I agree with most of your points Rocket Fan. However, the major NCAA programs make tons of money off the student athletes. That "full ride" isn't much compared to what the school makes off of them. Most would say the school comes out ahead, but that's a different discussion. The schools dont let the kids in to make their academic programs stronger. They let them in to make their athletic programs good (and make money).
According to the article, the penalty is to miss practices and a game if he misses another class (i.e. he hasnt missed that other class yet). He already missed the practices.
icehouse.. my understand is that the majority of athletic departments in the country lose money on athletics or barely break even... once you count in all the sports
As I stated, he has already missed at least 4 classes based on the following: "Stoops encouraged the athletic department to decree that if an athlete misses three classes in one subject, he gets a warning. After one more missed class in any subject, he must miss two practices. And after one more missed class in any subject, he must miss a competition." Since he has been forced to miss two practices, he has missed at least 3 classes in one particular subject. He has skipped at least one other class which got him the "two missed practices" penalty. How many classes should a scholarship athlete be allowed to skip before any punishment ensues, especially considering the rules seem pretty well established and known to the players? Of course, we are all debating this (especially based on Bayless' article) and Peterson has probably accepted his punishment with no real qualms. Now, perhaps, he can quit letting his teammates down and start attending classes.
And in return, they get a full scholarship to school, free tutoring, a showcase for themselves if they believe themselves pro-caliber, etc. It's not like athletes don't get any benefits out of this. I don't see why it's a big deal that getting a full scholarship requires various terms be met - private scholarships certainly have them, although attendence is generally not one of those. However, many academic scholarships require students to maintain a 3.0 or 3.5 or take x number of hours or whatnot. The idea is that if someone is giving you money (the state, in this case), they have a right to attach conditions to this money to make sure its being spent properly. If Peterson didn't feel he could meet those guidelines, he could have gone to any number of other schools without said requirements.
The bizarre thing about this is that school has only been in session for less than 2 weeks at that point - so for any given class, there probably had only been about 5 or 6 sessions total at the most.
I never said they weren't benefiting from this. The issue is simply time. An academic scholarship still doesn't require a student to spend his time on anything other than school. A football player has a lot more commitments. Just like an academic scholarship can be lost if you don't meet certain gpa requirements, a football coach can take kid's scholarship away just for not performing up to standards, which is why he received his scholarship. He didn't get because of his grades. A kid who got their scholarship for academics should be expected to keep an academic standard, a kid who got it for football shouldn't.
pg... which is why my school also talks about wanting to make ncaa scholarships for athletes 4 years... it's wrong to get them into your school and then take their athletic scholarship away a year later because you found a better player..
In all honesty, coaches usually don't take away scholarship except in extreme situations like a kid who constantly stays in trouble. Coaches don't want to get a bad reputation among H.S. recruits as someone who might take your scholarship away.
pg.. I know they don't normally take them away.. but I've heard of it happening when new coaches come in.. if seems like I've heard of it being a problem more in basketball where their are limited spots.. more so than football
12 years later and I still have nightmares about that scenario mixed with a final exam. Bayless can suck my ass for saying he wouldn't care if Vandy lost their hoops program. I want him thrown out of our alumni program forever.
