In an ideal world, athletic departments and the colleges they represent would be blissful partners. But we don't live in an ideal world and sometimes their missions clash. A football team may want to sign a great athlete with barely passing grades and admissions wants to put the kibosh on that one. And another one. And puts up a fight about two other kids.
That's how it goes at many school, particularly ones with great athletic traditions.
Enter Clemson.
The Tigernet's Mickey Plyler wrote a blog entry titled "The Truth" yesterday documenting the evolution of Clemson's academic and athletic departments. I pause when I write evolution because it reads more like the deterioration of cooperation and trust between the two parties.
I'm careful to speak ill of either side because we have but one side of the story presented here, but it's one that shows distress within the football program. Coaches made to be humiliated before academic review boards, unnecessary oversight, lies about the academic credentials of pending recruits and much more.
I don't know enough about Clemson to grasp all of the other situations mentioned within Plyler's entry, but it sounds like things are at a stand-still for the football program as they seek better recruits in the face of a shorter leash from the academic community at Clemson.
Exhibit A:
Clemson has an academic review board that prospects' transcripts must go through in order to continue to be recruited by the football staff.Does it have to be this way? I don't know. But I do know that most of the successful D-IA football programs gravitate towards admitting any and all student-athletes who meet the NCAA minimums for admission. By Plyler's admission Clemson has gravitated in the opposite direction in a move reminiscent of Notre Dame.
This board turned down the following players among others:
JoJo Cox-unsigned
Dwight Jones-North Carolina
Tydreke Powell-North Carolina
Ryan Houston-North Carolina
Brandon Paul-Florida State
Weslye Saunders-South Carolina
Olufemi Ajiboye-South Carolina
Jarius Wynn-Georgia
The morale among the coaching staff is extremely low. The staff recruited numerous prospects for countless hours and drove and flew countless miles in the past year only to have over 15 players turned down by this board.
In the past, the board has claimed that no player they have ever turned down ever made it to a Division I-A school. This is false on two fronts.
First, some went to a D-I school after being placed in a prep school or junior college. Also, Wynn and Ajiboye are currently enrolled at SEC schools.
Clemson assistants had to write letters of recommendations for players to the academic review board. They had to personally go in front of the board and plead each case. I could not imagine how degrading that would be. What happened to trusting your coaches?
Several years ago, Notre Dame was featured in a Sports Illustrated article documenting the on field struggles at the school. Some of the blame was placed on the surging power of the school's academics over the football program. No longer were marginal students accepted and prospective recruits were sometimes outright made to be intimidated by admissions folks.
I seem to remember the story of T.J. Duckett and his father who met with admissions and were told he would have to pass a calculus class his freshman year. But it went beyond that as they left that meeting with the impression that Notre Dame brazenly felt he couldn't keep up with the books.
Lose enough players like Duckett and championship hopes tend to dim after a while. In Notre Dame's case it has meant a string of humiliating bowl losses whenever the Irish have played their way into the national stage.
Point being, this isn't the first dramatic battle between athletics and academics and athletics and it certainly won't be the last. It's sad to hear that some in Clemson feel frustrated and humiliated and as much as I would sympathize I'm curious to hear what the other side of the story is, to bring sunshine and light into this tale so the public can see for itself what is going on.
Until then all we have is innuendo, accusations and a sense of frustration coming from the football program.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
You assume to much concerning Notre Dame. The school did not recently grow academically. It has always had one of the highest grad rates if not the highest with its athletes. There are no PE Degrees or even Teaching Degrees.All the kids have to have two years of foriegn language and Calculas is required of every student regardless of major. The grade rate is much higher from the school than the NCAA.
They don't have a "RED SHIRT" Rule. In order to stay for 5 years. A student athlete must have graduated on time and then apply and be admitted to grad school.
So losing the Bowl games it has in the lst 9 times has nothing to do with the acedemics. The same was true for Rockne,Leahy,Brennan,Parsegian,Devine,Faust,Holtz. There was no tightening of the academics when Bob Davy and Tryone Willingham were the Head Coaches.
The other Coaches did just fine find the kids who were able to compete in the class room as well as the sports field.
As a matter of fact when Digger Phelps was Coach he had a 100 % grad rate of the Basketball Team.
So Coach Weis is still going after the kids who can compete and look to improve themselves not only athleticly but as young men building the strongest of resumes in the business world,medical field,law field and being ready to attack grad or professional schools after the sport world had perhaps passed them bye. No training tables, no athletic dorms ,live,study,sleep and eat with the other student body. This is not a new thing at Notre Dame. it is how it has always been since Rockne. Heck, even he taught Chemistry too.
Good for Clemson for keeping the kids there for the right reason. Kids that represent the student body more than usual at other schools.
It was an example of a school's admissions in re: athletics coming in line with the school.
There's an on field cost to that, in general for programs that think they're championship material.
The SI article made it clear that Notre Dame had gotten an aggressive, almost hostile attitude towards admitting lesser qualified student-athletes. That's fine and in the grand scheme of things is admirable but it's not hard to imagine the effect that has on the football team's ultimate performance.
Notre Dame has a 90% or whatever graduation rate in football but it also has a 0% championship rate since 1988. That's the tradeoff that I think Clemson backers understand is coming if the rumored admissions process is continued.
I think it is great that Clemson will hold it's student-athletes to a higher standard. It is important that these athletes have a degree and options after they graduate and fail (as most do) to find a way into the professional ranks. There is life after college and Clemson will be preparing these students for that life. More schools should aspire to these standards.
Good for Clemson. I'm kindof ashamed that Carolina is picking up their trash.
WHY NOT HAVE A FIXED STANDARD OF ENTRY REQUIREMENTS AMONG ALL SCHOOLS? I WAS UNDER THE ASSUMPTION THAT THEY ALL HAD THE SAME STANDARDS - GUESS I WAS WRONG. IT SEEMS THAT SPORTS HAVE BECOME MORE IMPORTANT THAN AN EDUCATION - OF COARSE IT'S LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE -- MONEY TALKS, AND WINNING TEAMS BRING IN MORE MONEY THAN LOSERS.
Excuse me but what is the function of the university? It is not to create NBA animals making too much money with too little care about the world outside professional ball.
The role of the university is to create well rounded, well educated men and women who will go on to function in the real world. Who will contribute to society and make it a better place.
I am a Die-Hard Clemson Tiger Fan, and while i am Proud that Clemson has set high standards for its student atheletes, I do feel they are prematurely "assuming" that a student will not succeed because of their past academic history. Clemson must remember that with their scholarships come great pride and responsibilities for the student athelete. The student knows that they must step up to the next level and that they must apply themselves as never before. Clemson offers the best student support system in college today for its students. If they need assistance in understanding certain classes, theres always someone around to help them study and figure it out. So i would say to Clemson, dont predetermine a students destiny by their past, let them determine their future by their desire to succeed and prove their worth. You will be surprised at just what someone with heart and desire can learn in the classroom, and prove their ability on the field of competition. GO TIGERS
Every college and university is entitled to have their own requirements. I do not view the schools that picked up the recruits Clemson did not as "...picking up their trash", as Gamecock Man stated. Those schools use the NCAA requirements and that is their right. If the students meet the NCAA requirements, how are they trash?
Secondly, it is a mistake to assume a high school athlete's grades indicate his intelligence. Many of these students are smart enough to get into college but the demands of the game and the community sometimes have adverse effects on these students. If they do not meet the requirements, they should go to community college to get their grades up and try again. If those students wanted to play at Clemson bad enough, they would have worked on their grades. The boys know the individual requirements of the schools they want to play for.
Thirdly, Terrence stated, "You assume to much concerning Notre Dame. The school did not recently grow academically. It has always had one of the highest grad rates if not the highest with its athletes. There are no PE Degrees or even Teaching Degrees.All the kids have to have two years of foriegn language and Calculas is required of every student regardless of major." What is wrong with teaching degrees? That could be an appropriate major for student athletes. Those students could teach students content and be a successful coach. Many education programs require two or more years of foreign language. I have twenty-one hours in a foreign language. I can also spell "too" and "calculus". However, if I could not spell "calculus", I would have looked back at the text of the article.
I give high marks to Clemson for this practice. The reason why athletic coaches would be described as being humiliated is that coaches (more specifically, football and basketball coaches) act like kings and feel they answer to no one. When they are held to accountability they feel humiliated. I would like to see a story on the schools that are winning championships and see the acedemic records of the star players. Then another interesting story would be a ten and twenty year look at where the athletes are now.
Kim, while I grant that the way I said it was insensitive, and while I agree that many players who perform poorly in high-school are capable of success in college, it's a well-known fact that many major college football programs field players who can barely write their own name, much less a research paper. To do this, they oftentimes manage to fudge on the minimum NCAA requirements, which the NCAA has never maintained a very strong policy of oversight on. The NCAA is too concerned about top players taking money from boosters to care whether or not atheletes are making the grade according to the rules. Take a look at the graduation statistics at some of the top schools--they can be pretty dismal, even at schools known with strong academic reputations. What you have is top programs exploiting players who are incabable of making the grade, then kicking them to the curb when theire eligibility has expired. It's a nasty system, and no, I shouldn't have said "picking up the trash" because a lot of the time, it's the player who loses out in this. ND and now apparently Clemson are exceptions to this rule, and that should be lauded.
I'm all for Clemson having a high graduation rate. I don't necessarily feel the way to go about it is to not allow any students who might not make it to try. There are players all over the country who would not have a chance at a good college education if it weren't for athletics. These kids like Jo Jo Cox who go to a junior college and work their butts off so that they can transfer to a major college deserve a chance. Gaines Adams took the same path and is now a Clemson grad. Where would the Clemson program be right now if Adams had not been given this opportunity?
Don't you folks realize the NCAA is now measuring graduation rates for every sport at every school?
>>The NCAA member colleges and universities have adopted a comprehensive academic reform package designed to improve the academic success and graduation of all student-athletes.
The centerpiece of the academic reform package is the development of a new academic measurement for sports teams, known as the Academic Progress Rate, or APR.
See below for links to more information that the NCAA has developed to assist news media and the public in better understanding the new academic reforms and APR.
The key problem is college athletics is the utter failure they deliver to African American kids. Notre Dame and a few other schools (far too few) are exceptions to the rule of whoescale abuse and manipulation. Great for the faculties of Clemson and others who respect these kids enough to provide them an education. The Florida schools in particular ought to be ashamed of themselves. Where is the NCAA when these atrocious failures to graduate kids persist? Where is the NCAA when corruption (see Reggie Bush) is permitted to flourish?
The key problem is college athletics is the utter failure they deliver to African American kids. Notre Dame and a few other schools (far too few) are exceptions to the rule of whoescale abuse and manipulation. Great for the faculties of Clemson and others who respect these kids enough to provide them an education. The Florida schools in particular ought to be ashamed of themselves. Where is the NCAA when these atrocious failures to graduate kids persist? Where is the NCAA when corruption (see Reggie Bush) is permitted to flourish?
Terrence, while I appreciate the sentiment about Notre Dame and academics, it would be much better received had you taken some time with grammer and spelling. The irony of your approach is quite interesting.
Notre Dame has a fine reputation for challenging their athletes academically. Many universities have compromised their reputatations through academic scandals such as releasing test answers, having other students take exams for athletes, and altering transcripts to show eligibility. Notre Dame is not necessarily saintly, athletes get special tutors, some professors are pressured to pass them, and there is an aura of privilege about the atheletes (at least there was 30 years ago when I was a student there). However, the graduation rate speaks for itself. Pro sports careers are only about 5-7 years long in many cases, so to be out of work at 30 without a college degree can be very difficult.
Good for Clemson. No one berates the ivy league schools for its high standards. Better to be compared to Prinston than Miami
How about a minor league football league. Follow the example of baseball. Take the money out of college football and basketball by having minor league professional leagues. Student who want an education and play sports can go to college. Kids who just want to play sports and have a shot at the pros can go the minor league route. I realize this won't happen for a variety of reasons, but it sure is worth considering.
The purpose of the AARC at Clemson is a farce. The Letter of Intent a student-athlete signs on National Signing Day does not guarantee admission, but merely a scholarship if they meet NCAA admission standards. So, why does the AARC at Clemson need to do anything to prevent the coaches from recruiting a player? If a player does not meet the admission standards of the school, then the Letter of Intent is not binding to Clemson. On the other hand, permitting the Clemson coaching staff the chance to pursue a player that may need to attend Prep School improves their chances of signing him the following year.
Prep Schools are not summer school. They help young men prepare for the rigors and structure of college. Their SAT scores usually rise an average of 100 points! The AARC needs to let Coach Bowden and his staf do their jobs. The academic record of the Clemson football program speaks for itself. Their graduation rate is excellent!
Well lookie here folks. I am a die-hard South Carolina fan and gradutate and let me set this little story straight, shall we. Clemson is a bunch of hill billy trash with nothing better to do then read a book with a bunch of hoopwha in it.
I grew up a tator all my life until I got turned down by that there Clemson admissions office just like some of them boys did. After that day I applied to South Carolina and started my life off. Goes to show you you don't have to be the bright bulb in the pantry!
Go Cocks! Spurrier baby!