APR Punishes The Have-Nots Of College Sports

MeanGreen61 · March 3, 2006

That's swell. But look at the list of Division I schools that will be penalized and see if you notice a trend:

Football: Temple, Toledo, Middle Tennessee State, Western Michigan, Buffalo, New Mexico State, Northern Illinois, Hawaii.

See any Rose Bowl contenders in that group?

Basketball: Cal Poly, Centenary, East Carolina, Hampton, Jacksonville, Kent State, New Mexico State, South Carolina State, Texas State, Maryland Eastern Shore, DePaul, Florida A&M, Prairie View, Louisiana Tech, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Sacramento State.

See any programs that will find this report a distraction on the way to the Final Four?

This is a little like the old 1980s compliance joke, "The NCAA is so mad at Kentucky, it's going to give Cleveland State three more years' probation."

Here, we see that the NCAA is so serious about academic reform, it's going to take scholarships away from the dregs of Division I. Take that, Sac State!

I'd love to have someone show me the payoff for moving up to Division I-A football at Louisiana-Lafayette ($3.1 million in the red in 2003-04) and Louisiana-Monroe ($2 million in the red). They haven't even made it to the Sun Belt's sole postseason tie-in, the New Orleans Bowl.

If more of these schools knew their true place in the college sports hierarchy, the budget problem might not be so pronounced. And there might be more in the coffers to pay for academic support.

ARTICLE

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/sto..._pat&id=2350199

Go_UTA · March 3, 2006

Wow. That's a good column. Makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the link.

stebo · March 3, 2006

That's swell. But look at the list of Division I schools that will be penalized and see if you notice a trend:
Football: Temple, Toledo, Middle Tennessee State, Western Michigan, Buffalo, New Mexico State, Northern Illinois, Hawaii.
See any Rose Bowl contenders in that group?
Basketball: Cal Poly, Centenary, East Carolina, Hampton, Jacksonville, Kent State, New Mexico State, South Carolina State, Texas State, Maryland Eastern Shore, DePaul, Florida A&M, Prairie View, Louisiana Tech, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Sacramento State.
See any programs that will find this report a distraction on the way to the Final Four?
This is a little like the old 1980s compliance joke, "The NCAA is so mad at Kentucky, it's going to give Cleveland State three more years' probation."
Here, we see that the NCAA is so serious about academic reform, it's going to take scholarships away from the dregs of Division I. Take that, Sac State!
I'd love to have someone show me the payoff for moving up to Division I-A football at Louisiana-Lafayette ($3.1 million in the red in 2003-04) and Louisiana-Monroe ($2 million in the red). They haven't even made it to the Sun Belt's sole postseason tie-in, the New Orleans Bowl.
If more of these schools knew their true place in the college sports hierarchy, the budget problem might not be so pronounced. And there might be more in the coffers to pay for academic support.
ARTICLE
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/sto..._pat&id=2350199
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Well, UL (Lafayette) has never been IAA, they have always been IA in football; they just played as an Indy for most of those years with one year in the Big West before they were booted out so the conference could go a "different direction" - that direction eventually meant to disband football. And the budgets for the UL's is different then other schools. Every citizen of the state of Louisiana gets free tuition so it messes with their NCAA budget every year to make it look like they are losing money - but after the school reimburses the Athletic Department for all of the athletic scholarships - they about break even. Also, Monroe got in the black last year for the first time since moving up to IA. It wasn't by much - but they made a profit of about $73K. Finally, there was a three way tie for first place last year in SBC football - UL-Monroe, UL, and ASU ended up in a three way tie for the championship. The football players from all three schools got rings and Co-Champion rings - just like MTSU did with North Texas in 2001. ASU got the bowl bid because they won the tie breaker for bowl eligility. One other thing, I believe that UL won the Big West during the one year that they were a member... but I am not sure on that, it could have been La Tech.

NTEagle08 · March 4, 2006

Also what gets left out of the article, don't some to alot of non-BCS programs take more risks with borderline qualifiers that get passed up by the BCS squads. That could be the reason why some non-BCS schools don't have all that great APR ratings.

EagleD · March 5, 2006

I can't find the story on line but U Texas's RB Ramonce Taylor is sitting out the rest of spring practice b/c as Mack Brown says, "He needs to focus on academics". Translate that to "He's flunking his ass out of school and he's a premium player, so we'll do what we need to do to help him." Texas's baseball program just lost scholarships b/c of low grad rates. UT has a horrible record of graduating players on high profile sports.

GO MEAN GREEN !!!!!!!!!!!!!

ntmeangreen11 · March 5, 2006

I can't find the story on line but U Texas's RB Ramonce Taylor is sitting out the rest of spring practice b/c as Mack Brown says, "He needs to focus on academics". Translate that to "He's flunking his ass out of school and he's a premium player, so we'll do what we need to do to help him." Texas's baseball program just lost scholarships b/c of low grad rates. UT has a horrible record of graduating players on high profile sports.
GO MEAN GREEN !!!!!!!!!!!!!
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This kindof relates to VY getting a 6 on the wonderscale. It makes you wonder how much he was "helped".

bigrobdsp · March 6, 2006

This kindof relates to VY getting a 6 on the wonderscale. It makes you wonder how much he was "helped".
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it makes me wonder how much he we not helped by his agent. VY was smart enough to run a pretty complicated offense to perection at UT. I doubt he is a dumb person.

Eagle1855 · March 6, 2006

who cares if VY is dumb or not. I wouldnt exactly call our football team a Mensa convention, but maybe you all know something I dont. Every single person on this board would have traded 4 scholarships to have VY playing for us--- if not, I must be missing something. And spare me with the "Id rather have someone who really wanted to be here" bit...

The haves get what they want while the have-nots scrape for everything else... this is (unfortunately) not a new phenomenon. Its a raw deal, but you can thank the BC$ for it. College football is big business. Lots of $$$ made on all these players and you can bet schools will do ANYTHING they can to keep them eligible. We should be so lucky as to have that problem here.

Also, I know this may be hard for everyone to believe, but it is possible some of the non-BCS schools participate in illegal activities as well. Its not just the big meanies in the BCS. Prairie View A&M isnt exactly Harvard, so its not hard to believe their student athletes didnt register 1520's on their SATs and may have a hard time making the grade in college...

buff64 · March 6, 2006

This kindof relates to VY getting a 6 on the wonderscale. It makes you wonder how much he was "helped".
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Must be more than classroom performance, Austin American-Statesman reports that Taylor is academically eligible and is passing all his classes. If you recall Mc had to get after him several times during the season.

Shof · March 6, 2006

One other thing, I believe that UL won the Big West during the one year that they were a member... but I am not sure on that, it could have been La Tech.
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Cajuns were in the Big West for 3 years. Tied for the conference title 2 of the 3 years; but lost the tiebreaker for the bowl both times. I was fortunate enough to be stationed in Las Vegas (Nellis AFB) during that time, so got to see my alma mater beat up on UNLV one year.

NTEagle08 · March 6, 2006

This kindof relates to VY getting a 6 on the wonderscale. It makes you wonder how much he was "helped".
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Not that I am a VY supporter, which I am not, but the reports that Vince Young scored a 6 on the Wonderlic were false, and he actually scored a 16.

Monkeypox · March 7, 2006

Not that I am a VY supporter, which I am not, but the reports that Vince Young scored a 6 on the Wonderlic were false, and he actually scored a 16.
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I don't think so. They've reported two different things. ONE, that he scored a 16 and not a 6. The OTHER (and more likely scenario) is that they re-tested him because the test on which he got a 6 was "inappropriately scored" and he got a 16 on his re-test, answering 33 of the 50 questions in the alloted time.