Sometimes it's forgotten that players are coming to college to get a degree.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
A freshman has only about 25% of his degree completed. They go off to play professional basketball, and to assume they will come back and get the degree done five, six, seven years later, I don't see that happening.
Universities used to prepare young adults for the real world. I dare say the graduates today go in without a clue and graduate without a clue. It's time to acknowledge the college degree is not worth what it was in the past. Times are changing, and so is the way we prepare our youth to survive in a competitive world.
Athletes are still exploited. If they blow out their knee, if they somehow don't meet the mandates of a coach, they lose their scholarship. They don't get their degree.
I don't think college athletes are given enough time to really take advantage of the free education that they're given, and it's frustrating because a lot of people get upset with student-athletes and say, 'They're not focused on school and they're not taking advantage of the opportunity they're given.'
We've got a support system that gives our players a wonderful opportunity to graduate. If they go to class and give good effort, they can graduate from this school, and I believe that's important when you go out recruiting.
You got guys now declaring they're ready to play pro ball in their second or third year of high school. It's crazy! They're missing so much.
Athletes who take to the classroom naturally or are encouraged to focus on grades should be able to do well in the classroom. I believe the reason you go to college is to get your degree. It's not a minor league or an audition for the pros.
I don't think that players learn how to play any other aspect of the game in high school or college.
In more than 20 years I've spent studying the issue, I have yet to hear a convincing argument that college football has anything do with what is presumably the primary purpose of higher education: academics.
There are a lot of guys who play in pro-style offenses who are not prepared when they come out of college. Either you're coaching the quarterback to be a quarterback, or you're not.