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NCAA News Archive - 2010

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Mar 9, 2010 8:43:25 AM

Clark Kellogg has earned a bully pulpit as CBS' lead analyst for men's college basketball. His message? Strive for excellence in all aspects of life.

"I try to get kids to understand the connection between using their physical gifts and what they can get from an academic and development standpoint," Kellogg said. "That's not to say you should squelch your NBA dreams, but you really try to value the benefit of being in college and getting an education."

Kellogg's counsel resonates in a youth basketball environment inundated with dreams of a quick stop in college on the way to the pros. The "one-and-done" phenomenon is a product of the NBA and the NBA Players' Association collectively bargaining that a prospect must be a year out of high school before declaring for the draft.

Opponents of the rule think it lessens the incentive for a freshman to take classes in the spring if he plans to declare for the NBA draft. That in turn affects the player's college program, since it is penalized in the Academic Progress Rate when players leave while academically ineligible.

Kellogg, who became the lead analyst for CBS's coverage of the basketball tournament last year, knows first-hand of the pressures on players to play professionally. He was an all-Big Ten Conference performer at Ohio State in 1979-82 and declared for the NBA draft after his junior season. He was a top-10 draft pick of the Indiana Pacers.

Kellogg would prefer some middle ground, but if the current model is all that's available, he said one year of schooling is better than none.

"If kids are gifted and so inclined, I would love to see them have a chance to go to the NBA right out of high school," Kellogg said. "But if you make the decision to go to college, there should be a mandatory two- or three-year commitment. But the way things are right now, I believe a year of college is better for a person to experience than not going to college at all."

Kellogg grew up in Cleveland and by high school was considered one of the top players in the nation. He had his sights set on becoming a professional basketball player. All the while, though, his parents stressed the importance of education.

"No one in my family had graduated from college," Kellogg said. "I wanted to do that. My folks planted that in me. I was taught that there was value in that, and I wanted to be a guy in the NBA who had a college degree."

He made the decision to declare for the NBA draft after his junior season.

"The only guys who went straight to professional basketball out of high school around that time were Moses Malone, Bill Willoughby and Darryl Dawkins," Kellogg said. "In the late 1970s and early 1980s, it was part of the culture to declare for the draft after your second or third year of college."

Kellogg married his fiancée, Rosy, after his rookie season with the Pacers. He also went back to Ohio State and took a couple of classes to get him closer to a marketing degree, which he obtained in 1996.

"That was a key for me." Kellogg said. "Had I postponed going back right away, who knows what would have happened. I took eight hours that summer right after our honeymoon."

Kellogg's NBA career was cut short by cartilage damage in his knees, and he was forced to retire in the summer of 1987. The Pacers offered him a job as a radio game analyst a month later, and a broadcasting career was born.

"Starting in radio forced me to be brief in my analysis," said Kellogg, who had planned an entrepreneurial business career after his playing days until the Pacers' offer. "You have to communicate a picture in a small window of time. I've always enjoyed writing and speaking. It was a natural fit from that standpoint."

His daughter Talisa and two sons, Alex and Nick, were born over the next five years. Talisa is a recent graduate of Georgia Tech, where she had 1,736 kills for the Yellow Jackets' volleyball team from 2005-08. Alex is a member of the Ohio University basketball team, where he is sitting out this season after transferring from Providence. Nick, who is a senior in high school, will join his brother on the Bobcats' roster next fall.

Having children this age helps Kellogg relate to the current men's basketball student-athletes.

"Some of the things I tell these kids are the same things that I tell my own," Kellogg said. "It's great to have the dreams and desires to be a pro, but it is how you treat people and develop yourself in other areas that are important. I encourage them to use the game and their gifts for good and not to be so trapped by the potential that you might have."

Kellogg was in Indianapolis, the site of the 2010 Men's Final Four, last month to take part in the annual mock selection exercise for the media. It's the second time Kellogg has participated in the event.

"I wanted to do this again, because I feel like I can always learn," Kellogg said. "It's educational, and it can help me serve our viewers when I'm covering games. You get to appreciate how serious the real committee takes this and how much of a privilege those members feel it is to serve in this capacity."