Link Specifically, colleges that graduate less than 50 percent of their athletes would not be eligible to compete in post-season tournaments or bowls. I like this for college football, but I'm not sure how I feel about it regarding college basketball. Let's say you recruit the next Fab Five, and three of them leave after their sophomore year because they're going to be lottery picks. Hell, they might never finish their degrees, or if they do, it might take 10 years. Do you punish the school for that...? What's the time limit to finish? Six years? If a guy takes seven, do you lose that scholarship until he finishes...?
I think it's a great incentive for these athletes to get their DEE-GREEEE. I mean, what will most of them fall back on if their professional athletic career is cut short due to injury? It could improve the maturity level of players. I also feel they should limit or ban the drafting of H.S. players. How bad does the NBA need teenagers? rH ------------------ visit: groovehouse.org
I think it's a great incentive for these athletes to get their DEE-GREEEE. How so? In my opinion, this proposal gives them no more incentive than they already have; instead, it gives the universities a great deal more incentive to make sure their athletes are getting their degrees. Do you see the opportunity for abuse here...? We'd all like to think the colleges would respond by making sure Joe Jock is actually attending classes and making progress towards really earning a degree. But I don't think that's what would happen. Instead, I think you would see more Michigan-style diploma factories, where athletes are shunted into a specific jock major and automatically passed so as to graduate and not cost the school millions in lost post-season revenue. [This message has been edited by BrianKagy (edited June 26, 2001).]
Have you seen the money these guys get nowadays? ------------------ "For there is nothing either good or bad, thinking makes it so." - William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Hamlet
No way that could ever pass. I know we strive in a perfect world to have student-athletes but in alot of D1 programs it doesn't happen. Coaches get paid to win, not to graduate students. Graduating students only matters if you lose too much.
4chuckie: That's very untrue . BC's programs win a lot more than they lose, and we have a very good graduation rate. I believe Notre Dame does as well. There are exceptions to the rule . And I don't think the two goals are incompatible. ------------------ Newbiehad... coming to a bbs near you, October 31st.
What makes this even dumber is if a player leaves early for the NBA they count against the University as someone who doesn't graduate, a player transferring counts against the university as someone who doesn't graduate, and a junior college player, whether he graduates or not DOESN'T COUNT towards that university's graduation rate! So if you get 4 Junior college players who graduate at, say, North Carolina, those players don't count as graduates of North Carolina. It's screwed up. ------------------ "Win if you can, lose if you must but always cheat!" - Jesse Ventura
Haven- Maybe it works in all sports except football and basketball where the revenues are generated for most schools. BC & Notre Dame (and as much as I hate to admit it Michigan) and Duke in b-ball are good but most other big time schools have horrible graduation rates. The goals may be attainable but don't kid yourself into thinking that my Buckeyes, or the Cornhuskers, Miami Hurricanes, Seminoles, Gators or most other championship caliber D1 schools will ever let it happen. I bet even NC in b-ball would be in trouble just because of the number of their players leaving early. No offense but if I'm going to pay $43 for a Buckeye ticket I want to see talent, not a buch of academic all-americans. I guess even if it would pass that the schools would find a way around it but I don't think it will happen. College sports is a business, just like the NBA, NFl, MLB, NHL, etc.
Kagy I know you don't like Michigan, but come on... you're a Katzenmoyer U fan, for crying out loud! And I know Raghib Ismail wasn't Catholic... ------------------ Posting Spree 2001
Hey, I'm all for the proposal, even if it did mean that the Ohio State-Michigan game would be the last of the year for each program. Michigan, and this is a dirty little secret that I bet you as a Notre Dame fan will appreciate, doesn't graduate its football players at a high rate. The Sporting News ranked the academic record of Michigan's football program as a D+ in 2000; Ohio State's was a D. Doesn't really fit the stereotype, does it? I like Bob Knight's proposal, from years back. Schools can give out only as many scholarships as they have graduating seniors. If a guy plays four years and doesn't graduate, you can't use the scholarship until he graduates or four years pass, whichever comes first. ------------------ "It's a funny thing, 'friends' You got beginnings and you got ends I guess I'll see you when we're ashes again-- Chris Robinson
Seems a bit harsh. Those missing scholarships would accumulate even for schools putting forth an effort to graduate players. Maybe you could have some sort of gradual replenishing? Oh wait. Nm. I misread the last part. ------------------ Newbiehad... coming to a bbs near you, October 31st. [This message has been edited by haven (edited June 26, 2001).]
It would have to be managed carefully in the current environment-- losing two scholarships could seriously mess up a program. But if we end up with an NBA Developmental League in a few years, I'm guessing that will radically change the landscape anyway. I think Knight's proposal is less than robust in terms of any implementation specifics. He was (pretty obviously) just trying to draw a direct correlation between departing seniors and incoming freshman and he was trying to do so in a way that would absolutely cripple the UNLVs of the world.
I'd love to absolutely cripple the UNLV's of the world. As much as many people hate Duke, their program has been exemplary for producing STUDENT ATHLETES. That's a phrase that really doesn't apply to most schools anymore. Heh... I wonder if Bob Knight is still advocating this now that he's at Texas Tech ? ------------------ Newbiehad... coming to a bbs near you, October 31st.
I would like to see the NCAA initiate a rule in college basketball like they've got in college baseball: You can go pro right out of high school, or you can accept a scholarship to attend college. If you do accept the scholarship, however, you cannot go pro until after your third year. I am pretty sick of the Eddie Griffins of the world. That situation especially makes me sick because he disrupted the team's chemistry, he left after a year (in effect causing a rebuilding process), and then Tommy Amaker left for Michigan. That was a lose-lose-lose proposition for Seton Hall.
