NCAA to crack down on coaches
The NCAA wants its coaches to now be judged by their athletes’ academic performance as well as win-loss records and other personal criteria.
The Division I board of directors is implementing a new annual percentage rate based on their team’s performance in the classroom. This APR would be part of a coach’s career record and would be open to potential recruits and their families.
Unsurprisingly, coaches have largely opposed this new plan. While many agree that the academic standing of their athletes is important, many more have said that they feel like they are being singled out.
While coaches do play a large role in their athlete’s classroom performance, there are other reasons why Division I college athletes do not do particularly well in school. For someone playing Division I college football, it is just an audition for the NFL. The lack of a minor league system in football makes playing at the college level more intense, drawing attention away from the classroom.
Because Division I sports are played at such a high level, it is nearly impossible for these students to earn strong marks in their classes while they are traveling across the country, playing on ESPN and trying to go pro. The coach’s top priority is to make sure the team is playing the best it can and performing well on the field. Before the coaches get involved, the athletes and their tutors need to make sure their schoolwork is up to par.
Academic performance is undoubtedly the most important part of going to college and athletes should not be excluded from this. However, if a team is not performing well, the coach is not the one to blame. The other factors that go into athletes’ schoolwork far outweigh the coach’s influence in the classroom and judging coaches on this topic is not the right path to take on this issue.
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Haha, this is crazy. Nice find.