Is There Life After Football? (40 page)

Read Is There Life After Football? Online

Authors: James A. Holstein,Richard S. Jones,Jr. George E. Koonce

BOOK: Is There Life After Football?
5.91Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

13
. Bassinger, H.G. “Buzz.” 1991.
Friday Night Lights
. New York: Harper.

14
. Such practices, however, often take insidious turns. Stories of high school athletes running amok, operating outside the law, and displaying little regard for other persons or property are common. Taken to the extreme, we hear stories of sexual exploitation and assault, with accompanying accounts of lax law enforcement and community efforts to conceal the transgressions of esteemed athletes. For a recent example, see accounts of the Steubenville, Ohio, case involving two high school football players convicted of raping a 16-year-old girl. In addition, Ohio attorney general Mike DeWine is considering further charges relating to community efforts to cover up the rape. See Almasy, Steve. March 17, 2013. “Two Teens Found Guilty in Steubenville Rape Case.”
CNN.com
.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/17/justice/ohio-steubenville-case/index.html
, retrieved 3/18/13.

15
. Research interview #40.

16
. O'Shaugnessy, Lynn. June 22, 2010. “7 Things You Need to Know about Sports Scholarships.”
USnews.com
.
http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/the-college-solution/2010/06/22/7-things-you-need-to-know-about-sports-scholarships
, retrieved 3/17/13.

17
. Helman, David. July 26, 2012. “LSU Courts Middle Schooler.”
ESPN.com
.
http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8199497/soon-8th-grader-dylan-moses-offered-lsu-tigers-scholarship
, retrieved 2/27/13.

18
. “UO Faculty Speak Out against ‘Preoccupation' with Athletics.” January 7, 2012.
Dailyemerald.com
.
http://dailyemerald.com/2007/01/17/uo-faculty-speak-out-against-preoccupation-with-athletics/
; Associated Press. January 7, 2011. “Texas Tech on Two Years Probation.”
ESPN.com
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5999907
; both retrieved 4/14/13.

19
. Mandel, Stewart. January 25, 2013. “NCAA Rule Change Could Spark State of Recruiting Chaos.”
SportsIllustrated.cnn.com
.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/news/20130125/ncaa-rulebook-changes-recruiting/
, retrieved 4/15/13.

20
. Staples, Andy. February 7, 2013. “How Ole Miss Landed Its Historic Recruiting Class.”
SportsIllustrated.cnn.com
.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/news/20130207/hugh-freeze-ole-miss-signing-day/
, retrieved 4/14/13.

21
. Stephenson, Creg. February 7, 2013. “Ole Miss' Recruitment of Laramy Tunsil Included 800 Facebook Messages.”
AL.com
.
http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2013/02/sicom_report_ole_miss_recruitm.html
, retrieved 4/14/13.

22
. “Timeline of Investigation at the University of Southern California.” June 26, 2010.
USAToday.com
.
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/college/2010-06-10-usc-timeline-bush-mayo-violations_N.htm
; Howard, Johnette. November 5, 2010. “Cam Newton Allegations Raise Questions.”
ESPN.com
.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/commentary/news/story?page=howard/101105
; both retrieved 4/15/13.

23
. “Ole Miss Recruit Raises Suspicions of Recruiting Violations.” January 30, 2013.
Fannation.com
.
http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_rumors/view/364970-ole-miss-recruit-raises-suspicions-of-recruiting-violations
, retrieved 4/15/13.

24
. Bacon, John U. 2011.
Three and Out
. New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, p. 392.

25
. Research interview #30.

26
. This includes perennial powerhouses USC, Alabama, and Florida State, among others. See, for example: Gould, Mark. N.d. “Cheating Scandals: The Legacy of College Football.”
@yourlibrary.com
.
http://atyourlibrary.org/sports/cheating-scandals-legacy-college-football
, retrieved 4/15/13.

27
. Oriard, Michael. 2009.
Bowled Over
. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, p. 263.

28
. Ibid., p. 205.

29
. Rhoden, William C. 2006.
Forty Million Dollar Slaves
. New York: Crown, p. 176. Rhoden is writing primarily about basketball and black athletes, but his analysis applies to all potential participants in big-time American sports.

30
. Oriard 2009, p. 1.

31
. Research interview #302.

32
. Bacon 2011. Also see Oriard 2009, p. 204.

33
. See Bacon 2011 for a discussion of the difficulties of monitoring compliance with the practice hours limitations at the University of Michigan.

34
. Carnival, Barking. May 9, 2010. “College Football: Are 35 Bowl Games Too Many?”
Bleacherreport.com
.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/389979-college-football-are-35-bowl-games-too-many
, retrieved 5/26/13.

35
. See Eitzen, Stanley. 2009.
Fair and Foul: Beyond the Myths and Paradoxes of Sport
. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, ch. 9; Oriard 2009. In the spring of 2014, Shabazz Napier, star of the recently crowned NCAA basketball champion University of Connecticut Huskies, sparked headlines by pointing out that even full-ride scholarship athletes often go to bed hungry due to the restrictions on their scholarship meal plans. His comments have further incited a national controversy over the equity of college players' “compensation” for their athletic participation and contributions. See Ganim, Sara. April 8, 2014. “UConn Guard on Unions: I Go to Bed ‘Starving.'”
CNN.com
.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/07/us/ncaa-basketball-finals-shabazz-napier-hungry/
, retrieved 4/27/14.

36
.
2012–2013 NCAA Division I Manual
. 2012. Section 15.02.01, p. 200.
http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/D113.pdf
, retrieved 3/27/13.

37
. A few currently retired NFL players went to college prior to the advent of NCAA athletic scholarships in 1956. The one-year scholarship was adopted by the NCAA in 1973. Both of these measures changed the landscape of college football, transforming players' experience and altering the backdrop from which the NFL experience might emerge. See Oriard 2009. By 2015, some universities will begin to grant four-year scholarships.

38
. “Financial Aid.” 2013.
USC.edu
.
http://www.usc.edu/admission/fa/applying_receiving/undergraduates2/costs.html
; Sullivan, Kathleen. February 12, 2013. “Stanford Report: Stanford Raises Undergraduate Tuition 3.5 Percent, Continues Financial Aid Commitment for 2013–14 School Year.”
New.Stanford.edu
.
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/february/stanford-undergrad-tuition-021213.html
; “Tuition and Fee Rates.” 2013.
Miami.edu
.
http://www.miami.edu/gs/index.php/graduate_school/costs_and_financial_aid/tuition_and_fee_rates/
; Tuchler, Margot. February 22, 2013. “Duke Board Approves Tuition Increase for 2013.
Dukechronicle.com
.
http://www.dukechronicle.com/articles/2013/02/22/duke-board-approves-tuition-increase-2013-2014
; “Undergraduate Tuition.” 2013.
Utexas.edu
.
http://www.utexas.edu/business/accounting/pubs/tf_undergrad_fall13.pdf
; “Undergraduate Campus Student Tuition.” 2012.
Cost.UA.edu
.
http://cost.ua.edu/undergraduate-12-13.html
; all retrieved 4/23/13.

39
. Hill, Jemele. October 10, 2012. “Tweet Shows Truth about Academics.”
ESPN.com
.
http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8484038/tweet-revealed-truth-student-athletes
, retrieved 10/6/13. Apparently Ohio State coach Urban Myer didn't appreciate this attitude. He didn't allow Jones to suit up for a game and took away his Twitter account.

40
. Bryant, Paul W., and John Underwood. 1974.
Bear: The Hard Life and Good Times of Alabama's Coach Bryant
. Boston: Little, Brown, p. 325.

41
. See Eitzen 2009, Oriard 2009.

42
. These comparisons are based on Federal Graduation Rate (FGR) statistics for student cohorts entering college in 2005. The FGR is considered a relatively crude measure of the percentage of students who graduate from their original institution of enrollment within a six-year period. The NCAA and others prefer to use a more nuanced measure known as Graduation Success Rate (GSR), which takes into account transfer students, mid-year enrollees, and other factors that affect academic progress. Using GSRs, roughly 70 percent of football players graduate within six years, and more closely approximate the general student body GSR, especially if GSRs for male students only are compared. See NCAA Research Staff. October 2012. “Trends in Graduation-Success Rates and Federal Graduation Rates at NCAA Division I Institutions.”
NCAA.org
.
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect//files/18/38/03/f183803/public/ncaa/pdfs/2012/D1GsrFgrTrendsPdf
, retrieved 4/17/13. Also see Oriard 2009.

43
. Research interview #06.

44
. Research interview #304.

45
. Research interview #03. Siegel is being modest. He made the National Honor Society in his senior year, calling this his only academic “glory.”

46
. Research interview #20.

47
. Bacon 2011, p. 350.

48
. Oriard 2009, pp. 183–85.

49
. Ibid., p. 184.

50
. “The Center for Student Success and Academic Counseling.” 2010.
Center for Student Success and Academic Counseling
.
http://cssac.unc.edu/athletic-counseling-program
, retrieved 4/18/13.

51
. “Clara Bell Smith Center.” 2010.
Student-Athlete Support Services
.
http://www.sass.msu.edu/facilities/SmithCenter.html
, retrieved 4/18/13.

52
. Research interview #40. At that point, the NCAA was very vague about limits on a player's “practice time,” but it has since tightened restrictions on the number of hours a player may devote to football each week.

53
. Ibid.

54
. Hill, October 10, 2012.

55
. Oriard 2009. On our own Marquette University campus (where there is no football program), well over half of men's basketball players are enrolled in the
College of Communication, where core curriculum requirements are somewhat less demanding than in, say, the College of Arts and Sciences.

56
. See Adler, Patricia A., and Peter Adler. 1991.
Backboards and Blackboards
. New York: Columbia University Press; Ridpath, David. 2012.
Tainted Glory: Marshall University, the NCAA and One Man's Fight for Justice
. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse.

57
. Wolff, Alexander. October 14, 1991. “Upstairs, Downstairs.”
SIVault.com
.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1140491/1/index.htm
, retrieved 4/15/14.

58
. Sisney, Steve. May 6, 2012. “Housing Facility Seen as Boon for OU Athletics.”
TulsaWorld.com
.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/article.aspx/Housing_facility_seen_as_boon_for_OU_athletics/20120506_92_b1_ulnsok83242
, retrieved 4/19/13.

59
. Oriard 2009.

60
. Wolff, October 14, 1991. Also see Oriard 2009, pp. 214–15. There are a notable number of parallel cases of athletic dorm culture contributing to campus troubles, including incidents at Oklahoma, Colorado, USC, and Missouri.

61
. See Adler and Adler 1991.

62
. Research interview #40.

63
. Rosenberg, Michael. January 7, 2011. “Nike's Phil Knight Has Branded Oregon into National Power.”
SI.com
.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/michael_rosenberg/01/06/oregon.knight/index.html
; Zimmerman, Ann, and Leslie Scism. July 6, 2012. “Boone Calls the Plays as Largess Complicates Life at Alma Mater.”
WSJ.com
.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304782404577488592793245510.html
; both retrieved 8/16/13.

64
. National Collegiate Athletic Association. N.d. “Student-Athlete Benefits.”
NCAAStudent.org
.
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect//files/18/38/03/f183803/public/NCAA/Finances/Finances+Student+Athlete+Benefits
, retrieved 4/23/13.

65
. Roberts, Selena. April 3, 2013. “Auburn's Tainted Title.”
Roopstigo.com
.
http://www.roopstigo.com/reader/auburns_vainted_title_victims_violations_and_vendettas_for_glory/
, retrieved 4/23/13. Many of the allegations have been disputed. See “Report: Auburn Bribed Players.” April 4, 2013.
ESPN.com
.
http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/9131624/auburn-tigers-coaches-bribed-players-altered-grades-broke-recruiting-rules-gene-chizik-according-report
, retrieved 4/23/13.

66
. Thamel, Pete. August 16, 2011. “Hurricane Players and Recruits Accused of NCAA Violation.”
NYTimes.com
.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/17/sports/ncaafootball/miami-hurricanes-accused-of-ncaa-violations.html?_r=0
; “How the NCAA's Mishandling of the Miami Case Exposed an Enforcement Department Seemingly Powerless to Do Its Job.” June 12, 2013.
InsideSpotsIllustrated.com
.
http://insidesport-sillustrated.com/2013/06/12/si-special-report-ncaa-miami/
; both retrieved 4/15/14.

Other books

The Hungry by Steve Hockensmith, Steven Booth, Harry Shannon, Joe McKinney
The Wizard King by Dana Marie Bell
Hello, Mallory by Ann M. Martin
Comeback by Catherine Gayle
Cry Father by Benjamin Whitmer
Death on the Diagonal by Blanc, Nero