LFN: Did Emmert Force The HBCU Confs Out of D-I This Weekend?

[Lehigh Football Nation]

http://lehighfootballnation.blogspot.com/2011/08/sundays-word-war.html

I slam the NCAA for Mark Emmert's feel-good "summit", a misguided APR change, and its disastrous potential impact on HBCU's.

[DFW HOYA]

I don't understand the quote which reads "In many, many circumstances, the issue is not high-scale cheating. It's financial - if a kid cannot afford to play on the team, the school's APR takes a giant hit.". The APR has two prongs--students that leave and are eligible get one point, those who leave and are, dare we say it, flunking out: no points. Even if 10-15 kids left every year but were otherwise eligible in the classroom, the APR would be closer to 945.

The HBCU's have a series of institutional issues but in this case it comes down to recruiting kids that have the ability to stay eligible. When Georgetown played Howard in the first week of the 2008 season, it was reported that 42 members of the team were held off the sidelines for being academically ineligible. In week one! Where was Howard to watch this in April, in May, over the summer? It's one thing to offer opportunity, which HBCU's are charged with doing, but schools do themselves a disservice when recruiting kids that either are unable to stay eligible or just don't care to. A kid getting full scholarship at Hampton, at FAMU, at Alabama State, etc. has to be recruited to succeed on and off the field, or he needs to be directed to a JC and asked to try again in two years when he has a body of work in the classroom.

A 925 APR represents a 50% graduation rate in six years, 930 is what, 53%? If these schools can't do it, are we also to say that, for example, Memphis (student body graduation rate in five years, 28%) shouldn't have to hit 53%, either? No, the NCAA contends that if you want to play in Division I you must strive towards a standard that applies across the board. (BTW, the Memphis APR in football is 904.)

I understand and support your concerns but these schools have to show some leadership that this means something to them.

[citdog]

"The soft bigotry of lowered expectations" raises its head again. Liberal racists like the author are seeking to make SERVANTS of these people again.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

There are few public cases of players on scholarship leaving a team because they cannot afford it.

And yet, Southern isn't in APR trouble because it's created an athletic dynasty and funneling players to the pros. Lots of people know about the stories of Cam Newton and Blake Griffin, but the story of the second-string guy on Grambling who can't pay for school (no, he's not getting paid to come to school) with financial challenges that has to drop out and take care of his family - nobody knows about guys like him.

The problem is that folks fall into the trap that the APR is an effective measure of academic progress. It's not. When the rubber hits the road, it's a measure of retention. And the schools that can pay to retain the students, whether through scholarships, hounding them with tutors or whatever, do so.

[roTSU50]

Well,

Most of those guys weren't eligible to attend Howard U. The coach was trying to find a work around. The university wasn't budging on letting those guys in.

That was a different issue.

[TheBisonator]

"The soft bigotry of lowered expectations" raises its head again. Liberal racists like the author are seeking to make SERVANTS of these people again.

Wait a minute - I thought making black people "servants" again was your dream????

[Go...gate]

You know what? The HBCU's have to get better at complying with the APR. Period. If a kid can't do the schoolwork and play football, he should not be on the football team.

[Go...gate]

"The soft bigotry of lowered expectations" raises its head again. Liberal racists like the author are seeking to make SERVANTS of these people again.

This time, I agree with you. It is a "soft bigotry of lowered expectations".

[WestCoastAggie]

Speaking about this from a somewhat intimate prospective, schools in the MEAC & SWAC have to 1.) simply not recruit any Prop. 48 type kids anymore. I have been personally advocating A&T, who has serious APR issues, to implement a Patriot-League type recruit system. We raised our standards just last year and re-vamped our entire athletic department's compliance office. That leads to my next point.

2.) we have to ensure we are keeping our kids academically eligible and retain them. the retention troubles at A&T is due to the constant turnover at the HC and AD position. We are on our 4th AD since 2005 and 4th Head Coach since 2005. Coach Fobbs REALLY jacked our program up by not doing either of these things and we didn't have the proper people in place to keep this in check.

The A&T Board of Trustees, Chancellor Martin, AD Earl Hilton and most importantly, the ALUMNI must possess patience. We aren't going to win very many games until we get rid of these APR penalties. We only have the ability to use about 33 schollys, which is less the max equivalent for Division-2 schools due to these penalties. And if we continue to fire coaches & AD's every 2-3 years, we will not be in the MEAC too much longer. So while I understand what LFN is saying, it is ultimately up to my school and the rest of the HBCU's to learn how to swim in the changing current of the Division 1 waters.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

We only have the ability to use about 33 schollys, which is less the max equivalent for Division-2 schools due to these penalties. And if we continue to fire coaches & AD's every 2-3 years, we will not be in the MEAC too much longer.

I maintain that the problem is not academic standards but A&T's inability to pay for 63 full scholarships for its members.

IMVHO, the best thing A&T could do to retain more athletes is to raise millions of dollars and scholarship all your athletes. This is because the APR really is a measure of retention, not academic progress. It's my belief that raising the academic qualifications for athletes in this case - especially if it means exceeding the institutional norm - will not achieve the goal of a higher APR. All it will mean is that more high-academic athletes will drop out because they can't afford to pay for school.

And be very clear about this: this APR change will not affect the "star players", who are getting scholarship money anyway. It disproportionately affects the second-stringers that are paying to play Division I football.

[superman7515]

I maintain that the problem is not academic standards but A&T's inability to pay for 63 full scholarships for its members.

IMVHO, the best thing A&T could do to retain more athletes is to raise millions of dollars and scholarship all your athletes. This is because the APR really is a measure of retention, not academic progress. It's my belief that raising the academic qualifications for athletes in this case - especially if it means exceeding the institutional norm - will not achieve the goal of a higher APR. All it will mean is that more high-academic athletes will drop out because they can't afford to pay for school.

And be very clear about this: this APR change will not affect the "star players", who are getting scholarship money anyway. It disproportionately affects the second-stringers that are paying to play Division I football.

If they aren't getting any athletic financial aid, then they aren't being counted in the APR anyway, so how would it affect them disproportionately?

NCAA - How Is The APR Calculated (http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/NCAA/Academics/Division+I/How+is+APR+calculated)


Each student-athlete receiving athletically related financial aid earns one retention point for staying in school and one eligibility point for being academically eligible.

[WestCoastAggie]

I maintain that the problem is not academic standards but A&T's inability to pay for 63 full scholarships for its members.

IMVHO, the best thing A&T could do to retain more athletes is to raise millions of dollars and scholarship all your athletes. This is because the APR really is a measure of retention, not academic progress. It's my belief that raising the academic qualifications for athletes in this case - especially if it means exceeding the institutional norm - will not achieve the goal of a higher APR. All it will mean is that more high-academic athletes will drop out because they can't afford to pay for school.

And be very clear about this: this APR change will not affect the "star players", who are getting scholarship money anyway. It disproportionately affects the second-stringers that are paying to play Division I football.
A "trick" Coach Broadway is doing is getting his players, who have earned it, academic scholarships. For instance, we now have a Frosh. QB from DC who earned a 4.3 GPA in High School. We also quite a few more players earning Academic Schollys. And those who are Academic Scholarship do not have to pay out of pocket for tuition and fees.

But A&T is in the process of raising funds for increasing its football scholarship pool. It was stipulated in Coach Broadway's contract that we do this as well as prioritizing improving the APR score.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

If they aren't getting any athletic financial aid, then they aren't being counted in the APR anyway, so how would it affect them disproportionately?

NCAA - How Is The APR Calculated (http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/NCAA/Academics/Division+I/How+is+APR+calculated)

Those 33 scholarships aren't going to 33 athletes. They're going to, say, ten, while the other 23 are split up as half-schollies. That's 56 athletes, for the purpose of the APR findings, that are "on scholarship".

A kid with a half scholarship now finds himself unable to pay for school. He drops out. A&T's APR takes a hit.

Does this sound like what the APR should be measuring? I don't think so.

It also bears mentioning that in the past, the APR didn't have those words "receiving athletically-related financial aid" after "athletes". Morehead State had an APR "violation" three years ago despite the fact they were, and are, non-scholarship.

[Bogus Megapardus]

"The soft bigotry of lowered expectations" is a phrase coined by George W. Bush during his campaign speeches in 2000 and 2004. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that this phrase attracted her to Bush more than anything else.

Does W. count as a Southerner?

[DFW HOYA]

Those 33 scholarships aren't going to 33 athletes. They're going to, say, ten, while the other 23 are split up as half-schollies. That's 56 athletes, for the purpose of the APR findings, that are "on scholarship". A kid with a half scholarship now finds himself unable to pay for school. He drops out. A&T's APR takes a hit. Does this sound like what the APR should be measuring? I don't think so.


Is this really happening at A&T? In-state tuition is just $4,668/yr and the school meets 86% of need. The football grant ought to account for the difference and then some.

According to this 2010 article, A&T is at 50 scholarships and the coach seems to say that poor classroom performance is the culprit.

http://www.ncatregister.com/aggie-football-moving-forward-from-penalty-1.2307661

[WestCoastAggie]

A&T was not funding the full allotment of Scholarships in football when we received our APR hits. So although we should be at 50 or so, we are at 33 at this point because of the school not fully funding them in the first place.

The AD and Coach Broadway let us know this tidbit of info during a meeting with Alumni a while back. But either way, the coach is correct. It is his staff's and the Athletic Department's responsibility to retain and keep his players academically eligible. Coach Lee and Coach Fobbs recruited players that simply could not handle the rigors of academic life at A&T. Point blank. The retention problems come in due to the fact that we had way too much turnover with our rosters especially with Coach Fobbs, who decided to remove over half of the roster before the 06/07 season.

But now Earl Hilton, the AD and Broadway & Co. have learned what they needed to learn and will act accordingly. This is why Coach Broadway has recruited kids that have been able to be granted Academic Scholarships. It may be a few seasons before we can put those APR penalties behind us but this is definitely the right way to do it.

[ngineer]

"The soft bigotry of lowered expectations" is a phrase coined by George W. Bush during his campaign speeches in 2000 and 2004. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that this phrase attracted her to Bush more than anything else.

Does W. count as a Southerner?

Not according to Perry, because W went to Yale!