College Athletic Programs

Paper Summary:

The paper argues that the importance of athletic programs is often overblown. The paper reveals that while a good football or basketball team can boost school spirit, sell T-shirts, and increase the academic standing of a school, winning teams are hard to come by and they usually cost more money than they make. The paper further argues that athletes sometimes receive favorable treatment in academic classes in order to ensure they have eligibility to play and this is shown by low graduation rates among athletes.

From the Paper:

"Over the last century, however, as collegiate athletics have grown in stature and have grown into multi-million dollar businesses, the NCAA has had to confront questions of how these athletic programs contribute to college life. It has become a cliche that college athletes in such high profile sports as basketball and football receive a free pass in college classrooms. Perhaps the most famous and egregious case of this in recent history happened at the University of Georgia in the fall of 2001, where Jim Harrick Jr., an assistant basketball coach taught a course called Coaching Principles and Strategies of Basketball. The course was mainly populated by athletes from the basketball team."

Sample of Sources Used:

• "America's Best Colleges 2006." (2006) U.S. News and World Report. http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/natudoc/tier1/t1natudoc_brief.php
• Delgado, Kevin. (2006, January) "Perennially at the Top." Blue and Gold Illustrated. http://www.blueandgold.com/content/?aid=1236
• Ifill, Gwenn. (2005, March) "NCAA: Passing or Failing." The News Hour on PBS. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/sports/jan-june05/ncaa_3-14.html
• "It was the flying wedge, football's major offense in 1905, that spurred the formation of the NCAA." http://www.ncaa.org/about/history.html
• Levitt, S.D., Dubner, S.J. (2005) Freakonomics. New York, NY: William Marrow Publishers.

More papers on College Athletic Programs:

• Research Proposal # 106004 : "Athletic Strength and Conditioning Program"
• Research Paper # 12242 : "Women in College Sports"
• Essay # 48861 : "Equal Opportunities for Athletic and Non-Athletic Students"

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