Comment
February 24, 1997
Guest editorial -- Academic advisement has aided grad rates
BY FRED STROOCK
University of Southern California
We continue to read about NCAA research that shows that the graduation rates of student-athletes have improved dramatically since 1986, the year that Proposal No. 48 mandated that initial-eligibility standards include a minimum grade-point average in a set number of core academic classes, as well as a minimum standardized-test score.
The NCAA News, the Chronicle of Higher Education and numerous other publications have, for some time now, lauded Prop 48 legislation as a critical component in the successful academic progress of student-athletes at colleges and universities throughout the country.
I believe most of us would agree that there has been a correlation between the increased initial-eligibility standards and the improved graduation rates of student-athletes. However, I feel there is a silent debate regarding how significant this correlation may be.
What seems to be rarely, if ever, noted is the fact that the success of student-athletes' performance in the classroom coincided with the dramatic development of academic support programs for student-athletes. In 1982, fewer than two dozen schools had formal support programs, and approximately 100 men and women were members of what was then a fledgling organization called the National Association of Academic Advisors for Athletics (N4A).
Fifteen years later in 1997, NCAA legislation (Bylaw 16.3.1.1) requires that every Division I institution make academic counseling and tutoring available to student-athletes; more than 500 institutions have fully developed academic support programs and nearly 600 advisors make up the membership of the N4A.
Student-athletes and coaches are usually the first to recognize that academic counselors are instrumental to their teams' success in the classroom and in the athletics environment. These advisors are highly trained and extremely dedicated individuals who consistently provide quality services for the student-athletes with whom they work. Athletics academic advisors have become accustomed to 12-hour days, weekends devoted to seeing recruits, and summers spent monitoring the myriad satisfactory-progress rules ("75-25," "90-95," "25-50-75," just to name a few).
A quick look at academic-support facilities of schools across the country is a clear indication of the priority institutions have given to ensuring that student-athletes have easy access to academic counseling, tutoring, computer hardware and study rooms. The one-person support programs of the early 1980s have been greatly enhanced and, more often than not, now include multiple academic advisors, learning specialists and large numbers of tutors and mentors.
Therefore, I believe it is hardly a coincidence that the graduation rates of student-athletes began to improve soon after schools recognized the need to fully develop their academic-support programs for this special population of students.
The completion of 13 core classes and an 820 SAT or 17 ACT are not the only factors leading to increased graduation rates. It's time for the NCAA and university presidents, for athletics directors and faculty athletics representatives, to give credit where credit is due. Athletics academic advisors have unquestionably made a significant difference in the lives of thousands of student-athletes throughout the past decade. Maybe, just maybe, that's why these student-athletes are graduating at a record pace.
Fred Stroock is president of the National Association of Academic Advisors for Athletics. He also serves as the assistant athletics director for academic services at the University of Southern California.
Comment -- Competition provides a chance to learn
The following remarks are excerpted from a recent speech by Ray Nystrand, dean of education and assistant to the president at the University of Louisville, at a dinner honoring 70 Louisville athletes who earned at least a 3.250 grade-point average.
"It is not the excitement of big-time competition that makes me value athletics -- indeed, some of that makes me worry about American values.
"It's hard for me to accept that professional athletes command salaries well into seven and even eight figures annually while so many of society struggle to pay their bills. And it is hard for me to understand that some cities that are willing to raise hundreds of millions of dollars to build stadiums to attract or retain professional sports franchises will not levy taxes to bring schools up to standards in areas that are dominated by poverty, illiteracy and hopelessness.
"This may have dampened my enthusiasm for professional sports to the point I pay very little attention to them, except for the Chicago Cubs.
"I must add that I am also bothered by the growing commercialism of big-time college athletics. We deal with these issues on a daily basis. They continually challenge us to remain focused on our fundamental values.
"The real value of intercollegiate athletics rests in what participation says about you and does for you as a person. For one thing, it says that each of you knows the meaning of commitment, discipline and hard work. I have great respect for swimmers who get up to practice at five o'clock in the morning and return later in the day, for track athletes who run intervals day by day, and football players who learn to play through pain. I have all the more respect for people who do these same things and apply these same values in ways that demonstrate success in the classroom. Each of you demonstrates that you know what it means to be good at something and that you are willing to work hard to achieve it.
"These are very important qualities -- there are no natural athletes or students. Some have more talent than others, but the only people who really succeed are those willing to pay the price....
"At the same time athletics have taught you to work hard, they have also taught you that no matter how good you are, on any given day, there can be someone who is better. That is what competition is about. It's an important part of our life, and we often learn about it from our friends.
"Learning to compete successfully means learning to focus energy, maintain poise and commit yourself fully to a particular goal. Anyone who has tried to line up a three-foot downhill putt to win a match on the 18th hole knows how tough this can be. The same skills are required to write a good essay examination under the pressure of time.
"Athletics and academics each have words to describe this. 'Choke' is the word that has a special meaning in athletics -- it means not doing your best under pressure. We know that applies in the classroom as well. There the term is 'test anxiety.' Wherever you are, learning not to choke or be anxious is an important lesson for life.
"There are other lessons learned from competition -- less talked about, but just as valuable:
"Learning to be graceful and empathetic when you win.
"Learning how to lose (something that none of us wants to get especially good at).
"The truth is that no one ever won anything truly significant without having lost several times in preparation. Indeed, everyone loses sometime; the lesson of competition is that we can accept this as today's outcome, learn from it and do better tomorrow.
"The third value of intercollegiate athletics is that they teach you interpersonal skills. Athletics -- individual as well as team sports -- put people in highly tense, often emotional situations. People who do well in such situations are likely to develop confidence, sensitivity, flexibility -- and manage stress -- not only their own but sometimes in others. Sportswriters say that teams that do these things have good chemistry. These interpersonal skills are the essence of leadership. I think it's no accident that so many people in leadership positions were high-school and college athletes.
"The fourth and final value that I mention tonight is that athletics produce significant friendships and lasting memories. To illustrate this point, I want to talk for just a minute about a good book I just finished. The title is 'Woody's Boys.' Written by Alan Natali, it is a series of chapters about men who played and worked for Woody Hayes.
"You probably remember him as the successful, but irascible and eccentric, football coach at Ohio State who finally punched an opposing player in frustration at the end of a bowl game. He was much more than that. He was first and foremost a teacher who promised his players and their parents he would assure them an education if they came to Ohio State.
"One player recalled if your grades were not what Woody thought they should be, he would tutor you. 'He would call you in and you would have to sit in his office. He sat at his desk and you had to sit across from him. "What chapter are we on?" He'd take the book and he'd read it...you'd have to sit there and listen to him read. You didn't want to have Woody read to you. He'd always say, "If you don't give you that education, then I haven't lived up to my end of the bargain." I think he truly believed that....'
"These anecdotes are about remembering leadership in the context of teaching and friendship. It is a context we share as students, coaches and faculty members. Leadership is more a matter of style and character than any single event.
"It is the character of individuals we remember. I do not recall the specifics of many athletic contests I took part in or classes I attended as a college student. But I can certainly remember the teammates, teachers and coaches I loved.
"I expect you have fond memories of your own college experiences, and that some of the people who are most prominent in those memories are here with you tonight."
Opinions -- Colleges correct in banning at-risk athletes from play
W. Frank Newton, law school dean
Texas Tech University
Newhouse News Service
Discussing a case in which a prominent basketball player is seeking to establish his right to play college basketball despite having a serious heart defect:
"The fact that a university regards this as a dilemma at all shows us how badly out of line the whole system has become. The university is on very solid ground to say, 'Naw, you can't play.' No university can sponsor such events without taking adequate and appropriate precautions for the safety of the athletes playing. The university that ignores this danger is defaulting on its responsibility to provide a reasonably safe opportunity to play for its athletes.
"This is not a tryout for the Dallas Cowboys. There is a real world out there, but the core of a university's mission should remain inviolate."
Citizenship Through Sports Alliance
Scorecard
Sports Illustrated
"While acts of horrid sportsmanship in the pros command the headlines -- see Roberto Alomar, see Dennis Rodman -- hardly a week goes by without a less-noted report of misbehavior by a coach or player at a junior high basketball game or a Pop Warner football game. On January 25 Gerry Hart, a former NHL player coaching a Long Island youth hockey team, was arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault for allegedly punching a referee and a 14-year-old opposing player (Hart denies the charges). Such incidents emphasize the importance of a (recent) gathering of leaders from various athletics governing bodies to discuss sportsmanship.
"The group -- including honchos from the U.S. Olympic Committee, the four major pro sports, the NCAA and the National Federation of State High School Associations -- met in New York City to announce the formation of the Citizenship Through Sports Alliance, an organization intended to promote sports' positive values. 'We want to emphasize teamwork, interdependence and leadership,' said National League President Leonard Coleman. 'The values sports can give to young people play a critical role in their development.'
"No specifics have been laid out, but the members are discussing the creation of a full-time Alliance staff that would aid programs to educate athletes, coaches and officials about sportsmanship. This effort is long overdue. Too often people who should be role models for young athletes don't understand that teaching sportsmanship is as important -- more important -- as teaching the jump stop or the double-play pivot. The sports leaders who assembled in New York were right to recognize their responsibility. Their next step is to act."
Amateurism
Samuel H. Smith, president
Washington State University
Seattle Times
"There will be a time that we will examine our definition of the amateur in college athletics. We will decide which of our athletes are amateurs and which are professionals, although we'll never call them that."
Thomas C. Hansen, commissioner
Pacific-10 Conference
Seattle Times
"I might be the radical on this, but why not have the agents loan money to the athletes they're trying to represent? Or, in the case of football, have the NFL make loans based on reports of its own scouting services?"
Basketball shooting
Denny Crum, men's basketball coach
University of Louisville
The Dallas Morning News
"People are shooting more three-point shots than ever before, further away from the basket, for a worse percentage. And because of the three-point shot, people aren't working and practicing as much as before on the in-between shots. They are working on low-post moves and three-pointers."
Kevin Eastman, men's basketball coach
Washington State University
The Dallas Morning News
"I think quicker shots are tolerated by coaches. But the quickest shot is not always the best shot. Part of coaching is keeping players happy. I think a lot of kids think just a shot is good offense, rather than a good shot."
Mark Bradley, columnist
The Atlanta Journal
"When the three-pointer came to college ball, math majors noted that a team could shoot 40 percent from 20 feet and beat an opponent that shot 59 percent from two feet. Rick Pitino took to benching those who shot a step inside the arc. Seeing the trey's cosmetic impact on colleges, the NBA moved its line by almost two feet. Now everybody launches.
"Go back to that part about a team shooting 40 percent from three-point range. Trouble is, nobody does. (The NBA average is 35.8 percent, the NCAA 33.7.) The trey counts a point more for a reason: It's harder to hit. But the lure of that extra point has skewed the game, placing greater emphasis on making difficult shots than on finding easy ones.
"Yes, defenses are more sophisticated, but the best defense cannot stop any offense unless shooters aid and abet. If you take good shots, you'll score enough points. The three-pointer has made us forget what a good shot is.
"So I'm here to remind everyone. With the power vested in me by -- well, by me -- I'm imposing a cap on treys. Every team, college and pro, can try only 10 a game. Anything beyond No. 10 is a technical foul. A coach can hoard his three-pointers for catch-up purposes the way Dean Smith does timeouts, but no team will be allowed to gorge itself on the trey.
"Over time, the 10-footer will return. The trey will be rendered an exotic option, not a staple. Shooting will improve. Scoring will increase. And me, I'll be off to right another grievous wrong, this one involving Bill Parcells and the Jets."
Edward Bilik, chair
NCAA Men's Basketball Rules Committee
The Washington Post
"Basketball was meant to be played from the inside out. I don't know that that's how the game is played now. The emphasis seems to be on the first shot rather than the best shot."
Gary Williams, men's basketball coach
University of Maryland, College Park
The Washington Post
"Twenty years ago, almost nobody lifted weights or stretched. Now the guys doing that mostly are playing defense. So they're better athletes.
"Say shooting stayed exactly the same over those 20 years. But the guy who once jumped nine feet in your face might now be jumping 10 feet.
"Maybe you shoot poorly because of that."
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