Research + News | Topic: NCAA

What Student-Athletes Should Know Before Entering College

Graduate student and college athlete Alicia Whittle writes a post for the Growing Leaders blog about what she wished she had known before heading off to college. Read the post here.

Public Majority Opposes Paying NCAA Athletes

athleteAccording to a Washington Post-ABC News poll, a larger majority of the general public to not think that college athletes should be paid salaries beyond the scholarships currently offered.

From the report:

Only 33 percent support paying college athletes. At 64 percent, opposition is nearly twice as high as support, with 47 percent strongly against the idea. Nearly every demographic and political group opposes it except non-whites, for whom 51 percent support. The breakdown among whites (73 percent oppose, 24 percent support) tilted strongly in the opposite direction.

Read the full report here.

 

NCAA Tournament Based on Academic Performance

2014bracket005Inside Higher Ed has posted its annual NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament bracket based on the teams academic performance:  the that team dominates in the classroom, not necessarily on the court.

Here’s how the winners are determined:

“To determine the winners, we look to the Academic Progress Rate, the NCAA’s multiyear measure of a team’s classroom performance (in this case, from to 2008-12). When two teams tie, as they inevitably do, we turn to the NCAA’s Graduation Success Rate, which measures the proportion of athletes on track to graduate within six years.”

This year’s final four: Dayton, Memphis, American and Michigan.

Champion: Dayton beats Michigan.

Read the full report here.

 

Some College Athletes Reading at 8th Grade Level?

CNN conducted an investigation looking into the reading ability of athletes at major colleges and universities. From the report:

“A CNN investigation found public universities across the country where many students in the basketball and football programs could read only up to an eighth-grade level. The data obtained through open records requests also showed a staggering achievement gap between college athletes and their peers at the same institution.

This is not an exhaustive survey of all universities with major sports programs; CNN chose a sampling of public universities where open records laws apply. We sought data from a total of 37 institutions, of which 21 schools responded.”

Read the full report here.

Watch a video about the report here.

Should College Presidents Break The NCAA’s Vise Grip On Athletes?

NPR’s Frank Deford is on a quest: “I seek one prominent college president to say to her trustees or to the other presidents in his conference: ‘The NCAA is a sham and disgrace. Let’s get out of it.’ We know those presidents who disdain the NCAA are out there, but, alas, none dare speak the words that will break the evil spell.”

Read or listen to the full report here.

Steroids Loom In NCAA Football

An investigation by The Associated Press – based on dozens of interviews with players, testers, dealers and experts and an analysis of weight records for more than 61,000 players – revealed that while those running the multibillion-dollar sport believe the problem is under control, that is hardly the case.

Read an article about the investigation from The Huffington Post here.