College athletics: play, then study?

March 30, 2008 4:55 PM

HigherEdFilter: Who proposed that US college athletes should get scholarships that they could use after their sports career ends?

Some years ago I read an essay on abuses in college athletics that suggested that college athletes in NCAA Division I sports should get scholarships that they could use after they had finished their sports career, when they could concentrate on developing useful skills and exploring their intellectual interests, instead of having to be "student-athletes" when the emphasis is almost always on "athlete."

Unfortunately, I didn't write down where I read this. Before I spend an hour or two doing research, I thought I'd query the erudite hive mind to see if any of y'all recall this argument and can refer me to a source. I think it's a brilliant idea and I'd like to give credit where credit is due.

posted by brianogilvie to education (4 comments total)

Not what you're looking for, but related.
posted by Brian James at 5:41 PM on March 30

I haven't heard of this idea, but you may want to Google NCAA president Myles Brand or Ohio State president Gordon Gee. Brand was supposed to bring some sort of academic rigor to the NCAA when he took over. Gee abolished the athletic department while at Vanderbilt and combined it with student affairs. Ironically, he left Vandy to go to Ohio State, which has one of the largest athletic budgets.

As the NCAA commercials say, most college athletes go pro in something other than sports. Other than football and basketball, most sports have systems in place to accommodate athletes as they progress toward becoming professionals. This is probably why these two sports have abysmal graduation rates.
posted by Frank Grimes at 5:48 PM on March 30

I think it is Gregg Easterbrook (Tuesday Morning Quarterback columnist for ESPN, NFL.com, and Slate at various times). One, Two.

Finally, TMQ trotted out its long-standing proposal that for every year of Division I football or men's basketball a college athlete plays, he should receive an additional scholarship year -- so that he can buckle down and get an education once his eligibility ends.

and

"Either pay the cost of keeping ex-players around an extra four years or insist on real education while they play and stop tampering with grades. NCAA schools today have no incentive to educate athletes. The incentive is to take advantage of them, then toss them overboard. Give every I-A player an extra year of full-boat scholarship for every year he plays, and suddenly schools will have an incentive to foster genuine "student athletes."
posted by true at 7:11 PM on March 30

I was thinking Easterbrook too.
posted by the christopher hundreds at 9:31 PM on March 30