Athletics And College Athletic Association

Multiple studies have shown that college athletes do not perform as well in the classroom as their nonathletic peers. For example, according to Michael Maloney in the article An Examination of the Role that Intercollegiate Athletic Participation Plays in Academic Achievement, he states that “SAT scores of athletes are, on average, 150 points below non- athletes. Similarly, athletes come to college with inferior high school preparation in academics. Their high school rank is 20 percentage points below nonathletes.”

Sports are so glorified in some areas that schools will put athletics in front of academics. This is exactly what happened the book Friday Night Lights by H.G Bissinger. BIssinger explains that the town of Odessa houses the school Permian where everyone grows up on football. The school and the town give so much praise to the football team that some football players couldn 't care less about class and eventually the teachers don’t care how those players do in class. Mount Vernon is a place where the students are expected to do well in class first and everything else is second. The school has extracurriculars, but knows the school’s main job is to give students an education. Permian and Mount Vernon are opposites on the scale of sports and

Robert and Amy McCormick, law professors at Michigan State University, believe that some student-athletes attend college to play sports and that due to scheduling conflicts between class and practices they do not have full choice as to what major they would like to take (Cooper, 12 – 13). “The way football and basketball players in Division I programs manage juggling sport and school, the McCormicks maintain, undermines the NCAA’s contention they are student-athletes.” (Cooper, 12-13).

The impact of college athletic programs on academics has always been a controversial and contentious topic. It seems that athletic programs have some contemplative effects on academics of colleges and universities. Different people have different ideas about how college athletic programs should be carried on. College presidents, administrations, student athletes, parents of students, and athletic trainers are along with these people who point out different facts about the fallouts of athletics on academics. A bunch of people suggest that athletic programs should be dropped from college system, while another group suggests that athletic programs should be taken care with more advertence. An analysis on the effects of college athletics on

Jolley, D. (2009). Academic Achievement Is Improving for College Athletes. In C. Watkins, Sports and Athletes (pp. 71-78). Detroit: Greenhaven Press.

Sports in conjunction with academics are capable of creating a balance that makes for a well rounded citizen and healthy, happy employee. Issues in the mix often come from the balance itself. Many students find themselves overcommitted to sport while others find they are not able to compete. I will examine issues in interscholastic and collegiate sport.

College athletic programs should be kept as an important part of the athlete’s academic schedule, and student athletes are considered an important part the student body. Every university or community college’s admissions and scholastic excellence for student-athletes should be planned to encourage educational success and

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a member-led organization that regulates the athletes of over 1,200 universities, conferences and organizations. The NCAA prides itself on dedicating themselves to the wellbeing and lifelong success of college athletes, believing and committing to core values and beliefs (NCAA). The NCAA’s main and most important task is to make sure that all students and institutions adhere to the extensive rules and regulations that the Association has created (Andrews). Although the National Collegiate Athletic Association is a famous and well-know organization, it has flaws within the system of regulating college athlete’s collegiate sports career. The condition of which college athletes are in while under regulation of the NCAA is neither ethical nor fair. In this paper I will argue that it is not morally ethical the way that the NCAA treats college athletes; the system must be reformed and changed so that college athletes are treated with the utmost ethically moral respect.

Throughout these articles, the main ideas were athletics taking precedence over academics, transitions from high school to college, why athletes cheat, fairness of regulations, and reform of NCAA policy. While all of these are very different concepts, they come together to help audiences understand all facets of college athletics and the relationship with academics. Although these topics are common through all of the articles, not all authors shared the same views on issues, nor did they all regard them with the same level of

“The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), formed in 1905, set laws requiring college student-athletes to be amateurs in order to be eligible for intercollegiate athletics competition. According to the NCAA, requiring college student-athletes to be amateurs protects them from being exploited by professional and commercial enterprises” (Schneider). College sports is a business, and a booming one at that. With ticket sales, merchandise, and booster funding, universities can bring in huge amounts of money from collegiate athletics. “During the 2013-2014 year alone, the NCAA’s gross revenue totaled 497,600,000, with a majority the revenue generated through various media rights payments” (Grimmett-Norris). In addition, since 1988, the NCAA has received over 150 million a year from CBS alone for the rights to broadcast the annual men’s March Madness basketball tournament, on top of millions being generated by students play, school sponsorships contracts can also generate universities tremendous amounts of revenue. For example, in 2014 Oregon signed a record-breaking contract with Under Armor valued at over 100 millions dollars. Meanwhile, a recent study found that a college football player at the University of Texas is worth, on average, $578,000,

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) revenue for the 2011-12 season was $871.6 million, most of which came from games and media agreements (NCAA n.p.). However, the student-athletes who actually put on these games are not paid a single dime. These athletes put their blood, sweat, and tears into their game and aren’t legally paid for something that creates such a huge revenue for the school as well as the NCAA.

When it comes to going to college, one would think that athletic departments at schools like University of Kentucky and University of North Carolina would make the effort to put strong emphasis for their student-athletes to have a high academic standing in order to play. Sadly now a days, the case is the opposite and they ultimately lose as students. Domonique Foxworth, who played college football at the University of Maryland from 2002 to 2004, he sparks conversation with the statement that “When I played college football in the University of Maryland, we kind of had a motto, which is that C’s get degrees. That’s what we do. Everyone pretends, but you know that your responsibility is to win football games.” (Schooled: The Price of College Sports). He also adds that “I knew it was more valuable to my school that I get a C on an exam. An interception on Saturday than it was that I get straight A’s and get no interceptions on Saturday; that doesn’t bring in the fans to fill the stadium” (Foxworth). Kevin Anderson, Athletic Director at University Of Maryland, makes a comment saying “We’re providing an opportunity for a lot of young people that wouldn’t have that opportunity. How do you put a price tag on that? How do you put a price tag on education?”. (Schooled: The Price of College Sports). Foster states on the contrary, “….but football interferes with being a student first” (Foster)

Interesting to note is that there are different types of academic clustering, including clustering centered around academic majors, which is the dominant form (56.4%), classes offered at certain times of the day or evening, particular college courses or classes and classes taught by certain professors (p. 53). Academic advisors were expected to keep student-athletes eligible and more than 70% of the respondents reported feeling pressured to keep them eligible, with more than 50% revealing that pressure came primarily from the coach or members of the coaching

The reputation that student athletes hold, are that their academics are believed to drop and cause them to do worse in school while participating in a sport. Many people wonder if sports distract students and is a waste of time, but researching this topic deeply, it's actually the opposite. Mixing academics with sports is something that can actually help a student graduate, and stay motivated in school. Being in a sport helps out a student in the future and also is proven to keep a kids grades up.

There’s no secret that sports play a big role in college, football being one of the most favorite and preferred in the United States. That being said, student athletes equally play the same role because they are what make sporting events enjoyable to every age group. Each athlete longs for moving onto the pro level and getting paid to play the sport that they adore or love, yet actually a lion's share of the 450,000 NCAA understudy athletes won't proceed onto the pro level. This is making individuals contemplate if the dropping out of school will help them advance to the pro level within four years or less. Many people will argue that the academic performance of athletes is od concern considering that after sports they only have their education to fall back on and make a life out of what little knowledge they earned from the college of their choice.