Academic Standards for College Athletes Are Becoming Highly Reinforced

Joshua D. Bucher

Mrs. Keath

English 9H Pd. 6

18, Jan. 2012

Academic Standards for College Athletes are Becoming Highly Reinforced

Pain, hard work, success, and improvement are what drives college athletes day by day, and the mindset of a young athlete is focused on one thing; going pro. Too many athletes are only focused on the sport, and not their eligibility. Athletes need to take their academics more seriously, because the NCAA is cracking down on slacking students. The new rules are meant to influence college teams to do better in the classroom. Though recent NCAA changes in athletic eligibility are meant to result in a greater number of college athletes graduating from college, individuals and teams are still slacking academically.

The rules that are being applied are going to be in effect for the 2015-16 year. High school GPA standards are highly enforced with the new requirements. "Incoming freshman will need a minimum 2.3 grade-point average to participate on the team during the season." (Robertson) An average 2.0 GPA in high school would allow incoming freshman only to participate in practice but not in competition. Those who lie in the middle of the 2.0 and 2.3 would still be able to have financial aid as a freshman. "An incoming freshman who only scores 1000 on the SAT's must have a 2.5 GPA to compete and a 2.0 to practice." (Robertson) According to the NCAA, the athletes who meet the standards for practice only must have nine semester hours after the first term in order to keep their financial aid. The other important part of the new requirements is the Academic Progress Rates. APR's focus on a team's progress of graduating students. It is a four year measurement made by the NCAA to trace the progress toward the graduation of the students. If the teams aren't meeting these standards, they could suffer from major penalties. According to the new rules, teams must have a four year average APR score of 930, which is an overall 50 percent graduation rate. When players leave early from college to go professional, it hurts the teams APR. This occurs a lot in basketball, because top ranked freshman go to college for only one year. Before a change in rules, athletes could go to be professional directly from high school. Since the new rule, some top teams are suffering because of the underclassmen advancing to the professional leagues. Those who do not meet the standards are punished with a loss of scholarships.

Throughout the nation, coaches, players, and the people of the NCAA have different views on these new academic standards. The president of the NCAA, Mark Emmert, thinks that these rules make perfect sense. Although the rules have to be approved by the president, his remarks do have sensible meaning. He thinks that it makes perfect sense to have successful students on the court as well as the classroom. According to Emmert, the NCAA will strengthen the strictness of the allowances in order to make the rules more effective. "This is about getting young people a chance to get their sea legs under them academically. If the pressures of practice and film and weight room and all of that continue to be an obstacle, we will have to address it." (Emmert) Coaches of the NCAA also have their views of the new standards. Georgia coach Mark Fox thinks that performance in the classroom should be a top priority for coaches, because they are working at institutes of higher learning. "The landscape is changing so much. Every kid deserves an opportunity, but not every kid can fit in at every school." (Fox) Ron Hunter, the Georgia State coach, thinks differently about these new rules. He believes that getting the college athletes prepared to do well in school is essential with the addition of a redshirt year. Hunter stated that he would like to see an increase of the number of basketball scholarships so that the players who need a year to adjust academically can still be quality upperclassmen that can play and compete. A summarization of these coaches' views would be that they would like to see the new rules have a positive impact on college athletes.

Although these new rules are meant to bring a positive outcome to the academic progress of college athletes, some players and teams are caving in from the pressure. When typical senior star basketball players that are going on to major colleges hear about these rules, some might fold and stick to the neighborhood street ball. Those who do well in school will be up for the challenge. The effects of these rules on athletes might be positive, as well as negative. Colleges might lose players who do not agree or cannot keep themselves from being ineligible. Even now many players and teams can't keep up with the requirements, and they are facing severe penalties. The stress that these standards put on teams could eventually make some crumble. Some teams are already struggling with the current rules, and the rules to come are more strict and reinforced. The pressure on the athletes themselves could cause