F the NCAA

[MICHHAWK]

do they have academic eligibility requirements in semi-pro collegiate like athletics.

[Deleted User 863]

He's not totally wrong. The high end players are not there to be students. At all.

Although, that's not something that was created with NIL.

No. And it also just does not matter. Was anyone else's KU experience ruined because I took a couple check-the-box classes outside my major pass/fail, and completely mailed it in? No. Nope.

Anyone who takes it personally that the basketball players aren't there for Western Civ II is absolutely choosing to be offended by it.

I'm with you.

[Sparko]

He's not totally wrong. The high end players are not there to be students. At all.

Although, that's not something that was created with NIL.

No. And it also just does not matter. Was anyone else's KU experience ruined because I took a couple check-the-box classes outside my major pass/fail, and completely mailed it in? No. Nope.

Anyone who takes it personally that the basketball players aren't there for Western Civ II is absolutely choosing to be offended by it.

Next you'll tell me some students who take Western Civ only read the condensed summaries? My God. I wish I had a dime for every time Epictetus came up at work.

[TDub]

"school"

I showed up for a final in a math class and panicked that I might be in the wrong place because there were so many people there I had never seen before. There were clearly regular students who didn't take their schooling very seriously. The notion that the current academic situation is unique to today or to athletics is simply choosing to be ignorant.

unrelated but sure.

[jfish26]

He's not totally wrong. The high end players are not there to be students. At all.

Although, that's not something that was created with NIL.

No. And it also just does not matter. Was anyone else's KU experience ruined because I took a couple check-the-box classes outside my major pass/fail, and completely mailed it in? No. Nope.

Anyone who takes it personally that the basketball players aren't there for Western Civ II is absolutely choosing to be offended by it.

Next you'll tell me some students who take Western Civ only read the condensed summaries? My God. I wish I had a dime for every time Epictetus came up at work.

It's almost like - and I do hope you're sitting down, this could be jarring - part of college for a great great many students is figuring out how to do the bare minimum to meet their academic responsibilities, so that they have the most time possible to do what really interests them.

In other words...perhaps athletes are getting a much MORE authentic "college" experience than the sky-is-falling crowd wants to admit.

[PhDhawk]

Admittedly, I've never had a class with a OAD or a Heisman trophy finalist.

But, I have had classes with full scholarship athletes in revenue sports at power5 schools.

In my experience, other than having excused absences and some additional leniency for test dates that conflict with games...student athletes are no different than other students...at least from the professor's perspective. I guess you do get 2 emails a semester asking for a progress report...

They usually have good attendance and wear licensed apparel.

[hoopla]

agree, a college degree has long been more a matter of perseverance than intelligence.

as for earlier, i believe that the facade of tying academics to (otherwise entirely independent) athletic programs has a profound effect on everyone's college experience, as it plays a part in everything from outlandish tuition rates to disparate access to resources (which are in part funded by tuition) to the erosion of benefits for faculty (which itself leads to deterioration of the education we all paid for).

or maybe everything <i>is</i> just better than it was before, and this post belongs on a poli-board, lol. i digress.

[CrimsonNBlue]

I had class with several KU athletes, the most memorable being Aqib Talib and Brandon Rush. Aqib showed up on the 1st day of class and for the final. Rush was an every 3rd class or so attendee. Granted, I don't recall these being attendance-required classes.

I had friends that were student-athletes for non-revenue sports. Great students, successful professionals now.

This was also 15-some years ago, so it could be way different now being a completely different department now. Wife has recently had cheerleaders at KU as students but no athletes. Also good students.

[CrimsonNBlue]

agree, a college degree has long been more a matter of perseverance than intelligence.

as for earlier, i believe that the facade of tying academics to (otherwise entirely independent) athletic programs has a profound effect on everyone's college experience, as it plays a part in everything from outlandish tuition rates to disparate access to resources (which are in part funded by tuition) to the erosion of benefits for faculty (which itself leads to deterioration of the education we all paid for).

or maybe everything <i>is</i> just better than it was before, and this post belongs on a poli-board, lol. i digress.

I don't know about every school, but the P5's like KU, the student-athlete scholarships don't seem to come from the school's general fund, but rather from the for-profit athletic departments' raised funds.

[jfish26]

I was present for “ain’t no seats, coach.”

[jfish26]

I had class with several KU athletes, the most memorable being Aqib Talib and Brandon Rush. Aqib showed up on the 1st day of class and for the final. Rush was an every 3rd class or so attendee. Granted, I don't recall these being attendance-required classes.

I had friends that were student-athletes for non-revenue sports. Great students, successful professionals now.

This was also 15-some years ago, so it could be way different now being a completely different department now. Wife has recently had cheerleaders at KU as students but no athletes. Also good students.

Right - so the athletes are just like everyone else. Some care about the material. Some don’t. Some are driven to get great grades. Some aren’t.

[CrimsonNBlue]

I had class with several KU athletes, the most memorable being Aqib Talib and Brandon Rush. Aqib showed up on the 1st day of class and for the final. Rush was an every 3rd class or so attendee. Granted, I don't recall these being attendance-required classes.

I had friends that were student-athletes for non-revenue sports. Great students, successful professionals now.

This was also 15-some years ago, so it could be way different now being a completely different department now. Wife has recently had cheerleaders at KU as students but no athletes. Also good students.

Right - so the athletes are just like everyone else. Some care about the material. Some don’t. Some are driven to get great grades. Some aren’t.

Yes.

Now, the tutors are quite the perk. Especially if you're at UNC.

[PhDhawk]

agree, a college degree has long been more a matter of perseverance than intelligence.

as for earlier, i believe that the facade of tying academics to (otherwise entirely independent) athletic programs has a profound effect on everyone's college experience, as it plays a part in everything from outlandish tuition rates to disparate access to resources (which are in part funded by tuition) to the erosion of benefits for faculty (which itself leads to deterioration of the education we all paid for).

or maybe everything <i>is</i> just better than it was before, and this post belongs on a poli-board, lol. i digress.

I don't know about every school, but the P5's like KU, the student-athlete scholarships don't seem to come from the school's general fund, but rather from the for-profit athletic departments' raised funds.

I'm at a smaller school now, but athletics are still a big deal.

At a meeting where I was informed no faculty would receive raises because the governor had frozen tuition. I was unironicaly informed with great excitement about the new $250,000 marching band practice field.

The accounts are non-fungible.

[CrimsonNBlue]

agree, a college degree has long been more a matter of perseverance than intelligence.

as for earlier, i believe that the facade of tying academics to (otherwise entirely independent) athletic programs has a profound effect on everyone's college experience, as it plays a part in everything from outlandish tuition rates to disparate access to resources (which are in part funded by tuition) to the erosion of benefits for faculty (which itself leads to deterioration of the education we all paid for).

or maybe everything <i>is</i> just better than it was before, and this post belongs on a poli-board, lol. i digress.

I don't know about every school, but the P5's like KU, the student-athlete scholarships don't seem to come from the school's general fund, but rather from the for-profit athletic departments' raised funds.

I'm at a smaller school now, but athletics are still a big deal.

At a meeting where I was informed no faculty would receive raises because the governor had frozen tuition. I was unironicaly informed with great excitement about the new $250,000 marching band practice field.

The accounts are non-fungible.

Same meeting, yikes. Just rip off that band-aid.

And, I'm a little curious about the donor(s) that earmarks 1/4 million dollars for the marching band at a small school. Powerful band donors.

[PhDhawk]

I don't know about every school, but the P5's like KU, the student-athlete scholarships don't seem to come from the school's general fund, but rather from the for-profit athletic departments' raised funds.

I'm at a smaller school now, but athletics are still a big deal.

At a meeting where I was informed no faculty would receive raises because the governor had frozen tuition. I was unironicaly informed with great excitement about the new $250,000 marching band practice field.

The accounts are non-fungible.

Same meeting, yikes. Just rip off that band-aid.

And, I'm a little curious about the donor(s) that earmarks 1/4 million dollars for the marching band at a small school. Powerful band donors.

I dunno. We also had a very large non-denominational chapel built on a public school campus. Donors have weird priorities.

I got a kick out of the espn 30 for 30 "the U" when the players claimef that new research and academic buildings were being built with money generated by the football team. Not how things work.

[jfish26]

I don't know about every school, but the P5's like KU, the student-athlete scholarships don't seem to come from the school's general fund, but rather from the for-profit athletic departments' raised funds.

I'm at a smaller school now, but athletics are still a big deal.

At a meeting where I was informed no faculty would receive raises because the governor had frozen tuition. I was unironicaly informed with great excitement about the new $250,000 marching band practice field.

The accounts are non-fungible.

Same meeting, yikes. Just rip off that band-aid.

And, I'm a little curious about the donor(s) that earmarks 1/4 million dollars for the marching band at a small school. Powerful band donors.

Others here would know better than I do, but I'd imagine donors to inconsequential (sorry) causes fall into one (or two) camps: (1) alumni/parents of the cause, or (2) people looking for the cheapest thing they can "buy" their name onto.

[hoopla]

agree, a college degree has long been more a matter of perseverance than intelligence.

as for earlier, i believe that the facade of tying academics to (otherwise entirely independent) athletic programs has a profound effect on everyone's college experience, as it plays a part in everything from outlandish tuition rates to disparate access to resources (which are in part funded by tuition) to the erosion of benefits for faculty (which itself leads to deterioration of the education we all paid for).

or maybe everything <i>is</i> just better than it was before, and this post belongs on a poli-board, lol. i digress.

I don't know about every school, but the P5's like KU, the student-athlete scholarships don't seem to come from the school's general fund, but rather from the for-profit athletic departments' raised funds.

I'm at a smaller school now, but athletics are still a big deal.

At a meeting where I was informed no faculty would receive raises because the governor had frozen tuition. I was unironicaly informed with great excitement about the new $250,000 marching band practice field.

The accounts are non-fungible.

unfortunately, this is all too true and a main reason i left academia. KU is sitting on a $300+ mil endowment and yet its tenured faculty has decreased by 34% in the past 12 years? to be clear, i don't blame athletics for this, but it plays a part. and the resources, focus, etc. are so disparate from what a university should be doing that it bothers me.

see, e.g. https://www.kansan.com/news/as-an-alumn ... 933cc.html.

sorry, i promised to digress like an hour ago. i'll do better this time.

[DCHawk1]

Not how things work.

Mostly, you're right.

That said, it depends in part on the school/athletics department. Most revenue-positive athletics departments (as Miami would have been at the time) make "contributions" to general scholarship funds and other non-AD programs/priorities. It's possible -- though unlikely -- that Miami was trying to buy faculty/staff complicity with larger donations.

In any case, the players didn't/don't know anything about anything, so you larger point stands.

[PhDhawk]

99% of the profits are getting reinvested in the athleic departments.

And, as you hinted at, most university athletic departments lose money.

So, while you occasionally hear a heart warming PR driven story about tOSU athletic department contributing money to the library....there are 25 schools where students are charged a fee that goes directly to the athletic department.

[Sparko]

Coming full circle, we all see what a benefit to the university a thriving BB team is. The economy of the state and local area is really burgeoned by excellence. Imagine that? The football team really impacted the bottom line for everyone associated with KU. The NCAA sees fit to restrict the $$$ for its own benefit and the favored few. Hence the thread. But the athletes bring so much more than they cost KU. Missouri, mebbee not. . . .