Why can't Cal play in the 'smart football player market'?

[sakky]

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Come on sakky, you know why Cal isn’t able to do it. You probably know more about Berkeley than most of these posters.

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<p>Actually, no I don’t know why Cal can’t do it. Like I said, it seems to me that Cal is replete with resources, academic and financial, to do it - perhaps not as many resources as does Stanford, but certainly far more than most other football programs. </p>

<p>Again, keep in mind that Cal football has plenty of funding that it is committed to paying anyway. Cal is committed to offering 85 football scholarships every year anyway. Why not try to offer some of those scholarships to entice players who are both academically and athletically talented? Or consider this: Jeff Tedford actually made higher pay in 2010 than did Jim Harbaugh at Stanford or - get this - even Gene Chizik at national champion Auburn. That’s right - higher. Hence, Cal clearly has plenty of money to lavish on the football program. Again, why not use some of it to attract better players? </p>

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You’re just picking on Cal for ****s and giggles.

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<p>If I’m picking on Cal, I am only doing so because I want Cal to improve. I want Cal to qualify for a BCS bowl. I want Cal to be a school noted for the intellectual quality of its football program. </p>

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Andrew Luck’s 3.51 GPA (qualifying for the second team in the Pac-10 All-Academic team) is pretty much average at Stanford. While it certainly is better than the stereotype of football players as being below average students, it is not as impressive as it may look to outsiders.</p>

<p>But the grade inflation may help Stanford recruit athletes who are somewhat more serious about academics because they can place more athletes in athlete academic lists to show how the school takes athletes’ academic performance seriously. And note that some sports columnists were impressed by Luck’s GPA in their opinions as to why Luck should win the Heisman Trophy.

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<p>Whatever level of Stanford’s grade inflation may be, I would argue that Luck’s academic achievements clearly surpass that of, say, Marcus Perry with a 3.38 GPA in “Exercise and Sports Science” (in other words, he’s majoring in gym) at Oregon State. Yet Perry was also named to the Pac-10 All Academic Team. </p>

<p>[Marecic</a>, Mohamed Highlight Pac-10 All-Academic Football Team > Pac-10 > News](<a href=“http://www.pac-10.org/News/tabid/863/Article/216028/marecic-mohamed-highlight-pac-10-all-academic-football-team.aspx]Marecic”>http://www.pac-10.org/News/tabid/863/Article/216028/marecic-mohamed-highlight-pac-10-all-academic-football-team.aspx)</p>