To date, news surrounding the arms race in college athletics has included lucrative television deals, facilities upgrades, dining-area enhancements, lodging amenities and even multi-uniform combinations. Notice what is missing from this list? The very reason why athletes should be attending college: Academics.
Can offering unique educational programs and experiences for student-athletes become part of the recruiting arms race for coaches? Is marketing academics attractive enough to sway kids 17 years old into wanting to attend a particular university over the massive size of a new weight room?
Nobody ever mentions academic upgrades because it is not as sexy as facility enhancements. Perhaps that is changing.
More stories have surfaced lately of institutions using academics as a way to draw attention to their programs while enhancing the education of the student-athletes. What better recruiting tool than to inform parents a school is sincerely determined to improve the future of their child beyond their playing careers, whether that be in college or the pros?
Talking about education and actually providing unique and innovative programs that reinforce the recruiting pitch are two entirely different things. Nebraska recently launched their new post-eligibility opportunities (PEO) program for athletes which includes scholarships up to $7,500 for internship, study abroad and Nebraska graduate school use.
The PEO program launched last year with simple requirements. Any athlete who had exhausted his or her athletic eligibility, completed his or her bachelor’s degree and earned a scholar-athlete ring are eligible once they attend an introductory workshop.
“You exhaust your eligibility, you graduate, and we’re going to help you in three areas,” Nebraska athletic director Shawn Eichorst (pictured left) told USA Today. “We’re going to help you get an internship, we’re going to help you travel abroad, and we’re going to help you get started in grad school. We’re doing this because we want to do it, because it’s right for our students. That’s the most important thing.”
The NCAA published a report in April detailing the very small percentage of college athletes who advance to the pro ranks. Only 1.6 percent of football players eligible to go to the next level make it that far. The number is only 1.1 percent for men’s college basketball players and 0.9 percent for women’s basketball players. The highest mark is 9.7 percent for baseball players, but that still means the careers of nine out of 10 baseball players end when their college playing days are over.
“In contrast, the likelihood of an NCAA athlete earning a college degree is significantly greater,” the NCAA reports. “Graduation success rates are 86 percent in Division I, 71 percent in Division II and 87 percent in Division III.”
Despite this information, we read much more about coaches targeting five-star recruits (including the one-and-done variety in college hoops), the increase of indoor football practice facilities, all of the uniform combinations and the movie theaters in living quarters. Everybody wants to know who has the swankiest training facility.
What about wanting to know about the recently approved first-ever academic consortium for the American Athletic Conference? League presidents unanimously voted for each school to allocate $12,500 to the consortium.
“The mission really is to have inter-institution collaborations to come up with educational initiatives that can benefit all student athletes by building upon the strengths of different institutions that are already in the American,” Manoj Chopra, Central Florida’s NCAA faculty representative, told the Orlando Sentinel.
The consortium will promote academic research and studies by awarding five $10,000 grants to support inter-institutional research teams for topical issues student-athletes face such as mental health, time demands and nutrition. The consortium will also sponsor international and domestic service learning activities for student athletes.
Conferences such as the ACC, SEC and Big Ten already have an academic consortium, but the AAC is the first to focus solely on the research and programming for student-athlete welfare.
If that is not a valuable recruiting tool for schools in the AAC, it very well should be. Athletes and their parents should want to be part of a program that actively cares about the student’s well-being beyond their sport, correct? That carries more meaning than what is on the menu at the new, luxurious, all-you-can-eat training facility café.
Notre Dame has in recent years placed more emphasis on its Student Welfare and Development program, of which the elements include the Rosenthal Leadership Academy, the new study abroad programs and the customization of career services for athletes.
The leadership academy involves students from different sports interacting about how they address team issues and build a stronger bond with their peers. The academy involves approximately 120 students and includes five sessions and a retreat. The intent is to enhance every athlete’s leadership skills.
The revamped career services program for athletes at Notre Dame includes more availability of internships that better prepares them for life beyond sports. Notre Dame’s studying abroad programs began last year with South Africa. They expanded this summer to Greece, Jerusalem and Brazil. Overall, 15 programs and 28 different athletes participated. The programs organized by the athletic department, which are for credit and include athletic trainers abroad, are paid for by scholarships.
Imagine a coach telling a recruit he or she can travel abroad, not to compete, but to learn more about the world?
The enticement of these innovative academic programs makes it obvious that academics – the core of why athletes are in school – is becoming more of a player in the recruiting arms race. The competition should be more about what a school can do for an athlete’s future outside of the spanking new weight room and stadium or arena.
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