Graduation Rates

[The Ancient Enemy]

Working a piece right now for a paper and a website. Take a gander at this. Came out today.

http://www.tidesport.org/Grad%20Rates/2 ... _Study.pdf

[deliverance]

I take it that when an athlete declares early that goes against the school's graduation rate?

[The Ancient Enemy]

Everyone has an opinion of Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach. Some think he's an evil genius, some think he's clueless, but everyone will agree that he always looks like something smells funny in his vicinity. He's smelling something funny yet again, too.

Because you are running the risk of insulting the audience, I'm not going to get into the Oklahoma-Texas-Texas Tech barrels-of-joy escapade from last week. But in case there's anyone who came out of a coma, escaped captivity, or was finally found in the wilderness, those three aforementioned schools were all in a three-way tie to see who went to the Big XII conference championship. Oklahoma got the nod because of their position in the fun-loving BCS rankings. There, now the obligatories are out of the way.

The Big XII found themselves in a precarious position. Three teams, all with identical records, all with a big win over one of the other three. It could have went either way. Err, ANY way. But coach Leach had a hot sports-opinion about the whole mess. His idea, which many dismissed as Mike Leach pulling a Mike Leach, is not as crazy as everyone took at first. Leach said, why not give the nod to the team who graduates the most student-athletes?

It's loaded, obviously. He probably would not have said it unless Texas Tech was on top of the Big XII bowl-bounds in graduation rates, which they assuredly are. In fact, with the three programs in question, it isn't even close. On Monday, The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) released their thesis. The University of Central Florida folks, under Dr. Richard Lapchick, put together a quality look on all the FBS teams who are playing in this season's bowl matchups. What they found is pretty disturbing.

Of the three Big XII teams in question, Texas Tech is miles ahead of their South Division rivals. Leach's Red Raider program has an overall student-athlete graduation rate of 79%. Number two? Ready for your eyes to bug-out like a Scooby-Doo cartoon? The University of Texas... 50%. Think that's bad? National-title contender Oklahoma is coming in at an impressive 46%.

50% and 46%!

It gets even better as we break it down a bit farther. Of the white football players, Tech also leads by a ridiculous margin. The Red Raiders come in with a very impressive 84%. Texas beats OU here as well, just like they did on the field in Dallas. (like I shoehorned that in there?) 67% to an amazing 44%.

44%, folks.

When I saw the numbers for the black student-athletes, I wanted to get up from my desk and take a shower. It was like I was looking at a car crash. Texas Tech, again head and shoulders (and even knees and toes) ahead of these other two: 71%. This time Oklahoma has "bragging rights" over UT: 45% to a remarkable 38%!

When I went to college, I walked out of there with two good degrees and put forth about 35% effort the entire time I was there. Those graduation numbers are so ridiculous that it is almost criminal. You have to almost TRY to have graduation rates as bad as the ones at Oklahoma. Look, all you have to do is show up to class. And I know, you can't babysit these kids 24 hours a day, and on top of that, many of them are prima-donna "big men on campus". I understand, trust me. A lot of this can be attributed to the kids, who either are not smart enough, or do not care enough, to notice that they really are at a great institution like UT, TT, and OU and are basically getting a free ride for 4 or 5 years of their life. There's a level of personal responsibility on the part of these kids that you can't use against the football coaches when looking at the numbers. But... what can you say other than those numbers in question simply do not lie?

Maybe Leach is right, maybe we should go by the graduation rates. We have already dismissed head-to-head as a tie-breaker, so why not? In all seriousness, would a graduation tie-breaker apease the university administrations that hide behind education when rejecting a playoff system? I guess we will have to sit down and talk about this, and I'll see you all in class. Well, then again, maybe not.

[nLions1]

Yeah good novel TAE, Ill read that tomorrow.

[southpaw]

Leach was on to something. Make graduation rates part of the BCS ranking calculation. Did you see Notre Dame? I hate them but those graduation rates are sweet. Right up there with the Naval Academy. Penn State as usual is very solid as they always are. Say what you want about JoePa but his players graduate. Mack and Bob? Only count wins, not degrees earned.

[deliverance]

Nice article, TAE. Once again, I want to know how these rates are figured out. Oklahoma and Texas have far more kids go pro earlier than Texas Tech. Name me 5 Texas Tech players to ever play in the NFL. Does this count against the school? Texas has a lot of kids that come back and finish their degree after they make it professionally. Anyone remember Vince Young and Kevin Durant? I am almost certain that counts against a school like Texas. Now I know that there are still some athletes that could care less about getting a college degree. Would you care if you have $15,000,000 waiting for you? I don't think so. You could never use the graduation rate numbers as a tie-breaker because of the fact that it can be broken down 34093489053940 ways. What does it matter if the athlete is African-American or White? I thought we were all one now? What does it matter if a player left early to go make millions of dollars? That's wrong of him right? Even though, the NCAA allows you to do this? Texas has had at least 40% of their basketball team leave early over the past 5 years to play in the NBA. Has Texas Tech had this? I don't think so. If these rates don't count, then I am all for it. Mack Brown cares as much about his athletes than any coach in football. Numbers can easily skew the truth.

[abpk2903]

You could never use the graduation rate numbers as a tie-breaker because of the fact that it can be broken down 34093489053940 ways.

Not really, you simply take the incoming classes and what percentage of them end up getting a degree from your institution.

Also, the very few in football that leave early for the NFL really does not lead to 50% graduation rates.

[southpaw]

This study is about ALL student athletes not just football. I imagine that it vary widely from sport to sport within the same university. But is does let us know which universities place emphasis on the academics of their student-athletes.

[The Ancient Enemy]

First off, transfers and JUCOS are included in the GSRs. This is actually a good thing.

Secondly, it is for all student athletes, but specifically football, as the link above shows.

[southpaw]

I'm sorry TAE, I should pay better attention and not just assume.