Grades: the double standard for jocks
 

NCAA stats published today show that after six years, only 9% of UGA's basketball players have graduated.

The UGa AD and his friends are "upset and concerned"

If our chapter had such a graduation rate and such low performance, we'd be gone.

We hate the double standard - and their winning record hasn't been that good, either.

Link, please?

In the SEC, we shouldnt even make basketball players go to school. We should buy them cars and houses, seriously, anything to make the Jan-March time more exciting.

I tried, and could not find anything directly on/about UG. Lot of other bad news on rates for sports......so now I too wonder...

From today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution: UGA Hoops has failing grade.

What does this have to do with Chapter Operations?

Yes, jocks get away with lower grades. When they win, they're bringing prestige to the university and a ton of money from supportive alumni. If they don't graduate, that's no one's problem but their own. It isn't the university's job to spoon feed them onto the honor roll.

Greeks bring neither fans nor prestige to the school-- Greeks are not bringing in positive publicity (the fraternity car wash really isn't front page news) or attracting students to campus for their programs-- it's comparing apples to oranges. Greeks are social organizations. University athletics are campus-wide athletics programs.

Perhaps this thread should have been placed or located in "News" but unless/until Jon moves it, here it stayes.

Few issues: One would have to wonder the difference in donations between Greeks and non-Greeks.
And I am sure most of us here could post well known Brothers/Sisters.

And back to a GC related matter: Greeks are on sports teams.
My school was a small school and we had five Brothers who were on the football team. The fraternity next door had the entire starting line-up of the Basketball team ( #1 NCAA ll ).

So there is an issue with Greek GPA's with sport teams.

Anyone at GA know how many players are Greeks?

FYI:General graduation rates: 41% in four years, 74% within six years.

KSU': Interesting post, one that I can agree with.
Perhaps I should attemp/try to re-work my prior thought and posting.

I was trying to get to a small or lower level in this question. Is there any impact on a Greek house or System if players get a "free pass" on grades and GPA?
There are houses that for one reason or another have to keep GPA's at a certain level.
Does the benifit of having a player as a Brother/Sister (weither or not they live or take part in house activites) out weight the GPA?



Just a few random thoughts very late at night......

I think this may be one of the benefits of going to a D3 school. Our athletes don't get cut slack. Athletes are routinely kicked out or put on academic probation for low GPA, or they're cut from the team due to GPA. The games themselves are reasonably well attended, but I'd venture that we receive more money from Greek alumni than from athletic alumni. Sports here is still a way to be connected, it's not really about trying to phase into playing pro.

I think the prestige of an NCAA athlete in your chapter is worth one grade risk. However, this also mistakenly implies that all athelete are poor students. If you have a member who is not making grades, give him the time and the resources to bring them up. If he doesn't, his membership is possibly not benefitting him b/c he is overprogrammed whether he is an athlete or not.

They really aren't at all D1 schools. I was a D3 athlete who transferred to a D1 school...where the athletes had a higher graduation rate than the rest of the student body.

The way I see it is that athletic programs don't claim to place an emphasis on scholarship, but we, as GLOs do. We often profess to desire members with high GPAs and to encourage/facilitate good academic skills. Athletic programs only profess to try to win athletic games. They have a purpose and we have a purpose. I don't think the two can be compared.

Can you think of any part of your college that doesn't have an educational purpose?

These jocks are always called 'student-athletes' around here.

While ADGEE does have a point, which is that [ unfortunatly] some sports at some schools do/can get a "free pass", I do agree with your core agument much more.

Sad isnt is?

We as Greeks have a normally higher GPA and are so called heathens, while some who play sports cannot write their name, count money or make sense when they talk on graduation.:o

Some Greeks also manage to graduate from their respective colleges without mastering the basic concepts of lucid conversation.

Yeah, athletics :) Football games, basketball games, etc.. they're all about making money and gaining prestige and perhaps developing school pride, they're not about academics! I don't really know whether colleges look at the highschool grades of stellar athletes who are being recruited on athletic scholarships, but I'm guessing that it's not a huge part of the picture. MAYBE at some of the more selective universities, it is considered, but more often than not, I don't think it is.

Is it right? Probably not. Then again, is it right that a good pro-sports player will make more in his lifetime than a brain surgeon? Probably not. Welcome to the good ole US of A! Our societies values are screwed up. The people we trust to care for our kids and take of our elderly relatives are some of the lowest paid people in our society. The people who entertain us on TV, in movies and in the sports arena are some of the highest. It's simply our reality.

Are there no NCAA sanctions for grad. rates?
 

The NCAA tracks the grad. rates. Is the only punishment being exposed for the low ones and praised for the high ones? Could a school never have any athletes graduate as still remain in good NCAA standing?

It is interesting to note the small sample involved here: 12 or so guys and the years involved: the end of the Herrick era.

Keep in mind, that some don't graduate because they go into the NFL, NBA, etc.

If you are very good at what you do, sport wise......chances are you are going to be getting paid for it sooner than later anyways......so grades wouldn't be that big of an issue.

But think of all the college athletes out there, then think of how many professional athletes there are. Top basketball players will not necesarily end up in the NBA, and they are one broken ankle away from losing everything, and having no education.

I was a big U of Illinois fan throughout grade school and high school and they make a big deal about their athletes graduating with a degree. That is what college is for. And, even if you do go the NBA, you should have some business sense (or SOMETHING) so that you don't get screwed over by everyone with an "investment opportunity" that comes your way.

Exactly!

That is why I said "very good." Most "very good" D1 college athletes are going to play their sport professionaly.

Unless they break something, or get hit upside the head one to many times, etc.

You also didn't address the rest of my post.

Young professional athletes don't necessarily need an education in business to stay ahead of the game as far as i'm concerened. ......thats what financial advisors and sports agents are for.

I don't know much about the University of Illinois....but I have alot of experience with D1 Athletics because I played baseball for a year in college and was heavily recruited out of high school. College coaches and athletic departments in this day and age don't care about what kind of grades you make and if you graduate. They care about you making a 2.0, staying elligable, and helping the team which helps bring in millions upon millions of dollars of revenue to the school. Sure, they want to see their kids do well and succeed......but winning __(insert sport here)___ games is their main priority......not making sure kids graduate.

I cannot remember the persons nmae, from Creighton Un in Omaha who graduated signed with the NBA and could not read or write, so he had to go back to school and start out with grade school education all over again!

Sad isnt it?:(

Couldnt even read his contract!

Kevin Ross.

http://sports.espn.go.com/page2/tvli...ranscript.html

As long as someone counted out the zeros in the "salary" part, I don't think he cared too much.

He's working as an elementary school custodian. I doubt there are too many zeroes to count. It's pretty sad although some folks did help him later.

Maybe all colleges should basically say we won't take any athletes whose admission data deviates more that 15% from our average.

I bet the low graduation rates would take care of themselves.

Oh, and going pro early doesn't count against the schools graduation rates if you left in good standing, as I understood the first article correctly.

It's pretty clear that Herrick didn't have anybody's academic interest in mind. It was his son, an assistant coach and PE instructor, who gave the infamous UGA Basketball exam with questions like "how much does a three point shot count in a basketball game?"

I would expect that the results from his era would be the worst at UGA.