Blog 20: Chapter 20: Who loves the Jocks?

Who loves the jocks? Easy answer, the NCAA loves the jocks. Why wouldn’t the NCAA love the jocks? Another easy answer, the good old boys are bringing in massive revenue to the school and catching the eye of prospective candidates to the university. The former coach and athletic director of Notre Dame stated that junior college athletes have never been admitted to ND because they don’t believe they are real students and never could be. However, junior college students are often allowed into college without even taking SAT/ACT. Although, Notre Dame, recognized for its high standard of academic achievement, does not admit these junior athletes, many universities do, hoping to turn their sports program around. Even though the NCAA has a love affair with the jocks, undergraduate students have mixed emotions. At the University of Iowa, students complained about all the special privileges that the jocks get but in the same breath say how exciting it is to see the “star athlete” in the student union. The statement, “all college athletes should meet the same university requirements as regular students” was only strongly agreed upon by 29% of the respondents. Only 31% agreed, in which the majority of the agrees came from the DIII respondents and women at DI schools. Almost all of the negatives were from Division I males. A Georgetown U student had a typical explanation for special admits of athletes. He explained that he worked his ass off during high school to get into Georgetown. He was fully aware of the fact the most of the athletes at GU earned half the SAT score that he did but they still got in. He noted that the system stunk; but that these players had talent. He also noted that his team would be terrible if only regular GU students played and was in favor of Georgetown being a winning team.