National Collegiate Athletic Association |
CommentJune 30, 1997
Guest editorial -- A better approach to college athletics
BY WILLIAM M. CHACE If someone were to present a modern-day version of "Faust," the world of big-time college athletics would be a fitting setting. Our focal character, Faust, would be Johnny Prospect, a high-school senior athlete looking for an education. The scheming Mephistopheles would be Joe Coach at Big Time University, who is in pursuit of one thing: victories. By entering into a contract in the form of an athletics scholarship, Johnny Prospect is signing over his soul to Joe Coach, who will control the young man's life for the next four years. Johnny Prospect's relationship with Big Time University is flawed from the beginning because he is saddled with an obligation that other students do not have. While other students do enter into specialized scholarships such as math, music and science -- areas of legitimate academic study -- students such as Johnny enter into a specialized kind of "contract," the world of big-time collegiate athletics. So, it should come as no surprise if Johnny Prospect struggles academically. His academic studies take a back seat to his athletics commitment for as long as he wishes to remain on scholarship. And Big Time University cannot predict that he will succeed because his admittance came through a side door, rather than being subject to the same review process as other students. That Proposition 48 even exists is confirmation that big-time schools are not measuring incoming student-athletes by the same standards as their "regular" students, but by an arbitrary standard agreed upon by a third party, the Division I members of the NCAA. While critics continue to push for solutions in the name of academic reform, the solution is right under their noses. Within the NCAA is another group -- in fact, its largest, Division III, composed of more than 350 colleges and universities. The members of Division III award no athletics scholarships. Prospective student-athletes must therefore fit the academic profile of the school's incoming freshman class. This ensures the likelihood of their academic success and reminds them that their primary role is that of student. As an example of the success of this approach, look at the numbers for the University Athletic Association (UAA), an athletics conference made up of nine Division III schools. For the 1996 calendar year, female student-athletes in the UAA compiled a 3.160 grade-point average (on a 4.000 scale) compared to 3.150 for all female undergraduate students. Male student-athletes had a 3.060 GPA, identical to the overall male undergraduate GPA. There's little difference, and that is precisely the point. The Division III student-athletes receive no preferential treatment before, during or after their acceptance into college. And those Division III athletes are just as competitive as the big-time college athletes showcased on national television. Again, using the UAA as an example, in 1996 the conference produced three national team champions, 10 team finishes in the top 10 and 24 top-20 finishes at their respective NCAA Division III national championships, six individual champions, and more than 50 all-Americans. The Division III approach is not perfect. Nothing is. But it comes the closest to the ideals of the "student-athlete." Athletics success is achieved without compromising the academic mission of the institution. In the end, Faust was condemned to an afterlife in hell. But that does not have to be the fate of future Johnny Prospects. Rather than asking them to sell their souls, let's redeem them and ourselves by treating them as students in every sense of the word. William M. Chace is president of Emory University. Letter to the Editor -- Current Title IX application is bad for allWe've heard and read all the comments about the great benefits of Title IX. Now how about some "equal time" to show that all is not so perfect, the Supreme Court notwithstanding. Let's start with me. In 1948, I was a walk-on baseball player at Stanford University, a fourth-string catcher who was willing to labor unnoticed in the bullpen. Still, I made the team, the coach wanted me and I paid my own way. Under the caps now put on college teams, if I were there today, I probably would be cut. Perhaps this would be no great loss, but didn't I have a right to make the team? Who knows what honor and value I may (or may not) have brought to my alma mater? At California State University, Los Angeles, we have women's softball with more scholarships than men's baseball. But in women's softball, the star pitcher often completes both games of a double-header, which is unheard of in baseball. I read our local paper, and it says we have 30 players on the men's team and 17 on the women's. Let's take the recent and tragic death of the Cal State Northridge programs, where the women's volleyball team had more scholarships than it had players! As their soccer coach said, "We've had young men coming to our schools for soccer camps since they were 9. Where are they going to go now in the San Fernando Valley?" The next person who says that men's sports are not being axed in favor of women's sports should be locked up in the insane ward. Here, we just got cut three tuition scholarships in baseball, so now I've had to turn down three promising, needy student-athletes this week. That is sad. As I understand it, more than 30 major U.S. universities have dropped baseball. Have the women really gained from this process? True, men's football is overrated as a source of revenue, but football is here to stay, like it or not, at least at many schools. Since having women's football doesn't appear to be feasible, let me give one solution: Exempt football, then take all the allotted school funds and cut them in half, 50 percent to the men and 50 percent to the women. Now, if the women want to have 12 players on their team and the men 18, that's their business. As to fund-raising, have each school give each sport an equal amount for men and women, but let each sport keep what it can raise. Having one group raise money and then having some of that money siphoned off to another group that has done nothing is neither just nor an incentive to go out and raise money. It is very true that in the past, the women were given a bad deal. Like everything else in this country, the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction. What's this about each university having three men's sports and five women's sports in the future? For men, probably football, basketball and something else. The women, to be equal, come up with, say, basketball, volleyball, soccer, track and swimming. And who dies? OK, men's tennis, track, swimming, wrestling, gymnastics, golf, baseball, maybe soccer. But hold on: Where do we see women's golf, tennis, field hockey and softball? There have to be some better solutions, and you'd better find them fast.
John O. Herbold II -- Head Baseball Coach Editor's Note: Baseball sponsorship has remained constant over the last five years throughout the NCAA membership. Sponsorship in 1990-91 was 91.6 percent of the Division I membership and 86.5 percent of the overall membership. In 1995-96 (the last report available in NCAA Annual Reports), it was 90.5 percent in Division I and 87.5 percent in all divisions. Although exempting football has been discussed before as a means of dealing with the Title IX proportionality standard, the Office for Civil Rights has ruled that the entire program, including football, must be considered. To date, the courts have supported the OCR interpretation. Opinions -- Gender question: Is one sex bettre suited to coaching?
Ron Belinko, physical education supervisor "Men think they can coach, whether they are capable or not. Women won't do it without total knowledge of the sport."
Stephy Samaras, high-school athlete "Men expect more of you than women do. Men hold my attention. If I have a male coach yelling at me, I'm more apt to do what he says. Maybe it's the deeper voice, or that he's yelling louder."
Sally Entsminger, basketball coach "The worst thing that has happened to girls' sports is men coaching them. To them, the 'W' becomes all-important. Are males better motivators? Meaner, maybe. Call it the fear of God."
Brenda Gelston, executive director "Male coaches don't understand the emotional ups and downs of being a woman. But this isn't a case of one gender being the ogre and the other the angel. They meet somewhere in between."
White athletes in track and field
Jack Raglin, sports psychologist Reacting to widely held beliefs that white people cannot run as fast or jump as high as Blacks: "People believe that, whether it's true or not. As a consequence, who knows? Athletes with a lot of potential may choose other activities or drop out. "I think it's an issue worthy of study."
Kevin Little, track athlete "I don't see society trying to push whites into track. You just don't see whites in track. That raises an eyebrow. But it's been like that for years. It's no different now." Gambling
David Reel, columnist On the decision of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics to conduct its annual convention in Las Vegas: "It may strike you as harmless when the point guard from Podunk U.'s basketball team plops a few bucks down on a pro football game. But what if the point guard is a sucker and loses $100, $500, or even $1,000? "What if his bookmaker threatens to go public, jeopardizing the point guard's eligibility? Does the point guard leak sensitive team information to the bookie? Does the point guard agree to shave points? "This scenario so panics the NCAA that last year it hired a full-time watchdog to monitor agent-athlete relationships and gambling. Cedric Dempsey, the NCAA's executive director, said the hiring was made because gambling is a 'cancer growing in our society.' "The NCAA also funded a gambling-related survey of 2,000 Division I football and men's basketball players. More than 600 athletes responded, and 25.5 percent of them admitted to betting on sports. "There is more tangible evidence, too. Within the last two years, football players at Boston College and Maryland have been busted for sports betting, while the basketball programs at Fresno State and Arizona State have been investigated for point-shaving. "At January's NCAA Convention, delegates revised Association rules to forbid athletes or administrators from participating 'in any gambling activity that involves intercollegiate sports or professional athletics, through a bookmaker, a parlay card, or any other method employed by organized gambling.' "The NCAA is so gambling-conscious that it has become downright paranoid, deeming the time-honored tradition of a defeated crew team presenting its soaked jerseys to its conquerors as an improper wager. "Yet there are the administrators of college sports, those who vote on NCAA rules, convening in America's gambling mecca. There they are spending money on hotel rooms, meals, drinks, shows. There they are yukking it up and, undoubtedly, venturing into the casino and sports book. "Viva, Las Vegas."
Title IX
Jim Dietz, rowing coach "The intent of Title IX was not to cut men's sports. When men's sports are cut or dropped the women get blamed. So they are the victims all over again."
|