Posted on 12/24/2005 5:02:51 PM PST by alydar
OF THE 28 COLLEGE FOOTBALL bowl games, only one should be played on the basis of graduation rates. That is the game between Boston College and Boise State.
They are two of only 14 teams that have overall graduation rates of 50 percent or higher, a black graduation rate of 50 percent or higher and racial graduation gaps of less than 15 percentage points.
Of the 56 bowl teams in my 10th-annual Graduation Gap Bowl, I would disqualify 37 of them for having overall graduation rates under 50 percent and/or black graduation rates under 50 percent and/or racial gaps of 15 percent or more.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
As long as the world revolves around blacks and nothing else matters, this might make sense.
I also wouldn't list Rutgers in the good column with a 53 percent graduation rate just because their overall rate and African-American rates are within 15 points of each other. 53% sucks. That's an F.
Run Forrest, Run!
Whadda bro mope. Football players play football. Colleges make a lot of money from them and all is well. Now, let's talk about steroids in MLB.
FWIW, those numbers on Alabama are about 2 years old. They reflect the tenure of Mike Dubose, who was a total failure as a coach.
The numbers are expected to rise significantly the next reporting period.
BTW, Alabama basketball coach Mark Gottfried has graduated 18 of 18 players who stayed all 4 years at Alabama.
CF ping
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, MikeinIraq
Oh, whine.
Everybody knows the game being played here. Everybody.
The alumni knows it. The players know it. The coaches know it. The student body knows it. The college administrators know it. The NCAA knows it.
The major college sports are used as de facto farm systems for professional sports leagues. The colleges make a lot of money from this. The players get a *chance* to earn a free or nearly-free quality education if they apply themselves and a training program to help them become professional athletes if they are good enough to make it.
Are the players "used"? Of course. But they know they are being used. It works both ways too. The players "use" the college too sometimes.
So don't bore me with this graduation rate crap. College sports are what they are and the only people who want to tie it to graduation rates are whiny crybaby liberals who were no good at sports and are jealous that others are benefitting from their athletic abilities.
When you can have a pep rally for the Physics Department or donors who want to pay thousands of dollars to watch you calculate math equations, then you can kick all the athletes out and be a "pure" college. But, until then, you'll have to live with college sports and the inequities inherent with them.
And the point is? Without black athletes in some of these schools, there would be a sizeable reduction in overall black student numbers. Then we could cry about that.
We are more conciscous of skin color now than we have ever been. EVERYTHING revolves around what color you happen to be.
We offer appointments and admit [+/-]1,100 Plebes (entering freshmen) each year. They report at the end of June and endure the experience Plebe Summer until academic classes begin at the end of August.
In the company of a few other institutions of higher learning (of course, the four other service academies: Army, Air Force, Coast Guard and Merchant Marine), like the ones in the newspaper article with consistently high grad rates, we are the quintessential student athlete for whom higher education is the first priority rather than as a farm team for the NFL or as a money machine to exact dollars from the alumni (like Florida and Florida State,and the majority of other Division I schools).
The sad state to which NCAA football and basketball has devolved has not affected the schools with high grad rates. All one need to do is observe football or basketball players from these two distinct groups of NCAA schools in a TV interview to witness the English language being butchered and lazy speech & Eubonics/ street talk by one group and the contrast with the other. Go through the TV archives of ESPN or another network and compare, you won't need a program to tell.
I also wouldn't list Rutgers in the good column with a 53 percent graduation rate just because their overall rate and African-American rates are within 15 points of each other. 53% sucks. That's an F..................
The overall graduation rates are just a smoke screen, what really matters to Mr. Jackson is how well the African-Americans fare.
I'm not sure what study Mr. Jackson is citing (and don't care) but often the graduation rates tie into the recruiting class and cares only if they got their degree at that same school in four years.
I can tell you about the University of Texas football program which has had in recent years:
* 1 player killed in a car crash.
* 1 player paralyzed (and kept on scholarship for two years even though he couldn't play football).
* 2 players turn to professional baseball.
* Numerous players who redshirted because there were good players with more seniority ahead of them (Vince Young among them).
* Numerous players who transfered because they realized they would never be better than the players ahead of them and went to another school where they could start.
All of these players are counted against the team's graduation rate percentage although none of them were for academic reasons and most were outside of the school's control.
Although UT's football program has a strong tradition against it, many other schoold lose their best players because they turn pro early and then neglect getting their degree or get in in 5 or 6 years during the offseasons.
The graduation rates are like media polls. They say what the poll takers want them to say.
Wrong! The prep school, NAPS, is reserved for candidates for an offer of appointment who come from the fleet and need some additional academic prep in math & English. There are also spaces for minority candidates who also need a little help in some aspect of their academic readiness for the taxing and fast paced academics of the academy. NAPS doesn't play interschool sports to a meaningful degree. it's basically a year of boosting skill and maturation for a kid, otherwise a good candidate for appointment, but just not quite ready. Sorry, nice try.
Don't care about grads, blacks or percentages. I'm 62 years old & this'll be the first New Years day that I can recall in my life that there are NO college bowl games. None. THERE AREN'T ANY BOWL GAMES ON NEW YEARS DAY! WTF?
Go Bears!
Jan 1st is a Sunday.You can thank the NFL
Taxman Bravo Zulu!
"Nebraska is one of 32 institutions who have been honored by the American Football Coaches Association for academic achievement.
The organization honors all Division I football institutions who achieved graduation rates of 70 percent or better for the freshman class who entered school in 1998-99. Nebraska recorded a 77 percent graduation rate for the class entering in 1998-99. The overall graduation rate of the 94 schools who participated in the survey was 59 percent, and the median graduation rate was 60 percent."
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