</p>
<p>These weren’t jobs “suggested for football players”. These were jobs were, compared to non-athletes, football player would have a significant edge.</p>
<p>And, as for degrees, note the data that indicate that, even without degrees, people with “some college” do much, much better than people without any - and without football scholarships, that’s where a lot of low-income football players would be.</p>
<p>It’s upper income folks who really don’t need college degrees. Do you really need a college degree to sell bonds over the phone, or work in dad’s bank?</p>
<p>These are not simply jobs “suggested for football players.” You asked what jobs athletes were preferred for and snarkily eliminated almost everything that people on this list would be considered high status, professional kinds of jobs. When Mini and I gave examples from personal experience, you implicitly dismiss those jobs as not worthy of college graduates.</p>
<p>I repeat, the examples that Mini and I gave are simply those of which we have specific personal knowledge. I guarantee that (for example) people who hire traders on Wall Street or any other kind of job where it helps to be an aggressive competitor will consider participation in college varsity sports a real plus.</p>
<p>The bottom line is, you can dismiss the experience and accomplishments of intercollegiate athletes all you want. In the real world it matters.</p>
<p>"Do you really need a college degree to sell bonds over the phone, or work in dad’s bank? " - yes, you need a degree. Unless you start your own company, like Bill Gates.</p>
<p>"any other kind of job where it helps to be an aggressive competitor " - do you really mean that former football players are “aggressive”? I hope you don’t mean it. </p>
<p>Impressive salesperson, probably, doesn’t need a college degree. I assume that many athletes are finding jobs without college degrees. </p>
<p>mini, why do you need an MS for counseling? For sales?</p>
<p>To sell for most decent corporations you need a degree. Back in my day it was IBM, Xerox and the like. Now you have Big Pharm, Big Software, etc. Same story. Several brokers at my firm are former athletes with degrees. Our finance group has two former college baseball players. a basketball player, and a rower.</p>
<p>Why on earth would you not need a degree for outside sales?</p>
<p>And, counseling, of course, requires graduate level work.</p>
<p>Everyone knows I think the NCAA is exploitative and capricious. The point of that organization, as far as I can tell, is to continue the indentured servitude of impoverished athletes in order to protect the million+ salaries of the “administrative” class.</p>
<p>Seems to be an issue at soooo many levels in “academia” these days.</p>
<p>Why can you co-op in Engineering but not Football? Why not let them get a degree in their sport. As we can see, many make a nice living in that field (pun intended)</p>
<p>Most firms want people who can talk on par with the college grads who work making buying decisions at companies. This is not selling cars or furniture. Often sophisticated presentations are part of the pitch.
The slam on the NCAA is just bunk. They have a big and complex job and are serving the colleges that actually run the NCAA. Most scholarship athletes would laugh at your mis-characterization of them.</p>
<p>"Everyone knows I think the NCAA is exploitative and capricious. The point of that organization, as far as I can tell, is to continue the indentured servitude of impoverished athletes "</p>
<p>The days of slavery are over. Why impoverished athletes participate in NCAA sponsored events? They are free to move away, at any moment. </p>
<p>poetgrl, I am not sure that you know what “indentured servitude” means.</p>
<p>These impoverished athletes are treated as consumable items. It is just sad. They participate in the NCAA for the dream of playing pro football. The lottery ticket to a better life.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, injuries are at all time highs. I think most players only last in the pro league for a short time and end up broke. That lottery ticket they buy into is a false dream.</p>
<p>“These impoverished athletes are treated as consumable items. It is just sad. They participate in the NCAA for the dream of playing pro football. The lottery ticket to a better life.”</p>
<p>Analogy</p>
<p>Companies treated employees as consumable items. It is just sad. They work for the dream of making career. The lottery ticket to a better life.</p>
<p>I look at the hours that young attorneys have to work to become partners. It is insane. Look at entry level kids at McKinsey Consulting. They work their backside of … in 2 years they are either promoted or thrown away. That’s life. </p>
<p>Pro football players make millions. Colleges provide great opportunity to kids to get a career as a pro.</p>
<p>Since the original poster called out Cam Newton by name, I would like to point out that he remains a student at Auburn. He left early as the winner of the Heisman Trophy with a national championship in 2010. He was the number one draft choice for the NFL that year. Why would anyone expect a young man in that position to turn down the millions he could make? So here we are in 2013, Mr. Newton is quite successful in the NFL and as a product endorser. He also has spent his off time at Auburn working to complete his degree, because he wants to. Bo Jackson did the same thing, he worked on his degree during his off seasons (and as both a pro football and baseball player that was tough). It took him many years, but he got his degree. In both 2012 and 2013 an Auburn football player and graduate was a Rhodes Scholar nominee.</p>
<p>The young man who was the Rhodes Scholar nominee in 2012 and 2013 is black. He graduated Auburn and is currently in vet school at Texas A&M.</p>