In the last few years, the NCAA has been disproportunately penal in acadenic misconduct cases, no matter if isolated, as the Fraiser matter, a single incident involving just one player. In Brown's case, the NCAA neither found Brown complicite in the act itself, nor for failing to report the incident ito the proper authorities, which he did. They punished him with a 9 game penalty for reporting the incident belatedly, and for lying during an NCAA interrogation , and then correcting his answer after consulting his arrorney .
Brown is not the only Big Time coach to get slammed for academic fraud violations recently. I don't mean to imply Brown was unfairly singled out (although I'd like to know who dropped the dime, and whether the dime included allegations of widespread violations for which there was no proof)
Either way, it seems undeniable that the NCAA has been quite vigilant and punative in recent times with respect to academic fraud, except if it's epidenic and the violator UNC ( wink).
My question is this. Is this vigilance essential to the NCAA's insistence that players who are obliged to work year-round are not emplouees, because they are STUDENT athletes, whatever that means, a claim that there seems to be consensus here is pure myth.
Without that vigilance, the NCAA's postion becomes a one-footed stool, right. So, is this more proof that the NCAA needs to go? "Not a soup question, now is it."
Brown is not the only Big Time coach to get slammed for academic fraud violations recently. I don't mean to imply Brown was unfairly singled out (although I'd like to know who dropped the dime, and whether the dime included allegations of widespread violations for which there was no proof)
Either way, it seems undeniable that the NCAA has been quite vigilant and punative in recent times with respect to academic fraud, except if it's epidenic and the violator UNC ( wink).
My question is this. Is this vigilance essential to the NCAA's insistence that players who are obliged to work year-round are not emplouees, because they are STUDENT athletes, whatever that means, a claim that there seems to be consensus here is pure myth.
Without that vigilance, the NCAA's postion becomes a one-footed stool, right. So, is this more proof that the NCAA needs to go? "Not a soup question, now is it."
I thought I read this article fairly carefully. Somehow I missed the paragraph where Mr. Frazier takes some responsibility for his own academic and personal failures.
Coach Brown has a sleazy history which SMU was apparently comfortable with. No tears for the school or the team.
But the bottom line remains: we are all responsible for our own behavior and choices. This includes the players. Otherwise we're just patronizing and profiling them.
Coach Brown has a sleazy history which SMU was apparently comfortable with. No tears for the school or the team.
But the bottom line remains: we are all responsible for our own behavior and choices. This includes the players. Otherwise we're just patronizing and profiling them.
3
If I were the writer of this article I would be embarrassed to show my face in the news room. Why? Because I obviously missed the story.
The story is, what's this kid, Fraizier, who's obviously no Einstein, doing in a physics class in High School. Solve that problem an you just about solve every other "problem" hyperbolicated in the article.
The story is, what's this kid, Fraizier, who's obviously no Einstein, doing in a physics class in High School. Solve that problem an you just about solve every other "problem" hyperbolicated in the article.
Shocking! Shocking! Absolutely shocking! I dare write, that there is not a high school teacher in any of the major subjects, who hasn't seen these college image and money makers, coddled and given a free ride in their subjects, without any mastery of the content those teachers teach! But to cry out, would mean putting their jobs at stake, and they have to go along with the system! That's just the way it is....College is big business today! Don't be fooled!
1
The NBA ought to get rid of the age restriction. Kids can go straight to the NBA from high school. Everyone who chooses college has to agree to play in college for 3 years.
And those colleges that take kids who cannot succeed should lose eligibility.
And those colleges that take kids who cannot succeed should lose eligibility.
2
Business as usual in D1 college hoops. Shoe companies pay AAU coaches for finding talent; high school coaches cut deals with AAU coaches for the talent; college coaches--also compensated by the shoe companies--send their assistants out to pressure the high school coaches to make the talent eligible to play at the college; high school coaches advocate too hard (by fraudulently forging grades in this case) for the talent; the talent gets into the college and contributes wildly to the basketball program, but can't handle the academic load; and, the head coach floats above it all, in this case, pulling down 2.8 million a year from the university (and who knows how much from Nike, Inc.). The talent crashes and burns, the assistant coach is thrown under the bus, the high school coach loses his job, and the college head coach floats above it all, making poignant emotional appeals to the newspapers. Meanwhile, new assistant coaches find new talent and the cycle is repeated; the college head coach gets a slap on the wrist and prepares for next year, when his salary will increase and maybe he can cut a bigger shoe deal with Addidas or UnderArmor. March Madness!!
1
These "revenue programs" are antithetical to the academic mission of education, which is the basis for its tax exempt status and which justifies the direct funding of billions and billions of tax dollars.
Without education as the focal point, the guiding light of schools -whether middle, high or college level - there is no reason for funding.
Pretend athletic mills that churn out uneducated athletes should be de-funded and de-accredited. Failing public schools like Kimball that seek to hang on through athletic "success" damage not just the athlete but, much more significantly, their entire student bodies. They should be closed.
And colleges that choose to accept athletes who cannot compete in the classroom, that warp educational priorities ("holistic" or otherwise) in pursuit of athletic revenue, that invest far more in athletic students than in general students and that pay coaching staffs out of line with the overall faculty pay scale should lose their tax exemptions for athletic revenues and donations and facilities and be forced off campus to function as the independent businesses they are, using licensing arrangements with the sponsoring school.
The dirty practices at SMU, UNC and unending other schools are all made possible, and profitable, by tax dollars. We have to cut them off at that source.
Without education as the focal point, the guiding light of schools -whether middle, high or college level - there is no reason for funding.
Pretend athletic mills that churn out uneducated athletes should be de-funded and de-accredited. Failing public schools like Kimball that seek to hang on through athletic "success" damage not just the athlete but, much more significantly, their entire student bodies. They should be closed.
And colleges that choose to accept athletes who cannot compete in the classroom, that warp educational priorities ("holistic" or otherwise) in pursuit of athletic revenue, that invest far more in athletic students than in general students and that pay coaching staffs out of line with the overall faculty pay scale should lose their tax exemptions for athletic revenues and donations and facilities and be forced off campus to function as the independent businesses they are, using licensing arrangements with the sponsoring school.
The dirty practices at SMU, UNC and unending other schools are all made possible, and profitable, by tax dollars. We have to cut them off at that source.
1
Too bad that this has happened again and again.
A young player being told to follow the road to riches in professional basketball by a coach with questionable leadership.
Sadly this will continue in college sports as long as the institution and the athletic departments are willing to turn a blind eye.
A young player being told to follow the road to riches in professional basketball by a coach with questionable leadership.
Sadly this will continue in college sports as long as the institution and the athletic departments are willing to turn a blind eye.
Brown should be sitting in a jail cell for FRAUD. And SMU needs another death penalty apparently. Do the idiot fans who live and die for big-time win-at-all-costs Div 1 programs care or even KNOW about the educational mission of their particular minor league pro sport colleges? Get a life folks!! FRAUD is a crime.
how is Larry Brown still coaching. He is a serial CHEATER. SMU should be ashamed and the whole lot needs to be made an example of.
that's just my opinion
that's just my opinion
Larry Brown and all coaches, athletic directors, alumni, gamblers and fans who share their values are a plague embraced by the colleges and universities of our country.
The NCAA, federal, state and local governments have to crack down and stop treating school sports as a business. I know that billions of dollars are involved, but most of these monies go to the administration, the coaches, the sports programs and their facilities. Very little of it, if any, goes to academics. Hoop Dreams, more like Hoop Nightmares. Hit these universities, hard, in their wallets. Create financial penalties that cripple EVERY sports program at a university if they continue these shenanigans, and don't tell me that means the players won't be admitted/get an education. They're not getting one now.
So here's the elephant in the room that nobody wants to discuss: Why do we accept dumb kids into college? Obviously, the administrations are exploiting the kids. NCAA sports provides them with a windfall. So the answer would require the university system to fundamentally rethink their devil's pact. Obviously, they won't go in that direction. Too much money is at stake.
But this isn't the first case where the system allowed someone to matriculate who simply wasn't capable of college study. They don't deserve to be there. Let them go straight to the NBA D League or some other minor league feeder system that the NBA might create akin to minor league baseball. That's the far better model to embrace. These kids just aren't interested in college and that's fine. But let's pretend that they belong there. They don't. And hey, don't shed any tears because they'll do infinitely better financially going straight to the minors.
But this isn't the first case where the system allowed someone to matriculate who simply wasn't capable of college study. They don't deserve to be there. Let them go straight to the NBA D League or some other minor league feeder system that the NBA might create akin to minor league baseball. That's the far better model to embrace. These kids just aren't interested in college and that's fine. But let's pretend that they belong there. They don't. And hey, don't shed any tears because they'll do infinitely better financially going straight to the minors.
2
I agree. The NBA needs a minor league system run by the NBA just like Baseball. It's silly to think that NBA Players need college. The schools rake in millions on the backs of kids like Keith Frazier. And yet at the same time a young player should be able to go somewhere to hone his skills. Can we please set aside the myth of gentleman-athlete?
1
Where was the guidance from Keith's parents? Isn't that the tragedy? This young man was given opportunities other students can only dream about. A full scholarship to SMU! And these ignorant readers of the Tomes think it's the NCAA' fault he didn't want to study? It's his own fault and his parents. Who else could be responsible for his lack of interest in studying in high school? What a ridiculous statement by the author that the NCAA is responsible for young people not studying in high school. Worthless article.
1
Just generally by NYTimes standards, this was such a poorly written article. It lacked focus; had a jumbled timeline; really did not feel in-depth at all. Disappointing. Frankly "tragedy" is a bit of an overstatement. There is plenty of blame to go around but that's not the conclusion that I got from this article.
1
The Times reporter should write a sequel that correctly explains "the tragedy." The player's story could be called a tragedy but a large part of it was self-inflicted.
The real tragedy is the holy grail belief in inner city and poor suburban African-American communities across the U.S. that athletic talent in football and basketball matters. Education be damned. Don't need it. Worthless. Just keep playing hoops and football, get a Division I scholarship, and keep believing your uncle who keeps saying you'll be drafted in the NBA and NFL and make a fortune.
If Black Lives Matter, they ought to matter by having a moral conscience about so many black college athletes playing football and basketball who came to college with disgraceful grades and still have pathetic grades. Except no dares to say this or they'll be labeled a racist.
These "tragedies" in college sports DO NOT happen in the Olympic sports of diving, swimming, soccer, wrestling, rowing, gymnastics, fencing, and baseball. Those student-athletes attend classes, do well, study tough programs (not sports management and criminal justice) and graduate with degrees worth something. They are what the reporter called "the presence of many fine student-athletes." The tragedies like the one here happen in epidemic proportions in the two "revenue" sports - football and basketball.
The real tragedy is the holy grail belief in inner city and poor suburban African-American communities across the U.S. that athletic talent in football and basketball matters. Education be damned. Don't need it. Worthless. Just keep playing hoops and football, get a Division I scholarship, and keep believing your uncle who keeps saying you'll be drafted in the NBA and NFL and make a fortune.
If Black Lives Matter, they ought to matter by having a moral conscience about so many black college athletes playing football and basketball who came to college with disgraceful grades and still have pathetic grades. Except no dares to say this or they'll be labeled a racist.
These "tragedies" in college sports DO NOT happen in the Olympic sports of diving, swimming, soccer, wrestling, rowing, gymnastics, fencing, and baseball. Those student-athletes attend classes, do well, study tough programs (not sports management and criminal justice) and graduate with degrees worth something. They are what the reporter called "the presence of many fine student-athletes." The tragedies like the one here happen in epidemic proportions in the two "revenue" sports - football and basketball.
1
So long as colleges pay coaches $millions annually to turn their college sports into minor leagues for the NBA and NFL, these situations will never end.
The money that goes to everyone involved in the college programs is obscene and perverts the moral and academic integrity of what used to be called higher learning.
The money that goes to everyone involved in the college programs is obscene and perverts the moral and academic integrity of what used to be called higher learning.
The point is this young man did not belong in college. He didn't need or want to go. He wanted to play his obligatory year, play well during March Madness, and then get drafted. I'm not saying he couldn't be a good student, if he applied himself. It's a joke. Look at Porzingis or, for that matter, virtually every professional tennis, soccer or baseball player.....nobody says Messi should've attended the University of Michigan!
Let's allow 18 year olds make their own choices. They are adults. They can vote. They can serve in the military. Enough!
Let's allow 18 year olds make their own choices. They are adults. They can vote. They can serve in the military. Enough!
1
Does anyone actually believe that a university president controls the athletic department at institutions where major athletic dollars are involved?
The University of Chicago Maroons were a football power for 40 years but then its president Robert Maynard Hutchins figured out what football had become. Founding Big Ten member, University of Chicago, deemphasized football in the 1940s.
University of Chicago ranks in the top 10 nationally in academics today but has no football.
The University of Chicago Maroons were a football power for 40 years but then its president Robert Maynard Hutchins figured out what football had become. Founding Big Ten member, University of Chicago, deemphasized football in the 1940s.
University of Chicago ranks in the top 10 nationally in academics today but has no football.
1
There should always be an asterisk placed next to Larry Brown's name; even on his driver's license. Period.
As a high school student in Texas, Keith Frasier had been abandoned, betrayed, thrown away. He was not alone. If you are black teen in Texas, you have 1 chance in 10 of graduating from high school. The chance of being admitted to SMU, let's just say that in 2010, SMU had way fewer african american undergraduates than Cornell University did in 1969, when the number of african american undergraduates exploded to 250 from a mere 13 5 years earlier. But the problem does not stop there. SMU has had an astonishingly high drop out rate among its african american undergraduates. and has nothing to change that. The underprivileged will either find the "courage" to seek the support they need from a mostly all white faculty or fall away.
Larry Brown did what he could to give Michael Fraiser a shot, and for that Mr. Powell would shame Fraiser as a victim and Brown as a cheat. Please. All else aside, and we all know there is plenty, Fraiser benefited from a first class education in how to learn, how to see and think ahead of the play in an ever changing, highly complex environment. Facile minds make champions, not Xs and Os, players who see endless puzzles and find advantage. That is what Brown does. He takes gifted players and develops learner/performers, he helps players see the puzzles that the game presents and develop the facility to make choices to create advantage. Frasier left SMU much the better for his time there, and for having Brown in his life.
Larry Brown did what he could to give Michael Fraiser a shot, and for that Mr. Powell would shame Fraiser as a victim and Brown as a cheat. Please. All else aside, and we all know there is plenty, Fraiser benefited from a first class education in how to learn, how to see and think ahead of the play in an ever changing, highly complex environment. Facile minds make champions, not Xs and Os, players who see endless puzzles and find advantage. That is what Brown does. He takes gifted players and develops learner/performers, he helps players see the puzzles that the game presents and develop the facility to make choices to create advantage. Frasier left SMU much the better for his time there, and for having Brown in his life.
As a long term undergraduate, who did graduate from S.M.U., and with others started an "underground" newspaper with seed money voted from the student government, was offered a diploma with less than the required courses completed, to walk away and never return. Respectfully declined this generous offer. Later the S.M.U. football program was cancelled by the N.C.A.A. for being a repeated offender--a third strike, if you will. Bill Clements mindful of Texas and A. & M. and the University of Texas at Austin, noted "That everybody does it." Some one pointed out, "They didn't get caught."
The reality is this...the kid got very poor advice and was misled. He wasn't ready for a school like SMU, but the coach didn't care. Larry Brown was
just being his insanely selfish competitive self. He wasn't looking out for the kid.
He just wanted to make his team better, at any cost. The kid got POOR guidance... but it didn't have to be this way. Unfortunately, this scenario is all too typical. As a former a Division I coach, I've seen it all
just being his insanely selfish competitive self. He wasn't looking out for the kid.
He just wanted to make his team better, at any cost. The kid got POOR guidance... but it didn't have to be this way. Unfortunately, this scenario is all too typical. As a former a Division I coach, I've seen it all
Not sure what the point of this article is. Larry Brown actually cares about the kids and wants to help them. He has turned the program at SMU around and made it a great place to be. If what Frazier did was so bad why was he allowed to come back. He only left the team when he lost his starting position, not showing the team any loyalty even after they supported him.
2
I think the crime is that Larry Brown can float around making millions while handling these kids as if they're race horses. It's not about education or giving the less fortunate a helping hand. Its about wins and losses which translates into dollars in the pockets of schools and these couches. If the kid makes out it's a plus. Just like everything else in America money has corrupted the system.
1
Simple solution -- forget "college degrees." Just have minor league NBA teams the way baseball has minor league teams then these kid can come out of high school, get drafted by NBA teams, play in their minor league affiliate until they are ready for the big show and then have them brought up the NBA. The current system is a farce and the tragedy is that not only do the players not get an education but also they aren't earning a living while playing BB at a university that is just using them for a few seasons to win some games and make some money off of them particularly if they lead their team to college hoops playoffs.
4
Great article about the college business, er, game. Even though Keith Frazier had no business being in college, he shouldn't be faulted for pursuing the best chance for reward and security available. Larry Brown is a bogus "HOF" member and should really be removed from all such honors and affiliations. Yes, SMU deserves full penalty as well, since the article shows them to be fully complicit with the scheme. The answer isn't to pay college athletes but to direct those who fail academically to try their luck in the professional system available for their sport or legal interest.
1
This is not a tragedy. This unintelligent, unmotivated, academically lazy athlete took a place in class that should have gone to another serious student. The real tragedy is that college athletics have harmed higher education for decades now, and there is no end in sight.
College should be for athletes who commit to four years and getting a degree. Right now it is a free training camp for future millionaires in the NBA and NFL who enjoy other students' tuition and interest to get a free ride to millions--often after only one year for basketball players. Thanks to others' money, these guys enjoy a free ride.
Hall of SHAME Kentucky basketball coach Calipari (busy violating rules at both Memphis and Umass is his previous tours) has perfected the one-and-done so he can ride 18 and 19 year old's backs to the NCAA each year. And the disease has spread to almost every campus.
NCAA needs to completely re-visit what the purpose of college sports is. But they won't since there is no much money as stake. Money>Integrity every time.
Robert Maynard Hutchins predicted that college sports and academics were a nearly impossible mix. And that was 80 years ago.
Hall of SHAME Kentucky basketball coach Calipari (busy violating rules at both Memphis and Umass is his previous tours) has perfected the one-and-done so he can ride 18 and 19 year old's backs to the NCAA each year. And the disease has spread to almost every campus.
NCAA needs to completely re-visit what the purpose of college sports is. But they won't since there is no much money as stake. Money>Integrity every time.
Robert Maynard Hutchins predicted that college sports and academics were a nearly impossible mix. And that was 80 years ago.
2
First, “tragedy” in the title seems reckless. Tragedy denotes permanent loss of hope, opportunity, limb, life. Thankfully, none of this happened to Keith Frazier. You write that Keith is healthy & at the University of North Texas. Tragedy is also hyperbolic in describing the flawed system of high school & college athletics.
My second comment is this: 2 of 3 seniors have played for Larry Brown for 4 years. All transferred to SMU with hope to play in the NCAA tournament. As we know, the NCAA sanctions banned post-season play, & worse, came too late for players to transfer--tragic indeed for seniors whose dreams were dashed. But the story didn’t end there. Nic Moore, Markus Kennedy, & Jordan Tolbert, did not give up, or wallow in self-pity. Instead they played on with amazing character. They played on to the longest winning streak in the NCAA. They played on to set a powerful example of beating adversity.
And, finally, you write that your article is well-researched, No doubt, but it is human nature to seek facts to support our premise. And particularly regarding Larry Brown, you present a ragged edged image torn from a much larger frame. A broader view of his work is more accurate. But as this article has only snapshots of the coach, let me offer this one. Before a sell out crowd on senior night, Markus Kennedy said this, “Coach Brown, I never had a man to look up to in my life until you.”
Perhaps next time you could tell the whole story of Larry Brown & SMU basketball
My second comment is this: 2 of 3 seniors have played for Larry Brown for 4 years. All transferred to SMU with hope to play in the NCAA tournament. As we know, the NCAA sanctions banned post-season play, & worse, came too late for players to transfer--tragic indeed for seniors whose dreams were dashed. But the story didn’t end there. Nic Moore, Markus Kennedy, & Jordan Tolbert, did not give up, or wallow in self-pity. Instead they played on with amazing character. They played on to the longest winning streak in the NCAA. They played on to set a powerful example of beating adversity.
And, finally, you write that your article is well-researched, No doubt, but it is human nature to seek facts to support our premise. And particularly regarding Larry Brown, you present a ragged edged image torn from a much larger frame. A broader view of his work is more accurate. But as this article has only snapshots of the coach, let me offer this one. Before a sell out crowd on senior night, Markus Kennedy said this, “Coach Brown, I never had a man to look up to in my life until you.”
Perhaps next time you could tell the whole story of Larry Brown & SMU basketball
2
As a former US college football grad assistant, high school head football coach for 23 years and high school Principal, I am appalled but not surprised. Ego and money at the college level in coaching parlance, leads to this end. However, at the high school, middle school level ego on the part of most coaches can be the driver that leads to stories like this. Unfortunately, parents, and adults who never really left puberty, continue to push for their teams to Win.
Now ego and the threat of being fired and losing their livelihood cause many coaches to cheat themselves but most importantly their students. A plea to parents......send your student to the school that has the best academic staff, forget about how good the team is, keep tabs on your student's grades constantly, don't be afraid to pull them from the team temporarily, or permanently regardless of their fears that this will punish them with the coach.
Allow the coach to coach without interfering, unless it is obvious something is physically or ethically amiss. Be supportive, but also act as responsible parents who want their children to get a great education first. Stop the Laary Browns of the world in all sports from getting their questionable tentacles into your child's education. Only you have that power as it seems that many of the adults that are entrusted with that responsibility have abdicated.
Now ego and the threat of being fired and losing their livelihood cause many coaches to cheat themselves but most importantly their students. A plea to parents......send your student to the school that has the best academic staff, forget about how good the team is, keep tabs on your student's grades constantly, don't be afraid to pull them from the team temporarily, or permanently regardless of their fears that this will punish them with the coach.
Allow the coach to coach without interfering, unless it is obvious something is physically or ethically amiss. Be supportive, but also act as responsible parents who want their children to get a great education first. Stop the Laary Browns of the world in all sports from getting their questionable tentacles into your child's education. Only you have that power as it seems that many of the adults that are entrusted with that responsibility have abdicated.
Jerry Tarkanian - Lloyd Daniels. Deja vu all over again.
It will never happen, but the best alternative would be a club system as in European countries, where participation goes from kids all the way up to the national team level. European universities do not have sports teams; they are institutions of education. Of course taxes, not alumni, fund European universities...
1
Critics of organized sport in 19th century culture, called this problem "a very old chesnut." It's a very tired and often repeated news story that has not changed since the 1950s. Since the 1860s colleges have sold out to the increasing professionalization of sport in colleges. Keith Frazier and Larry Brown's situation is not a tragedy, it's standard fare. We need a new story, not the same old circus where P.T. Barnum has taken over not only sports, but the political news cycle and business marketing in general.
Adam Silver, please read this article. The complete burden is not on the NBA however it should be the most vocal of all participants in this on going problem. There is a lot of blame to go around but blaming does not fix the problem. Unfortunately, in a capitalist society- money is the source of the problem and thus needs to be the cure to the problem. So I ask the NBA to step up your game and aggressively lead this critical conversation of how to:
1)strengthen poor families
2)strengthen Education
3)strengthen the Sport of Basketball.
I love basketball but I was saddened by the disparity of the situation that Mr Frazier and his mother are in. I wish the best for them. I don't blame them. I wish I could strengthen them but I feel helpless.
Adam- please take the lead in this!
1)strengthen poor families
2)strengthen Education
3)strengthen the Sport of Basketball.
I love basketball but I was saddened by the disparity of the situation that Mr Frazier and his mother are in. I wish the best for them. I don't blame them. I wish I could strengthen them but I feel helpless.
Adam- please take the lead in this!
It's the NBA responsibility for poor families, for education? I live in a mid sized city with numerous businesses employing far more than the entire NBA, is education their responsibility? Wouldn't these responsibilities fall more on the lap of the President than Adam Silver? Who voted for Adam Silver? What authority does he gave over education? Oh what a minute, that's right, he has none.
Oh my, just look at the Tar Heels disgrace as a perfect example, under a HOF coach.
Compare this - relatively - rapidly investigated situation to a conclusion to the wandering snail going on at UNC Chapel Hill.
All to protect one legend.
All to protect one legend.
This is where a MLB like minor league system could work. The kid is good at playing basketball. All he has to do is play basketball and get promoted on his merit. It doesn't solve the high school problem...but at least it gets him closer to succeeding in a career without the joke that college sports has become.
1
The major college sports are pretty much as corrupt as corrupt can be. Multi-million dollars contracts for coaches force them to abandon ethics and produce wins. They care little about their athletes' education. Colleges routinely jerk a player's scholarship if he becomes unable to play due to injury. Coaches recruit players who are not only academically ineligible, but who are convicted of felonies. The only question ever asked is: "Can he play?"
In recent years, all of this has been amply demonstrated at the University of Oregon, a school which has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on athletic facilities to attract top recruits, largely paid for by its one major donor, Phil Knight, the founder and head of Nike. Oregon is now among the top football colleges in the country, which of course will perpetuate its need to look the other way when finding talent for its program. Worst of all, its fans are willing to overlook almost anything in exchange for a winning program. "Just win, baby."
The notion of a student-athlete is as dead as a door nail. Too much money found its way into college athletics. The only solution is to just pay the kids and don't even bother with a college education (unless they want one). Just give them the school colors and let them play. Why should Nick Saban be paid $7 million a year while his players get, maybe, a secretly gifted new car?
In recent years, all of this has been amply demonstrated at the University of Oregon, a school which has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on athletic facilities to attract top recruits, largely paid for by its one major donor, Phil Knight, the founder and head of Nike. Oregon is now among the top football colleges in the country, which of course will perpetuate its need to look the other way when finding talent for its program. Worst of all, its fans are willing to overlook almost anything in exchange for a winning program. "Just win, baby."
The notion of a student-athlete is as dead as a door nail. Too much money found its way into college athletics. The only solution is to just pay the kids and don't even bother with a college education (unless they want one). Just give them the school colors and let them play. Why should Nick Saban be paid $7 million a year while his players get, maybe, a secretly gifted new car?
If a kid's mother exchanges his academic future for shoes, trinkets, and spending money then how is this the fault of the school? She's a poor parent.
It is the content of one's character (MLK) that counts and not the color or size of one's tattoos.
It is the content of one's character (MLK) that counts and not the color or size of one's tattoos.
There is an unavoidable conclusion to be reached by any objective examination of big time college sports; It is a mega money business that should be totally divorced from colleges and universities because of the persistent corrupting influence it exerts on what little integrity is left in those alleged institutions of higher education.
1
It all reminds me of "Hoop Dreams" a documentary aired on PBS a number of years ago. Ultimately one has to feel sorry for these kids. They are exploited and spat out with no meaningful difference in their lives except a few years of basketball and then what?
Why is this a tragedy? This kid got chance after chance after chance for a free education, but wasn't willing or able to do the work. The only tragedy is that he took a spot a more academically-qualified kid might have taken.
2
After reading this article I google Keith's name and find out that he was arrested after a bar disturbance on March 4th 2016 on an outstanding warrant. "Surprisingly" when the police checked on the warrant with the issuing department the warrant had already been paid and he was released. Hopefully he takes advantage of the education that is offered to him and he wll lead a productive life.
I wish this story could be about what amazing players and people SMU players like Nic Moore, Markus Kennedy, and Jordan Tolbert are. What a talented group of players.
Just one bad apple - and that's what this story is about. What a waste Keith Frazier was. He wasn't even good enough to start this year. Shake Milton, a true freshman, was so much better.
Just one bad apple - and that's what this story is about. What a waste Keith Frazier was. He wasn't even good enough to start this year. Shake Milton, a true freshman, was so much better.
2
"What a waste Keith Frazier was."
I think this was part of the problem. We demonize the players instead of prosecuting the coaches.
Larry Brown: this falls in your lap, squarely.
I think this was part of the problem. We demonize the players instead of prosecuting the coaches.
Larry Brown: this falls in your lap, squarely.
7
A waste at 18 years of age, because he couldn't help the school win more basketball games? That's the attitude right there that keeps this repulsive system going, exploiting young men and women for sports glory and all the money that comes with it, then tossing them out like garbage. The fault here lies in us and our worship of sports glory, not in these kids, SkipJones.
Big time college sports is a hideously corrupted farce that degrades the institutions that participate in it.
3
Nothing new about any of this.
NCAA teams in the three major American sports are actually farm clubs for professional sports. Colleges and universities rely on intercollegiate sports team competition to serve as an emotional bridge to alumni -- a conduit for fundraising. The corrupting influence of big money pervades that entire universe. For a handful of players it's a ticket to stardom and immense personal wealth; like Hollywood. No one, and no policing system, can stand up to such pervasive, all-encompassing temptation.
NCAA teams in the three major American sports are actually farm clubs for professional sports. Colleges and universities rely on intercollegiate sports team competition to serve as an emotional bridge to alumni -- a conduit for fundraising. The corrupting influence of big money pervades that entire universe. For a handful of players it's a ticket to stardom and immense personal wealth; like Hollywood. No one, and no policing system, can stand up to such pervasive, all-encompassing temptation.
The responsibility for this, and hundreds of similar cases annually, rests with university presidents. Unless and until they are willing to stand up to the boosters, fraudsters and tricksters who lurk at the fringes, and occupy the center, of college basketball, nothing is going to change.
1
Agreed. It seems that NU has not lost sight of this point. (I hope.)
It is time for the NBA and NFL to quit using "colleges" as their farm system. It a 18 year old want to play a sport for a living, he should be able to do it, if he is good enough. I'm pretty sure there is no degree requirement to play ball.
5
No degree required, but -4 years of semi-pro experience and physical growth are important. That's what they get at college.
Big yip. Be like me and don't watch. Not that interesting anyway. Brown builds great programs. These players are unpaid professionals. The NCAA is hogwash. The system is disreputable. Watch only Golden State Warriors games and relax.
1
I am shocked how un-shocked I am by this story. Everything I read perfectly fits the long-time narrative of corrupt big-time college sports. Winning and money, money and winning. That is ALL that matters.
3
I'm a former high school/college football and basketball official.I love both sports.This tragic story is only the tip of the iceberg.Although very rare,I have seen athletes who cannot even tell you their uniform numbers because they are that academically deficient.I have also seen football team captains who do not understand the basic options on a penalty which is either down or distance.These captains and now the referee look to the sideline for the coaches to make the decision.Yes,it is a big money environment.For clarity,my oldest daughter is an SMU grad.She received an outstanding education there.But for a University Provost to negate a do not accept decision is totally unethical and immoral.What's a solution?IMHO,pay the players,let everyone know they're not there for the diploma,and stop the charade the NCAA promulgates that they're student athletes there for an education.Sure there are some student athletes who receive a good education,but it's rare.SMU isn't the only highly regarded university doing this.If you want an eye opening experience,the NY Times should expose the admissions criteria for athletes at Army and Navy.
5
Wow. Army and Navy too? This is an ethical cesspool.
Southern METHODIST University - a fact which adds yet another dimension to the betrayal of institutional values which this incident exposes.
1
Yet another article in which a small amount of light shineth of the awfulness of revenue generating sports at the collegiate level.
Here's the deal:
It is absurd to believe that any top 20-30 basketball recruit in the country would chose a school that exists in a minor conference and has a terrible history of producing NBA draft picks. If you can play, and you choose SMU, the public can be assured that someone (Aunt, Uncle, AAU coach, sister, brother, mom, dad, 6th removed Uncle) is getting paid. You also don't go to any West Coast school if you're any good - it should be an immediate yellow flag to any college basketball follower.
It is absurd to believe that it's not a sellers market - there's only so much talent out there. If you're a good player - a player that can have an immediate impact on program - you will be given whatever you want. It's just a question of what you want and how clean the transaction can be.
In the case of SMU, they danced with the devil and they're now facing the consequences - however, I can assure you there will be those within the SMU community who will believe they still came out on top.
So, when you read a top 10 kid "takes his talent" to a certain school, know that talent comes at a price for all.
Here's the deal:
It is absurd to believe that any top 20-30 basketball recruit in the country would chose a school that exists in a minor conference and has a terrible history of producing NBA draft picks. If you can play, and you choose SMU, the public can be assured that someone (Aunt, Uncle, AAU coach, sister, brother, mom, dad, 6th removed Uncle) is getting paid. You also don't go to any West Coast school if you're any good - it should be an immediate yellow flag to any college basketball follower.
It is absurd to believe that it's not a sellers market - there's only so much talent out there. If you're a good player - a player that can have an immediate impact on program - you will be given whatever you want. It's just a question of what you want and how clean the transaction can be.
In the case of SMU, they danced with the devil and they're now facing the consequences - however, I can assure you there will be those within the SMU community who will believe they still came out on top.
So, when you read a top 10 kid "takes his talent" to a certain school, know that talent comes at a price for all.
2
Just another chapter in the irredeemability of bg time "revenue" college sports.
1
He was a dirt poor fatherless kid with no inclination to study and an unstable home where he received little direction. He was an immature kid with one great skill -- basketball -- a skill that could open doors for him. If the kid was a great artist or a great musician, would you feel the same way about passing him on. Do we suppress great talents, and make them jump through our hoops, when they don't want to learn their multiplication tables?
4
SMU had its football team dismantled back in the 80s. I was in Dallas at the time. The Cowboys were horrible, flailing in the last years of the Tom Landry regime. The Texas Rangers were equally bad. The Mavericks were decent, but never going to get past the Lakers. You actually had the TV sports guys trying to drum up excitement over the Dallas Sidekicks, an indoor soccer team! I'm sure there abuses of this type going on all over the country, but it's no surprise that something like this is happening in Dallas.
2
The colleges should pay these kids. Some of the coaches, like Larry Brown make millions yearly while many of their athletes have families living below the poverty line. And please don't tell me about the "scholarships" these kids receive which require them to travel nationwide, miss class and practice night and day. A $50k "scholarship" package doesn't equal the value and revenue these kids generate for their schools.
3
Paying the kids would eventually lead to them being classed as employees at will, subject to hiring and firing by the coach, and based on on-court performance. There would be very little latitude given to athletes who are struggling academically and need remedial work....which is common among inner city kids. If you divorce the athletics from the nominal purposes of the institution you have simply created a parallel version of the AAU system, while monetizing the institution's brand.
No good solutions...not even any less harmful ones, short of dropping out of the top-25 hunt altogether.
No good solutions...not even any less harmful ones, short of dropping out of the top-25 hunt altogether.
I have to be honest, it's only because of their sports that I know of SMU. I always assumed they were an academically middle-of-the road school. I bet I'm not alone. Don't parents of legitimate students -- who are shelling out tens of thousands a year -- have to ask themselves if an emphasis of sports over academics is worth it?
3
Why does the reporter assume that there's something tragic about young Mr. Frazier not getting much of an education? Is there any evidence that he would benefit from the academic life? Even if Mr. Frazier is an intellectual diamond in the rough, we have to realize that there because there's not much positive correlation between basketball talent and IQ there exist a whole lot of young men who are much, much better basketball players than they are scholars. Should they be denied the opportunity to do what they are best at in life just because they lost the genetic lottery for brains?
3
Where are the studies correlating athletic skill and lower IQs? Low grades do not equal low IQs. Achieving good grades depends on many factors other than IQ, primarily self-motivation, which is difficult to pull out of thin air when all of the positive feedback you receive from a very young age is athletic-performance based.
And eugenics, really? There are fewer "intellectual diamonds" to be found among the children of the poorest people because of... DNA?
In a University of Michigan study of those born in the early 1980s, 80 percent of the richest 25 percent of students enrolled in college by age 19 and 68 percent of those graduated by age 25. Among the poorest 25 percent of students, only 29 percent enrolled in college by age 19; only 32 percent of those students graduated by age 25. Some 54 percent of students from wealthy families obtained bachelor’s degrees, but only 9 percent of low-income students got college diplomas.
Maybe a whole lot of young men are much better basketball players than they are scholars because of a positive correlation between the enormous amount of money made by academic institutions for how well their student athletes play and the complete lack of money made by academic institutions for how well their student athletes study. Asking a teenager to bootstrap the difference after conditioning him to base his self-worth entirely on his athletic skill is unfair and unrealistic.
And eugenics, really? There are fewer "intellectual diamonds" to be found among the children of the poorest people because of... DNA?
In a University of Michigan study of those born in the early 1980s, 80 percent of the richest 25 percent of students enrolled in college by age 19 and 68 percent of those graduated by age 25. Among the poorest 25 percent of students, only 29 percent enrolled in college by age 19; only 32 percent of those students graduated by age 25. Some 54 percent of students from wealthy families obtained bachelor’s degrees, but only 9 percent of low-income students got college diplomas.
Maybe a whole lot of young men are much better basketball players than they are scholars because of a positive correlation between the enormous amount of money made by academic institutions for how well their student athletes play and the complete lack of money made by academic institutions for how well their student athletes study. Asking a teenager to bootstrap the difference after conditioning him to base his self-worth entirely on his athletic skill is unfair and unrealistic.
4
Are you serious? In what universe and shown by what data is there a negative correlation betwen intellect and athletic gifts? How do we even know what many of these kids can achieve academically if they do not even try and are never made to do so?
"They lost the genetic lottery for brains..." Is one of the more unsupported and stereotyped statements in this series of comments. Throw in a bit of racism, too. Yes, if he wants to play ball more than pursuing a PhD, that's fine. But at least encourage, even force, him to acquire decent academic skills so that after the athletic accolades fade he can become the teacher, counselor, lawyer, cop, firefighter that requires nurturing his brain, not believing what you say about his unidimensional self.
"They lost the genetic lottery for brains..." Is one of the more unsupported and stereotyped statements in this series of comments. Throw in a bit of racism, too. Yes, if he wants to play ball more than pursuing a PhD, that's fine. But at least encourage, even force, him to acquire decent academic skills so that after the athletic accolades fade he can become the teacher, counselor, lawyer, cop, firefighter that requires nurturing his brain, not believing what you say about his unidimensional self.
1
Assume there is zero correlation between intelligence and athleticism. Then half of the best basketball players are below average in intelligence. Can people below average in intelligence benefit greatly from a university education? Perhaps, but it's harder when they have to focus on practicing for Div. I sports many hours per week. Should excellent basketball players be blocked from competing at a high level just because they were born below average in intelligence. It doesn't seem fair to me.
Other countries don't link big time sports and college. It's a historical fluke that America does. It's time we divorced the two.
Other countries don't link big time sports and college. It's a historical fluke that America does. It's time we divorced the two.
For every athletic program there should be 45 minutes of study before practice begins.
2
So corruption that aids the athlete somehow makes him a victim. The real victims are those programs that actually follow the rules and take their results. Not only the coach should be punished but the school as well and much harsher than appears here.
2
Agreed. This not the first time SMU has found itself in this situation.
We have to stop to the stupid facade of student-athlete. These young men are working for the University and should be compensated appropriately. If part of that compensation is a free or reduced cost education fine, but if a young man decides he wants to focus on just basketball for a time and not go to class that is fine too. It is not morally wrong to not be interested in classes at a certain time in your life. We should try to foster educated and informed citizens, but that doesn't necessarily have to come through university classes.
This young man should not be shamed for defying stupid NCAA rules and should be fairly compensated for the risk and work he undertook for the university.
This young man should not be shamed for defying stupid NCAA rules and should be fairly compensated for the risk and work he undertook for the university.
4
Money, it is all about the money. Advertising, TV contracts for championships, and don't forget sports betting.
2
The only way to stop this, or at least limit it, is to ban coaches from coaching sanctioned college games.
Does anyone think that Brown, or Calipari, or others, care much about current sanctions when they are paid millions of dollars a year and receive many thousands of dollars more in free meals, travel, swag and other gifts? Would you?
Does anyone think that Brown, or Calipari, or others, care much about current sanctions when they are paid millions of dollars a year and receive many thousands of dollars more in free meals, travel, swag and other gifts? Would you?
1
I think you mean they should lose the amount of their salary equal to the proportion of games in a season that they are banned. An interesting idea, not least because you would suddenly see much more interest from some big time coaches in due process in NCAA disciplinary proceedings.
Many years ago, the early 1960s, my wife and I attended a central PA high school in the suburbs. It had an outstanding wrestling team. The school also had exacting academic standards. More than 90% of the graduates of that high school went on to college. But, sports being what it was back then, gave academic slack to athletically talented students.
What both my wife and I remember is the wrestling coach, who taught a civics class, would sing the answers to tests in the form of very thinly veiled hints to the right answers. Students had to be total zombies to fail. Even with that kind of bold-faced assistance some of the athletes for football, wrestling and basketball found themselves with marginal academic records. But they made the grade to be allowed to play the sport. They were also socially promoted. They didn't learn anything in high school and most of those academic failures failed in life as well. One not so sterling student, but a great hunk on the football field, found himself working at Arby's Roast Beef, slicing meat for sandwiches. Of course he never made it to pro football. He was lucky to make it to the meat slicer.
The coach and the other teachers failed this young man. He also failed to help himself. He never made a decent living and he wound up living in poverty and misery.
I believe that if a student is capable on the field or the court they are also intelligent enough to learn other skills and perform academically. Academic success is achievable.
What both my wife and I remember is the wrestling coach, who taught a civics class, would sing the answers to tests in the form of very thinly veiled hints to the right answers. Students had to be total zombies to fail. Even with that kind of bold-faced assistance some of the athletes for football, wrestling and basketball found themselves with marginal academic records. But they made the grade to be allowed to play the sport. They were also socially promoted. They didn't learn anything in high school and most of those academic failures failed in life as well. One not so sterling student, but a great hunk on the football field, found himself working at Arby's Roast Beef, slicing meat for sandwiches. Of course he never made it to pro football. He was lucky to make it to the meat slicer.
The coach and the other teachers failed this young man. He also failed to help himself. He never made a decent living and he wound up living in poverty and misery.
I believe that if a student is capable on the field or the court they are also intelligent enough to learn other skills and perform academically. Academic success is achievable.
4
There are a lot of irresponsible people who should be held accountable. Not the least irresponsible is the student himself. Why wasn't he attending class and why wasn't he studying? It was ultimately his failure and his own irresponsible and immature behavior and bad habits. No can cure that except the student and they must display a willingness to do so. Granted someone in high school and someone at home should have read him the riot act. But, it was his responsibility to go to class and make an effort.
I don't feel sorry for this kid, his mom, the high school or anyone else involved in this fraud. This was not destined to happen.
I don't feel sorry for this kid, his mom, the high school or anyone else involved in this fraud. This was not destined to happen.
5
So a 13-year-old with no support for it should figure out for himself that what he is getting rewarded for by adults - playing basketball really well - needs to be balanced with working at the academic subjects he is already behind in. Sadly, very unlikely.
1
Don't look closely at any major college sport, especially football - the stench will overwhelm you. The only thing atypical about Keith Frazier's experience is that he hasn't experienced a career-ending injury. For every player who goes on to find riches in the pros, thousands don't. The lucky ones complete their educations. The rest have memories of what might have been.
2
Great piece. Only wish it might make a difference.
Not. A. Chance.
Not. A. Chance.
6
Close:
NCAA - No Chance At All
NCAA - No Chance At All
2
Yes, the coaches and schools involved are sleazy--but why do the parents and the players themselves get a free ride? It is patronizing and perhaps racist to assume these players have no idea that they have to attend class and that taking genuine classes will help them down the road.
2
How would that idea occur to them?
This whole 'big college sports' problem where athletes in the so-called big sports get away with crimes and academic fraud and their coaches to too is truly a systemic problem. Blame the Winstons, Vicks and illiterate players and the overpaid coaches all you want, but, by the time a player or coach gets to the NCAA show they have been fully socialized to understand that nothing matters but winning and court success. All throughout junior high and high school all the signals say play well and win and ALL will be taken care of. By the time the kid (or coach) gets to the big bad NCAA show the fully expect the same treatment and why not--they have been taught well their home communities that they can cheat or even be criminals...so long as they win. It all starts in junior high the-- next Larry Brown, Jameis Winston and Illiterate Joe are all being prepped for the NCAA. Brown is as much a system problem as a personal problem. We need a new system.
2
No we just need to use the system that exists.
Thank you for this article. It just goes on and on and on. And it's unconscionable.
Any comment from Michael M. Boone, Chair of the Board of Trustees? Former First Lady Laura Bush? Any of the 5 Pastors on the Board? Or have they turned a blind eye?
5
Do you think Laura Bush vets every basketball recruit? Be real.
1
Things would have gone better for him if he'd had more tattoos.
1
We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the athletic-industrial complex.
2
Sports of all kinds throughout the country are now corrupt, in collusion with athletic clothing and gear companies, coaches, administrators, parents, kids, and on and on. It's disgusting, but nothing will change.
1
It pains me to say that I cannot even watch college basketball any more. I stopped going to NBA games about 20 years ago. The stink of money and corruption was too much to tolerate. I was still attending womens college games for a while because they were closer to the game I enjoyed for decades: more passing, more thinking, more teamwork. But that, too, disappeared into a star system that valued individual play above that of the team. Like just about all professional sports, college basketball has been ruined by money.
2
You live in an alternative reality. How about trying some other sport, like say softball which is paid for by football. Try the University of Florida for quality programs, funded by themselves, and standards you might not fine elsewhere. No stench there.
The notion that Div 1 football pays for non-revenue sports is very doubtful, and is de-bunked entirely in critical studies. Football pays for itself, and that may be OK.
Much of the blame falls on the family of the kid. Parents, siblings, etc. dream of the kid getting a multi-million contract, and they get to share the riches. In the documentary Hoop Dreams, the HS guidance counselor tells the student he must study and get better grades. After the counselor leaves, the kid looks in the camera and says basketball is more important. His family concurred. He did not make the NBA. (Note: the film was shown at the White House with the kids and President Clinton called them "heroes." Don't know why).
2
No worries, Coach Brown. If everything goes south on the Hilltop, I'm sure Trump University will be hiring an athletic director any day now.
6
I appreciate this young man's plight, and I do agree that the educational system has failed him at every step of the way, starting with grade school. But I would suggest that calling it a tragedy is a bit overblown. With his talents, he can still play in China or Europe and eventually, perhaps, in the NBA. The real tragedies don't make it into these pages--the many young people, many of them African-American, who receive a substandard education, just as their parents and their parents before them did, and are then left to fend for themselves in a world that doesn't support them in finding meaningful work.
4
Please...yes, the educational system is at fault if it was complicit in his academic failure. But his mom, his academically bottom-feeding school and Frazier himself bear some responsibility. He didn't know he should go to school? Study? A,student of any race knows that. A parent of any race knows that. My parents did not go to college. My grandparents had no high school diploma. My father was no academic star. But my grands and parents knew I was supposed to go to school and would have punished me if I cut. My father may not have been able to help with homework but he knew I should do it and made sure I did.
Frazier's mom is not so naive not to know he should have been going to school. She lied about her rent to put sports above academics. I have great empathy for kids who grow up in an environment that does not value academics. They have it harder than affluent kids. But they know right and wrong regarding school. They have teachers willing to put in extra hours to help them succeed.
My kid was no academic star, either. He went to school in the worst-performing school system in the state. But he had math and science teachers who tutored before and after school. I forced him to go. I encouraged the best preparation for any life endeavor: READ, READ, READ Public libraries are free. Couldn't Frazier's mom and he, himself, have used them? Lots of complicity here. Blaming only racism is itself racism that sells kids short without forcing them to try.
Frazier's mom is not so naive not to know he should have been going to school. She lied about her rent to put sports above academics. I have great empathy for kids who grow up in an environment that does not value academics. They have it harder than affluent kids. But they know right and wrong regarding school. They have teachers willing to put in extra hours to help them succeed.
My kid was no academic star, either. He went to school in the worst-performing school system in the state. But he had math and science teachers who tutored before and after school. I forced him to go. I encouraged the best preparation for any life endeavor: READ, READ, READ Public libraries are free. Couldn't Frazier's mom and he, himself, have used them? Lots of complicity here. Blaming only racism is itself racism that sells kids short without forcing them to try.
What is Brown's salary and how does it compare with those of the faculty who did not believe that SMU should admit Frazier? And what does this tell everyone about what really matters at this and most other Division I American universities? Until we can build an educational system that is about education, and which certainly should include sports, but as part of fun and good health, we are not really educating anyone. The fact that alumni demand these kinds of sports empires testifies to the quality (or not) of what they have learned at these schools.
Nor is it fair to kids who play well, and should get the training to continue to play well, but outside of the university. Then they could get properly paid and not corrupt anyone. Many would still not make it, and many would spend the money they do make too quickly, but no one would pretend that this was about education. It is not!
Nor is it fair to kids who play well, and should get the training to continue to play well, but outside of the university. Then they could get properly paid and not corrupt anyone. Many would still not make it, and many would spend the money they do make too quickly, but no one would pretend that this was about education. It is not!
Well Gee coaches get money for things that professors don't do. They have TV shows, Radio Shows, make appearances, and have endorsement contracts. If your professors have value outside the classroom they could get additional pay as well. In addition professors don't run around recruiting students or answering questions from the media either.
But, yes it is about education. Why shouldn't these kids--whether they initially finish college or not--be required to have the most basic of academic skills? Go straight from high school to some kind of minor league, like baseball has, but know how to read well, write, do math and understand the scientific method and your society's history. Is that too much to demand?
We do not know Frazier's true academic capabilities because no one forced him to develop them. Even his mother seemed satisfied with the status quo. His story reminds me of the many stories in urban America. Kids will never get anywhere until they at least GO TO SCHOOL. And who else is better able to enforce that dictum than the kid's parents, relatives and clergy. The NCAA and its feeder schools have a lot to answer for but the kids, parents and school staff themselves know that what they are doing is wrong. Blame everyone involved not just the coaches.
We do not know Frazier's true academic capabilities because no one forced him to develop them. Even his mother seemed satisfied with the status quo. His story reminds me of the many stories in urban America. Kids will never get anywhere until they at least GO TO SCHOOL. And who else is better able to enforce that dictum than the kid's parents, relatives and clergy. The NCAA and its feeder schools have a lot to answer for but the kids, parents and school staff themselves know that what they are doing is wrong. Blame everyone involved not just the coaches.
I think colleges should commit to their athletes, by promising them educations and degrees during or after their college sports careers. They should be made to put their money, and their tutoring programs, where their mouths are.
Who actually believes Larry Brown is trying to help this kid? Help the kid by making him go to class. Help the kid by sitting him until he can handle the academics. Help the kid by forcing him to spend 2 years at a junior college so he can learn the study habits he needs to have to succeed at SMU.
Don't help him by forcing high school teachers and coaches and the like to give him better grades so he can get to SMU. He doesn't below at SMU, a very strong academic institution. He belongs at Montclair or at Nacogdouches.
Don't help him by forcing high school teachers and coaches and the like to give him better grades so he can get to SMU. He doesn't below at SMU, a very strong academic institution. He belongs at Montclair or at Nacogdouches.
1
He wants to play basketball. Why doesn't the NBA have to establish minor leagues, much like baseball has? And not just the D-league. Because they delegate that to the colleges. But the ones who shoulder the blame are the college presidents.
smu has a track record for cheating. The only school to receive the "death penalty" in football.
1
Every college has a track record for cheating. The Louisville and University of North Carolina scandals are much worse.
1
Winning for the sake of winning $$$ only brings out the worst in human beings.
When you hold a lottery ticket, you fantasize a lot. But when it doesn't win you just throw it away.
1
Geez seriously.
This is focusing on the pimp instead of the mother who sold her child to him. Ditto and likewise for the "terrible" story linked to within this one.
This is the American version of human trafficking, and as in almost all such cases worldwide, it is the family which has commodified its offspring. Willing buyers are never hard to find.
I'll pause to note that the Asian families we extol for their focus on education for their children are often another side of the same coin; the difference is that their children have a chance at entering into secure careers that can reward them for a lifetime. But the parents and extended families expect those successful children to support and enrich them.
High school and college athletics dept. travesties could not occur without parents dreaming of the big house and fancy car bought by their children's brief span of glory.
Larry Brown may be a disgrace. But he's just a consumer. Stop the sellers first.
This is focusing on the pimp instead of the mother who sold her child to him. Ditto and likewise for the "terrible" story linked to within this one.
This is the American version of human trafficking, and as in almost all such cases worldwide, it is the family which has commodified its offspring. Willing buyers are never hard to find.
I'll pause to note that the Asian families we extol for their focus on education for their children are often another side of the same coin; the difference is that their children have a chance at entering into secure careers that can reward them for a lifetime. But the parents and extended families expect those successful children to support and enrich them.
High school and college athletics dept. travesties could not occur without parents dreaming of the big house and fancy car bought by their children's brief span of glory.
Larry Brown may be a disgrace. But he's just a consumer. Stop the sellers first.
5
Colleges and Universities should be permitted to establish a less rigorous two year track (with two year eligibility for athletics) that does not lead to a degree. If an athlete enters this program, perhaps some credits could transfer if s/he decides later to enter a degree program.
Unfortunately, I am not the least bit surprised by this story. After all, this is Dallas and this is SMU. I grew up a few blocks from SMU and remember their football scandal and "Slush Funds"for their players from the late 70's to mid 80's which resulted in that program being suspended for about 20 months in 1987/8.
SMU is a very preppy school where Greek life dominates and fashion prevails.
Unfortunately, this story is not too unusual for Dallas High School sports and SMU. Indeed, it is their culture.
SMU is a very preppy school where Greek life dominates and fashion prevails.
Unfortunately, this story is not too unusual for Dallas High School sports and SMU. Indeed, it is their culture.
6
Everyone should re-watch the movie "Hoop Dreams". I kept thinking: those poor kids..they are used up and spit out by this system.
2
The reality is that this (and many) is not a kid who wants to go to school to study. he wants a chance to make it to the NBA or some other US semi-professional or international professional basketball team. It just so happens that our educational institutions are now the training grounds and farm teams for big money professional sports that you end up getting kids like this in school. The hypocrisy is with the NCAA and all of the Universities that participates in this racket. It would be more fair if you let a kid like this devote his full time to pursue his training and education in the sport of basketball, and give him an option to remain (if he wants to stay) at the university for academic study even if his basketball dream doesn't pan out.
3
It would be best not to allow them into college unless they want to be educated.
The truly sad part is that Keith Frazier has no role models, no mentors to help guide him to adulthood - everyone around him has displayed a pathetic willingness to lie and cheat, which is bad enough, but they lie and cheat not even on his behalf, but so they can exploit him.
I hope a caring, competent adult will help him so he can have a normal life, hopefully with basketball involved.
I hope a caring, competent adult will help him so he can have a normal life, hopefully with basketball involved.
4
People like former mayor Rudy Giuliani get mad when people like Beyonce talk about race at public sporting events. But there is no greater symbol of modern day slavery than college athletics. The schools, sponsors, and sports teams take what they want from these athletes, and position them for failure. The under educated athletes think that have hit the jackpot, but really they and their children remain in a detrimental cycle.
People talk about the average scores of black students at Universities as a way to get rid of affirmative action. When the reality is that when athletes like Frazier's grades are added into the pool, and there are only a handful of black students on campus how could the average not be worse. These athletes don't deserve to be there in the first place.
All college athletes should have mentors, to help them navigate their academics, and athletics and their post-college career goals. They bring Universities a lot of money, and their universities should repay them.
People talk about the average scores of black students at Universities as a way to get rid of affirmative action. When the reality is that when athletes like Frazier's grades are added into the pool, and there are only a handful of black students on campus how could the average not be worse. These athletes don't deserve to be there in the first place.
All college athletes should have mentors, to help them navigate their academics, and athletics and their post-college career goals. They bring Universities a lot of money, and their universities should repay them.
1
Somehow slaves are well treated today? Nobody has to attend college nor be on an athletic team. Nobody is a slave they are free. It is insulting to those that were slaves to make this comparision.
"These athletes don't deserve to be there in the first place." But they should have mentors to get them through. Which is it? Actually they do deserve to be there. But they should be encouraged, forced if necessary, to perform academically well before college. Yes, colleges capitalize on athletes but that capitalizing goes back way before college and includes way more than just coaches. How many potential doctors, lawyers, teachers,cops end up on the trash heap because no one demanded they study and they did not demand that of themselves? Who knows what Frazier can accomplish? And I don't just mean hoops, here. And, you know what, it is not too late. It will take a lot of work but he may not only be a great ball player but a potential teacher of other ball players, too.
2
Let's move to the European model, professional teams can recruit players at age 12 and fund teams - no college athletic scholarships - graduation rates among Basketball and Football students of color are abysmal ... the kids are discardable widgets ... either move to the athletics side by being recruited by a club team or meet college academic requirements. BTW, will football survive the current brain injury data?
4
You are welcome to support such a system, go for it.
The US stands for equality and justice for all except for the college athletes. College sports is an extension of the antebellum plantation under the disguise of college scholarship. It is a disgusting system where everyone - the sports channel, the university, the big name college coach, the TV analysts, etc. are making money at the expense of athletes. Many former athletes have file the law suits to no avail because even the court is on the side of this degenerated system under the influence of money.
2
The players don't have to do this. No one is forcing them to play.
I'd guess your life's alternatives are/were different from these kids'. After growing up surrounded by adults whose economic self interest has them convince you that you are/will be an elite athlete, I doubt you could conceive of turning your back on what is presented as an easy path out of poverty. It's not like these colleges will let them stay and get their degree for free if they suddenly realize no one is forcing them to play.
2
INDENTURED
The Inside Story of the Rebellion Against the NCAA
By Joe Nocera and Ben Strauss
This should be required reading for all college athletes (as long as they can read, and if not a tutor can read it to them.)
The Inside Story of the Rebellion Against the NCAA
By Joe Nocera and Ben Strauss
This should be required reading for all college athletes (as long as they can read, and if not a tutor can read it to them.)
2
Coach Boehiem at Syracuse, similar story.
I think the real villains here are at the lower grade levels. By the time many of these students get to college level, the die has been cast academically speaking. How awful to sell out a young person's education! A mind IS a terrible thing to waste, and so many of those undereducated kids will just wind up with nothing at the end of the basketball line. Criminal really.
18
SMU is notorious for cheating! Their football program finally received the death penalty after too many infractions, a few years ago. They'll keep Larry Brown, a notorious scofflaw, until the basketball program gets hit with the death penalty. The NCAA really needs to make the penalties for cheating harsher and those penalties need to follow all members of the coaching staff to whatever program they go to after being fired!
I love college sports. I played volleyball whilst in college (my grades were never suspect, nor were any of my teammates. As a team we had a better than 3.0 GPA). It's getting difficult for me to justify following college sports because of problems like these. I really admired the University of Wisconsin men's basketball team during the postseason last year as they discussed, at length, their study and tutorial sessions while on the road. I wish more programs would bring this same focus to athletic programs. I'm more likely to support a team with high academic standards like Wisconsin or Northwestern than I am a team that has no such standards...not that anybody cares!
I love college sports. I played volleyball whilst in college (my grades were never suspect, nor were any of my teammates. As a team we had a better than 3.0 GPA). It's getting difficult for me to justify following college sports because of problems like these. I really admired the University of Wisconsin men's basketball team during the postseason last year as they discussed, at length, their study and tutorial sessions while on the road. I wish more programs would bring this same focus to athletic programs. I'm more likely to support a team with high academic standards like Wisconsin or Northwestern than I am a team that has no such standards...not that anybody cares!
1
Unsurprising that history repeats. Hopefully Keith will, if he hasn't already, "make lemonade" from this "lemon" history. It is unfortunate that the article focuses on blaming SMU and its coaches. I'ld never propose them for sainthood, but responsible for actions by others outside their purview is ridiculous:1) NCAA rules about contact with player outside specific periods [implying SMU could more than check is - based on my limited understanding of "recruiting" limitations - simply preposterous]; 2) I dare any university to function as meritocracy; and 3) although not addressed is to be understood that Keith is better served at North Texas?
Sadly, the root source of Keith's problems originates in the home: “This is a cut throat business, I’m just saying.” his mother purportedly said. That others took advantage of this de minimis grounding in personal responsibility is not surprising. One might say this is too harsh, but facts are that grown ups did take advantage of him before he ever arrived at SMU. [One can debate ad infinitum whether this was done in Keith's best interest or not.] When - at least according to article - Brown held him accountable [rather than being coddled], he ran out; and ultimately left the program to reunite with the AAU coach likely culpable for his predicament.
Perhaps someone - say Keith's former or current coach - will enlighten Keith to the plight and success of Jason Williams [Duke]. It is really up to him as to what path he chooses.
Sadly, the root source of Keith's problems originates in the home: “This is a cut throat business, I’m just saying.” his mother purportedly said. That others took advantage of this de minimis grounding in personal responsibility is not surprising. One might say this is too harsh, but facts are that grown ups did take advantage of him before he ever arrived at SMU. [One can debate ad infinitum whether this was done in Keith's best interest or not.] When - at least according to article - Brown held him accountable [rather than being coddled], he ran out; and ultimately left the program to reunite with the AAU coach likely culpable for his predicament.
Perhaps someone - say Keith's former or current coach - will enlighten Keith to the plight and success of Jason Williams [Duke]. It is really up to him as to what path he chooses.
1
There's a special place somewhere for the likes of recidivist child abusers like Brown & Pitino whose trail of winning and championships is littered with the emptied out frames of the young men deemed expendable along the way. For shame.
1
Why do kids this talented mess around with college in the first place? They should be able to go straight to the NBA. They're not interested in college. They want professional hoops. Come on! This is their talent, their vocation.
26
Very few are talented enough to make the jump from high school to the pros. Before the ridiculous "one and done" ruling, there were far more failures than successes. Asking an 18 or 19 year old to compete against the likes of Chris Paul, Tim Duncan, LeBron James, etc. isn't realistic for most. If they can't start, they're riding the bench competing for playing time against seasoned veterans. NBA teams have zero interest in coaching and paying these players for years while they learn the nuances of playing at the highest levels. The recent track record of many "one and done" players recently is far from stellar, and for the first time in years we're seeing many players opt to stay in school, get real playing time, and advance their game. Some of the top players this year- Denzel Valentine, Buddy Hield, Caris Levert (a complicated story) choose to stay in school. Many of Coach Calipari's recently touted one and done recruits are in danger of disappearing into the anonymous leagues overseas.
Your solution would work for a small fraction of the most talented, the rest would be harmed even more than the current farcical system. I guarantee you the NBA has zero interest in serving as a farm system for the young players, and many coaches would prefer that more players stay in college longer and develop more complete skill sets and fundamentals.
Your solution would work for a small fraction of the most talented, the rest would be harmed even more than the current farcical system. I guarantee you the NBA has zero interest in serving as a farm system for the young players, and many coaches would prefer that more players stay in college longer and develop more complete skill sets and fundamentals.
2
Talk to their union and of course they are generally not mature enough for the NBA at 18 or earlier as perhaps they don't need high school either.
Probably someone else has answered this, but of course the NBA won't allow the drafting of someone the age of a college freshman. More of them are going overseas to play - like Emmanuel Mudiay who is cited near the beginning of the article - but turning down playing at a school like SMU to go overseas would be a very hard choice for someone who is obviously not very sophisticated in the first place.
1
With the exception of Anita Connally, was anyone hurt by this?
Brown: not hurt
Frazier: not hurt, compared to his other life options
SMU : not hurt
Various Dallas public school coaches and assistants: hurt, but entirely self-inflicted.
Ms Connally: Punished for doing her job, probably.
Brown: not hurt
Frazier: not hurt, compared to his other life options
SMU : not hurt
Various Dallas public school coaches and assistants: hurt, but entirely self-inflicted.
Ms Connally: Punished for doing her job, probably.
4
Frazier: hurt, compared to his potential
Frazier has the primary responsibility, his family and protectors are next-------------he is hardly the victim. Brown remains only one of the crowd cheating Frazier, among others, yet it all begins with Mr. Frazier
2
The professional sports combines have corrupted not only college, but high school and community sports as well. Once it was privilege to play on a sports team and required Bs or better and impeccable leadership qualities. Now it is a commodity, a right and the money and entertainment factors have corrupted not only the sports, but the institutions that insist on using them to entertain alums and recruit students. Stop watching collegiate sport. I have. It sickened me too much to listen to the hyperbole from announcers and college presidents who know that people who are supposed to be in the business of improve youth, are, in fact, exploiting them. A pox on all their houses and especially the arrested adolescent sportswriters who blindly continue the myth of sports as character building from elementary school on up in America these days.
2
Never, since I have been watching collegiate sports in the early 70s, has it been a requirement that students have a B average in order to play.
High level college division 1 basketball is a full-time job that includes practices, travel and games. Add to that being a full-time student and being a celebrity on campus. You are working the equivalent of more than two full-time jobs under tremendous scrutiny. Very few go on to lucrative professional careers. Who would want this? The tragedy is that folks like Larry Brown make the millions off these kids' backs, when most don't get the opportunity at a decent education.
2
Surprised? Larry Brown has been a great coach with tremendous basketball acumen for many years. He's also been a mercenary and a hustler, here, there and everywhere. After being not quite good enough for the NBA, he plied his trade for the Akron Goodyear Wingfoots, and they did not have him back on the shop floor making snow tires.
He's one of the best coaches in the country living today. If he were the coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, I have no doubt that team would be close to the equal of Golden State.
Coach Brown has had serious health problems. Perhaps he thought going to a mid-major college basketball program with fewer games and less travel would be less hard on his system. However, the reasoning of Brown and SMU had a major flaw. At the college level in the constellation of duties there is recruiting as well as the maintenance of academic standards for every player.
Given the football scandal in SMU's not-so-distant past, the hiring of Brown by the SMU athletic department is recklessly negligent and mind-blowing.
SMU contracted a hall of fame basketball coach and a guy who has lived his life patently as a hustler. Okay, you got the benefit of your bargain.
He's one of the best coaches in the country living today. If he were the coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, I have no doubt that team would be close to the equal of Golden State.
Coach Brown has had serious health problems. Perhaps he thought going to a mid-major college basketball program with fewer games and less travel would be less hard on his system. However, the reasoning of Brown and SMU had a major flaw. At the college level in the constellation of duties there is recruiting as well as the maintenance of academic standards for every player.
Given the football scandal in SMU's not-so-distant past, the hiring of Brown by the SMU athletic department is recklessly negligent and mind-blowing.
SMU contracted a hall of fame basketball coach and a guy who has lived his life patently as a hustler. Okay, you got the benefit of your bargain.
1
I'm going to save this article to keep it handy the next time a discussion of paying college athletes comes up. Having been a fan of college basketball since the glory days of the 80s, it's become obvious to me that there are only a small percentage of top tier players who can also compete academically at the college level. It's too small a percentage to fill out rosters beyond the pedigree programs (think Duke), leaving carpet bagging coaches and greedy programs (think Brown & Calipari, SMU and Memphis) open to scamming the system with cases like Frazier or becoming perennial losing teams with high academic integrity (think DePaul and Boston College).
1
Even Duke has gone to "one and done." There is an obscenity in this somewhere. Look for it in the injustice of a kid like Frazier not getting the encouragement and discipline to excel academically--or at least acquire academic skills. And his family, his coaches and he, himself, bear the blame. To learn, you have to go to school. Not only do most of these kids not ever make it to the pros, they never acquire the basic credentials to make it in life.
And athletes are not the only ones. I have great empathy for kids in families that do not encourage studying. But, the mom here knew her son should be in school, Frazier knew he should be in school. Whose responsibility is his cutting class? Not the coaches' or the school's. You know what the tragedy is in this? That Frazier has been taught that developing in a unidemsional way is OK. What would have happened if he nurtured his academics as much as his athletics? How many potential teachers, doctors, lawyers, cops are in the decay of inner cities? Saying these kids should go to trade school, aspire to a GED or a jobs training program sells so many of them short. I work in a poor city with pockets of affluence and good jobs. Ironically it has a lot of tech jobs filled by H1B visa holders, not the kids living just a few miles away. Is that the school's fault? The kid's fault? The system's fault? The parents' fault? Maybe a little of each.
I wish I could shake Frazier's mother and ask her why.
And athletes are not the only ones. I have great empathy for kids in families that do not encourage studying. But, the mom here knew her son should be in school, Frazier knew he should be in school. Whose responsibility is his cutting class? Not the coaches' or the school's. You know what the tragedy is in this? That Frazier has been taught that developing in a unidemsional way is OK. What would have happened if he nurtured his academics as much as his athletics? How many potential teachers, doctors, lawyers, cops are in the decay of inner cities? Saying these kids should go to trade school, aspire to a GED or a jobs training program sells so many of them short. I work in a poor city with pockets of affluence and good jobs. Ironically it has a lot of tech jobs filled by H1B visa holders, not the kids living just a few miles away. Is that the school's fault? The kid's fault? The system's fault? The parents' fault? Maybe a little of each.
I wish I could shake Frazier's mother and ask her why.
How about separating the curriculum for the student-athletes completely from that of the rest of the school ? Not just setting aside the easy courses for them, but a comprehensive and separate curriculum, consists of math, english and science courses, taught at a level that is suitable to the majority of the current student-athletes. For those student-athletes who can and want to, they are welcomed to the mainstream curriculum. In this way, Mr. Frazier would have had a chance to be educated at SMU, be it at remedial high school level. The academic entrance requirements for student-athletes can then be set at a different level, then cheating on report cards would not be necessary.
I want to thank you for writing this article. I've been drilling this into my son, who's talented in baseball and dreams of being in the MLB, since he started school. I'm going to have him read it, and write me a few paragraphs about his understanding of what he read. Thanks again for a teachable moment.
Time to shut down the NCAA. No more money for school sports. Kids can play in the park. If the NFL and NBA want to come develop independent minor league systems to feed their rosters, let them do so and pay for it.
42
Totally agree. The student-athlete concept too often seems to be missing one element. Guess which one.
The system is corrupt. The money people use these kids , the university the coaches the the sportswear company and then discard them like an old shoe when they are no longer useful.That is the truth and I am sticking with it. No bull from Larry Brown or SMU would change my mind
He should have taken the Mudiay route - played in China (or the d league) for a year then gone to the NBA. College sports have long been a farce of academics, and it isn't getting any better.
To compound it, most great players only stick around for a year now, damaging continuity and team cohesion while making team narratives nearly impossible to follow. As an avid NCAA and NBA fan, I have trouble remembering the names of most players on the big teams nowadays - this didn't used to be a problem.
College sports and pro sports would both be improved if we got rid of this forced unpaid semi-pro period, left college sports to kids who actually wanted to go to college, and let the clear NBA-caliber talent get started on their paid careers.
Plus students would again be rooting for classmates, not ringers brought in to play a year with little actual connection to the university's academics or its student life.
To compound it, most great players only stick around for a year now, damaging continuity and team cohesion while making team narratives nearly impossible to follow. As an avid NCAA and NBA fan, I have trouble remembering the names of most players on the big teams nowadays - this didn't used to be a problem.
College sports and pro sports would both be improved if we got rid of this forced unpaid semi-pro period, left college sports to kids who actually wanted to go to college, and let the clear NBA-caliber talent get started on their paid careers.
Plus students would again be rooting for classmates, not ringers brought in to play a year with little actual connection to the university's academics or its student life.
1
This is just another example of high level corruption in Division I basketball. "Hall of Fame coach" is a misnomer given his long record of corrupt behavior. The baseball HofF won't allow Pete Rose to enter despite having more hits than anyone in BB history because he bet on games. It won't allow Barry Bonds in despite his record of home runs because of drug use and perjury. Larry Brown's misconduct is much worse.
1
Larry Brown should be banned from both collegiate and professional basketball. A lot has to be wrong for the NCAA to punish a coach. Just look at Calipari, Pete Carroll of USC/Seattle Seahawks. The school was punished, and the coach left, so, ok. What! That in and of itself is ridiculous. So the kids AFTER the fact are the ones left to pay for a previous rule offender. So the fact that Brown, himself, has been punished says to me his conduct rose above egregious and he should never come into contact with another student athlete that he can destroy, and then walk away to another job. Something is very broken in the NCAA.
The message of this article is totally wrong. The NCAA is a corrupt, rotten system that enriches old white men (like Larry Brown) on the backs of unpaid teenagers. Frazier should be paid like the professional he is. I can't believe the writer and other readers are blaming this 19 year old kid and his family for pursuing his gift in the only way he can.
The NCAA is a vampire squid jamming its blood funnel into the faces of unpaid professional athletes across the country - the essence of the modern American dream.
The NCAA is a vampire squid jamming its blood funnel into the faces of unpaid professional athletes across the country - the essence of the modern American dream.
2
Excellent article. Good investigative work, nicely written. Congratulations.
3
It is a system of entertainment designed to make money. These kids are treated as nothing more than components of that system.
16
Gladiators.
College and university affiliations (used as smokescreens) aside, these are superbly equipped gladiator schools. They arrive as fresh meat, in perfect health, their bodies young, strong, undamaged; bodies that are slowly sculpted in weight rooms and at "training tables" while their minds are trained in the intricacies of their sport. Its strategies. The rules. Tactics and techniques. On the practice field they learn teamwork, and subordination.
Their training never stops. They study, are drilled and coached twelve months a year, on season and off. Daily meetings, daily workouts and practice -- daily. They scrimmage intramurally.
Some, the best, are designated "starters". They get to experience full-on combat in the arena watched live by millions of fans. That's where the rubber hits the road in this business -- and it is a business. A very big business.
The best products of this system "go to Rome" in a manner of speaking. They end up playing on professional teams, earning millions of dollars every year (some, every month); becoming celebrities, household names.
It's an industry.
College and university affiliations (used as smokescreens) aside, these are superbly equipped gladiator schools. They arrive as fresh meat, in perfect health, their bodies young, strong, undamaged; bodies that are slowly sculpted in weight rooms and at "training tables" while their minds are trained in the intricacies of their sport. Its strategies. The rules. Tactics and techniques. On the practice field they learn teamwork, and subordination.
Their training never stops. They study, are drilled and coached twelve months a year, on season and off. Daily meetings, daily workouts and practice -- daily. They scrimmage intramurally.
Some, the best, are designated "starters". They get to experience full-on combat in the arena watched live by millions of fans. That's where the rubber hits the road in this business -- and it is a business. A very big business.
The best products of this system "go to Rome" in a manner of speaking. They end up playing on professional teams, earning millions of dollars every year (some, every month); becoming celebrities, household names.
It's an industry.
As the O'Jay's sang:
"Money money money money money,
Some people got to have it".
Of course money is the common denominator that explains the entire corrupted world of youth male football & basketball - the money sports where talent exhibits earliest. The youth/AAU coaches, the "recruiting" high schools, the "look the other way" colleges and their coaches, and most tragically, the all too willing young athletes chasing the Sports Lottery. are all chasing the almighty dollar.
So many talented athletes from age 12 on see or are coaxed into believing that professional sports is the only goal. Forget about studies, forget about developing a trade skill, put all your energy and dreams into sports. Then almost inevitably (fewer than 1% will ever make a living playing a sport) when they're tossed aside by the process they have no transferable skills, or even habits, to help them succeed or even survive.
That's the tragedy, and the Browns and Maligis and Davis's hum along, with their biggest worry an occasional unfortunate newspaper story to upset their morning coffee. Tragedy indeed.
"Money money money money money,
Some people got to have it".
Of course money is the common denominator that explains the entire corrupted world of youth male football & basketball - the money sports where talent exhibits earliest. The youth/AAU coaches, the "recruiting" high schools, the "look the other way" colleges and their coaches, and most tragically, the all too willing young athletes chasing the Sports Lottery. are all chasing the almighty dollar.
So many talented athletes from age 12 on see or are coaxed into believing that professional sports is the only goal. Forget about studies, forget about developing a trade skill, put all your energy and dreams into sports. Then almost inevitably (fewer than 1% will ever make a living playing a sport) when they're tossed aside by the process they have no transferable skills, or even habits, to help them succeed or even survive.
That's the tragedy, and the Browns and Maligis and Davis's hum along, with their biggest worry an occasional unfortunate newspaper story to upset their morning coffee. Tragedy indeed.
If a high school graduate is a poor student,skips classes, and is unmotivated,that is tragic for that individual,whether an athlete or a non-athlete.
Most students would be elated for the opportunity for a free college education.
The university is not responsible for the inability of the student to perform college level work.
Most students would be elated for the opportunity for a free college education.
The university is not responsible for the inability of the student to perform college level work.
1
Intrigued by the mention of Anita Connally, I found this long, fascinating account of what happened to her. Basically, it seems she took seriously a job meant as window dressing & for not meticulously limiting herself to the parameters set as to her scope of action. Very depressing.
http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/anita-connally-got-dallas-isd-to-crac...
http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/anita-connally-got-dallas-isd-to-crac...
2
I'm often struck by the racial blindness of players, their parents and the conspiring education system to believe or accept that the only way forward is to be a slave to the sports industry. Take the money. An education has no value.
If you watch college sports and you are not a student of the school who is playing, you are aiding and abetting in this activity. If you are the NYTimes or any other media outlet and you report on any aspect of college sports, you too are part of the problem.
1
An excellent bit of reporting! Sadly, it will change nothing. The powerful institutions of "higher learning" and their well-paid employees (i.e. coaches and athletic directors) will continue to sit at the top of this pyramid, and young, mostly inner-city kids will continue at the bottom, treated like the dead organic matter in a detritus food chain.
I am an old man (73) approaching rapidly the super-old category, but I'm still teaching because I love teaching, almost as much as I love my wife and two daughters. Most of my approximately 50 years of teaching experience has been in N.Y.S, but I've also taught in Japan (privately), China, Ecuador and Malaysia.
Kids are kids all over the world, except for one important difference in the US. Here at home many, many kids are torn between school and athletics because, for the most part, opportunities to play sports are only found offered, during and after the school day, in schools, both public and private. In most other countries that are wealthy enough to have big-time sports, sports are run by towns, cities, private clubs, or countries.
In most other countries, there are teachers for athletics, such as (in China) volleyball, pingpong, badminton, soccer, etc., but no schools run organized, competitive, athletic programs. Our schools should, likewise, get out of the business of running multiple competitive sports program, requiring facilities, outfits, equipment, coaches, medical people, etc.
If our schools devoted themselves to simply educating our kids, they would be a heck of a lot better than most of them are today, and so would our kids.
If our schools were devoted to
Kids are kids all over the world, except for one important difference in the US. Here at home many, many kids are torn between school and athletics because, for the most part, opportunities to play sports are only found offered, during and after the school day, in schools, both public and private. In most other countries that are wealthy enough to have big-time sports, sports are run by towns, cities, private clubs, or countries.
In most other countries, there are teachers for athletics, such as (in China) volleyball, pingpong, badminton, soccer, etc., but no schools run organized, competitive, athletic programs. Our schools should, likewise, get out of the business of running multiple competitive sports program, requiring facilities, outfits, equipment, coaches, medical people, etc.
If our schools devoted themselves to simply educating our kids, they would be a heck of a lot better than most of them are today, and so would our kids.
If our schools were devoted to
Write all you want about exploitation of high school/college athletes. Nothing will change. Too much money for too many people.
Colleges are the farm teams for the professional leagues. Listen to any professional broadcast and all players are introduced by the school they "attended". Coaches mouth platitudes about academics and the schools promote "athlete-students", (no mistake here).
So try as one might, the rabid desires of fans for "winners" will produce far to many losers, the kids who have been suckered into the system and are not quite good enough to bring in the big bucks for themselves once they have done so for their "institutions".
Colleges are the farm teams for the professional leagues. Listen to any professional broadcast and all players are introduced by the school they "attended". Coaches mouth platitudes about academics and the schools promote "athlete-students", (no mistake here).
So try as one might, the rabid desires of fans for "winners" will produce far to many losers, the kids who have been suckered into the system and are not quite good enough to bring in the big bucks for themselves once they have done so for their "institutions".
The NCAA, and The War on Drugs are the last bastions of slavery in America today. Both pigs constantly require updated lipstick.
I confess to not reading this article in its entirety, because I just can't stomach the political machinations of either of these two institutions.
I confess to not reading this article in its entirety, because I just can't stomach the political machinations of either of these two institutions.
3
The real question is this: how long will this go one before things change? It is clear that NCAA's big sports outweigh the small sports in terms of decision making influence. I was an NCAA skier 30 years ago, and my son is almost done with his NCAA experience. We both got good grades and benefited from those programs. Yet the school I went to cut its skiing program - which perfectly balanced men and women quotas, was always at or near the top of the athletic department's GPA rankings, etc. That school is painfully subscribing to the medicine being discussed in this article, and the trend is growing more acute. NCAA teams are not all bad, but the mainstream part of the system surely is.
My only advice is to stop watching. Stop attending the games. Stop feeding the system. It might hurt - I love a well played game too - but my love stops when the truth comes out. THat truth is that money is being funneled away from good causes in the interest of 'making it in the big time.'
Now, with football concussion issues, issues such as this article's main point, I am perplexed as to how bad will it get before the trend reverses, or better yet, ceases to exist.
My only advice is to stop watching. Stop attending the games. Stop feeding the system. It might hurt - I love a well played game too - but my love stops when the truth comes out. THat truth is that money is being funneled away from good causes in the interest of 'making it in the big time.'
Now, with football concussion issues, issues such as this article's main point, I am perplexed as to how bad will it get before the trend reverses, or better yet, ceases to exist.
16
Your school got rid of its teams because nobody paid to keep them. Football and somewhat basketball pay for all the other sports that don't make money but cost quite a lot to run. Nothing is reversing this so called trend, if football disappears the other sports go as well. Hopefully that does not happen for a long time in my view.
How long can it go on?
Forever.
It's another "third rail of politics", like Social Security and Medicare. No elected politicians dare touch it.
Forever.
It's another "third rail of politics", like Social Security and Medicare. No elected politicians dare touch it.
The compliance officer who blows the whistle is fired. Just as at banks and other organizations. The laws require compliance officers but when they do their jobs they are fired as retaliation and not reinstated. Most of them never work again in compliance. Why don't Americans fix this mess?
AAU has added a new dimension to this mess. But the fact that SMU, still smarting after being given death penalty in football years ago, would STILL hire a coach like Larry Brown, with as sleazy a track record as any in college athletics, says something about the university in itself. There are a million reasons this is happening, but a few steps that will kill the cheating should include lifetime bans on coaches AND programs who are chronic cheaters. Brown would be gone. SMU would no longer have a basketball program. And other programs and coaches would take notice.
It may seem like a small point with which to quibble in such a deeply-reported investigative piece but calling SMU (#24, AP) “the best college team you will not see this postseason” in the opening sentence is certainly up for debate with Louisville (#11, AP) also sitting this one out for their transgressions. If the NCAA had a credible investigative branch, there’s no telling how many other schools would miss out on madness this month.
3
It has been said that the University of Nebraska is a professional football team that has a university on the side. How many young men and women are destroyed by coaches, parents, alumni and such, just to have bragging rights for "winning" the most games?
1
SMU hasn't learned much from the death penalty received by its football team years ago. It wrecked the team when it was reinstituted. After that, the NCAA abolished the death penalty for violations. So maybe that was the lesson? Don't worry too much, the NCAA won't take the violations all that seriously?
1
This whole system is corrupt, from the NBA which insists that players cannot enter the league until one year out of HS and the colleges who let these kids play without being close to academically eligible. And it corrupts the young men also. Frazier knew good and well he didn't have the grades for college but he didn't have many choices. The most corrupt individuals are the college presidents. These people are the ones responsible for this and it will not change until they do something about it.
23
He had the choice of not playing basketball and studying instead.
Eric, I meant once he has the ability to possibly play professionally and that was his goal, he should have been allowed to pursue that without being involved in the fiction of a student-athlete.
The NBA union insists that you can't be in the league and it would be better if they made them wait three years as in football. You are misinformed as usual.
It was the summer of 1955 and I was 16. My dad was focused. Al Neuschaefer of Trenton High, New Jersey, was coaching his team and a few of us at Elberon Bathing Club. I excelled. At 100 yards, I was tops. Yale arrived. Prearranged. I was a student at U-High at The University of Chicago - sleeping at The Orthogenic School of The University of Chciago. Yale's coach watched me win against Duke and other heavy in two pools of weekend racing. Clocked, I was good, though my turns were poor. No matter. Yale wanted me. That night if was put to me: 4 years, room and board, an athletic scholarship. I would swim for Yale. My two miles every morning and afternoon had paid off. The next morning I came to the porch for breakfast with a message that landed with a thud. Dad, I said, I will not swim again. I do not wish to be a jock at Yale, and I do not care about a scholarship. The University of Chicago charged $540 per quarter for college tuition. And I did not want to move east. My dad was apoplectic. I was nuts. Well, I did not feel that way. To me any sport is no more than a part of life, and it is not life itself. Balance and schooling matter.
As Michael Powell points out, we are trashing the lives of our best athletes from impoverished communities. Are we feeding them lead, too? What will it take for the fiduciary in us to activate? The young are our future, and they deserve our best. Using them for self gain, ratings and TV is a crime.
An athlete is not the property of a coach.
As Michael Powell points out, we are trashing the lives of our best athletes from impoverished communities. Are we feeding them lead, too? What will it take for the fiduciary in us to activate? The young are our future, and they deserve our best. Using them for self gain, ratings and TV is a crime.
An athlete is not the property of a coach.
2
Ah, the good old NCAA. Many years ago, a local female sprinter was deemed questionable because she took an independent study class in English. Her father spent a fortune in attorney fees before she was allowed to compete at a D1 university. This is disgraceful.
The only one that suffers or the students, Coach Brown said that he invested more time in Frazier then his on family and look what happen. The record of Larry Brown speaks for it's self at the college level.
"Missed educations"? More politically correct twaddle.
Many of these sports talented young men have I.Q's of 85 and the emotional and social skills if twelve year olds.
Many of these sports talented young men have I.Q's of 85 and the emotional and social skills if twelve year olds.
One more reason why NCAA sports should be dumped by ethically minded universities. The concept of the student-athlete has not been a reality for a very long time. This is true at both large and small universities, where educational rules, or requirements for the many are either relaxed or ignored for the athletically talented. There is no reason to incur the cost and moral hazard of NCAA sports - intramural athletics are sufficient to meet the needs of the student body.
3
Good reporting, revealing the nature of contemporary athletic culture and the complicit behavior of universities in a sad story about an unfortunate kid and the nasty system he and his mother, willingly or not, got caught up in. Brown's probably right--his troubles with the NCAA, itself not exactly a role model, will likely increase his recruiting abilities. It's time--way past time, in fact--to get big-time athletics out of universities.
Of course our society is unequal, unjust, and rewards entitlement as well as diverse talents. That's not news. But fraud, particularly on behalf of colleges, is news.
What I find enlightening is the contrast between the outcomes for Mudiay and Frazier. Both are men of exceptional talent--talent for which we offer enormous rewards.
But, Mudiay now exercises his talent at the highest level, is very well paid and sought after. Frazier, at least for now, is again poor--and disgraced as well. Still, he's probably no more downtrodden than classmates without basketball talent. Presumably, he, they and Mudiay are equally ill-educated.
Go back a few steps. Because of Frazier's talent, a number of people had a strong interest in making him a successful student, both at Kimball and at SMU. They gave him advantages such as encouragement, close mentoring, and tutoring that others who shared his unfortunate background deserved just as much, but didn't get. However, those advantages were not sufficient to enable him to pass, so they faked it.
One can imagine an alternative history, perhaps more like UNC, where Frazier graduated from SMU without meeting the normal standards and, at least if unable to play in the NBA, got lifetime employment from grateful alumni.
Make it legitimate for talented players to go to college, learn whatever they can learn, and get a degree. That's more practical than trying to end the cheating.
What I find enlightening is the contrast between the outcomes for Mudiay and Frazier. Both are men of exceptional talent--talent for which we offer enormous rewards.
But, Mudiay now exercises his talent at the highest level, is very well paid and sought after. Frazier, at least for now, is again poor--and disgraced as well. Still, he's probably no more downtrodden than classmates without basketball talent. Presumably, he, they and Mudiay are equally ill-educated.
Go back a few steps. Because of Frazier's talent, a number of people had a strong interest in making him a successful student, both at Kimball and at SMU. They gave him advantages such as encouragement, close mentoring, and tutoring that others who shared his unfortunate background deserved just as much, but didn't get. However, those advantages were not sufficient to enable him to pass, so they faked it.
One can imagine an alternative history, perhaps more like UNC, where Frazier graduated from SMU without meeting the normal standards and, at least if unable to play in the NBA, got lifetime employment from grateful alumni.
Make it legitimate for talented players to go to college, learn whatever they can learn, and get a degree. That's more practical than trying to end the cheating.
College basketball exploits the college athlete.
30 plus games is full time job.
Major conferences make millions
Basketball coaches make more the presidents of college.
It is a farce.
I blame the NCAA, for it sets no academic standards. It is simply a moneymaker, nothing to do with college academics.
May be our fine institutions of high education should put academics first.
Eligibility for the tournament be linked to
• a graduation rate of say 75% or better,
• Minimum team grade point average of 2.5/4.0,
Base ranking in the tournament on a weighted average of the polls, graduation rate and team grade point average.
When an institution of higher education behavior is unethical, commits fraud, those responsible should be fired, banned from the sport. Inclusive of the president of the college.
Let us be honest, the one and done is a mutual exploitation, but has nothing to do with learning. It is a vehicle to winning season, a tournament, big paycheck for the coach, a small chance for the one and done student to become a pro. Academics is not in the formula.
30 plus games is full time job.
Major conferences make millions
Basketball coaches make more the presidents of college.
It is a farce.
I blame the NCAA, for it sets no academic standards. It is simply a moneymaker, nothing to do with college academics.
May be our fine institutions of high education should put academics first.
Eligibility for the tournament be linked to
• a graduation rate of say 75% or better,
• Minimum team grade point average of 2.5/4.0,
Base ranking in the tournament on a weighted average of the polls, graduation rate and team grade point average.
When an institution of higher education behavior is unethical, commits fraud, those responsible should be fired, banned from the sport. Inclusive of the president of the college.
Let us be honest, the one and done is a mutual exploitation, but has nothing to do with learning. It is a vehicle to winning season, a tournament, big paycheck for the coach, a small chance for the one and done student to become a pro. Academics is not in the formula.
3
The person who should be fired is the high school guidance counselor who let Frazier take a physics class. There was no way that would end well.
Headline: "College Basketball Program Ignores Professors, Recruits 18 Y.O. Phenom Who Has Done Poorly In Academics Since 5th Grade." Shocking? A headline with the same theme could be run about every week. Will it ever change? Is there any real desire for change? Don't these black lives matter?
This is a wonderful article. Everyone who cares about college athletics should read it.
However, presidents and provosts only care about winning. And THAT is the tragedy. They care way too much about athletics. If you or your child is thinking about which school to attend, they are better off choosing a school that has no sports or plays in Division III....then you will know that academics comes first and that athletics is truly an extra-curricular activity.
However, presidents and provosts only care about winning. And THAT is the tragedy. They care way too much about athletics. If you or your child is thinking about which school to attend, they are better off choosing a school that has no sports or plays in Division III....then you will know that academics comes first and that athletics is truly an extra-curricular activity.
" . . . exert far more energy trying to churn out wins than trying to provide an education . . ."
When the highest paid employee of a university is the coach of the highest money-making sport no one expects otherwise, but the education is there for the student-athlete who understands that they are working their way through college.
When the highest paid employee of a university is the coach of the highest money-making sport no one expects otherwise, but the education is there for the student-athlete who understands that they are working their way through college.
16
The highest paid employees of a state university are, often, also the highest paid employees of the state; period.
Well, priorities being what they are . . .
Well, priorities being what they are . . .
An education that the elite, most talented 1 percent don't care about anyway! All they care about is advancing to the pro level. At age 30, they're about done in pro and can go to college then, if they wish. It's like making Einstein attend Physics 101. Makes no sense whatsoever. Slave labor for big time programs protected by NBA rules so that the colleges can run their farm system at no charge.
>> " ... who played on the best college team you will not see this postseason"
I'm pretty sure Louisville is the "best college team" we won't see this postseason ...
I'm pretty sure Louisville is the "best college team" we won't see this postseason ...
When the athletes are rapists as in the case of Jameis Winston, and both the police department and the university are complicit in the cover-up, that is even a bigger tragedy.
8
Is Larry Brown " an undisputed coaching genius" or has he just been cheating all along?
1
Winning at any cost is the ethos of about half this country, and about 95% of our athletic departments.
The reason: when people get caught, nothing happens. Or very little.
Perhaps a slap on the wrist, or a fine. Then it's back to business as usual.
If, on the other hand, when we catch someone cheating, like Bill Bellichek, it ended their career permanently, then we'd have a different culture.
This kind of cheating is all pervasive in our society.
Bush stole an election. Ken Lay's family got to keep the money he stole. BP never really paid for the cleanup. Cheney isn't in the Hague. Zero prosecutions for the housing collapse. It goes on and on ad-infinitum.
Let's not be naive. Cheating is what we do.
The reason: when people get caught, nothing happens. Or very little.
Perhaps a slap on the wrist, or a fine. Then it's back to business as usual.
If, on the other hand, when we catch someone cheating, like Bill Bellichek, it ended their career permanently, then we'd have a different culture.
This kind of cheating is all pervasive in our society.
Bush stole an election. Ken Lay's family got to keep the money he stole. BP never really paid for the cleanup. Cheney isn't in the Hague. Zero prosecutions for the housing collapse. It goes on and on ad-infinitum.
Let's not be naive. Cheating is what we do.
1
How often do we read about situation such as these? I taught high school and had a football quarterback in my class. He was great on the football field and cocky everywhere else. When he failed to show up for my class--a class he needed to graduate--I talked to the principal. The next day he was removed and transferred to an "independent" class online. This kid had been recruited by the University of SC. He "graduated" high school, went to Columbia and lasted one week. Since then, he hasn't done much and was arrested a few times for drugs. What a shame. The coaches and the principal failed this kid.
2
Simple rules to solve crisis in college sports
1) All scholarships must be for 4 years and 100%, even if the player has to leave the team. No partials
2) If student athlete does not graduate, scholarship is lost for 4 years.
3) No lowering of academic standards for athletes admission.
4) Bonus scholarships are awarded if students continue to graduate studies.
5) Maximum compensation for anyone involved in a 501C3 including housing etc, is 300K. No million dollar coaches or administrators.
1) All scholarships must be for 4 years and 100%, even if the player has to leave the team. No partials
2) If student athlete does not graduate, scholarship is lost for 4 years.
3) No lowering of academic standards for athletes admission.
4) Bonus scholarships are awarded if students continue to graduate studies.
5) Maximum compensation for anyone involved in a 501C3 including housing etc, is 300K. No million dollar coaches or administrators.
4
In this whole article, I never once got a sense of Keith Frazier. Is he a nice kid who did very poorly in school? Is he a thug who caused trouble and did very poorly in school? Nothing, but nothing indicated any essence of his character in all of this. And that, too, is a shame. If you write about his case and everything that happened, but you still don't deal with him as a living, breathing human being, then you're still only paying attention to Keith Frazier because he played basketball well. In this article, Keith Frazier is employed simply as a literary vehicle to expose the dishonesty of the system. It just seems to me that you've missed something here and are also guilty of just using him to advance your particular cause, which is to illuminate the corruption of the system.
3
A casual acquaintance shared with me that he turned down a full baseball scholarship to Yale because he thought he had to pass all of his classes. Only later did he come to understand, he'd have some help. Had he gone, he would have been in the same class as George W. Bush.
1
Your acquaintance lied. Ivy League schools do not offer athletic scholarships and never have.
As a professor at a major sports university, I find it really sad that education is so clearly not the point of any of this. It is ridiculous that our elite athletes are forced to play for high school and college teams. For some (maybe even most?) the educational benefits of playing in college are valued, but for elite players like this, who clearly do not care about learning anything, forcing them to be in college diminishes the value of the educational institutions that they attend. I have taught many athletes who view my courses as annoying obligations. This is insulting and the system is clearly broken.
70
Just who is forcing them. It can only be their parents and themselves. Others are deceiving them, but that is not the same as forcing them. If they cannot tell that reading, writing and mathematics skills of an eighth grader are not sufficient for college, then the fault does not lie with college athletics.
Apparently you don't know that nobody forces them to attend college, they could go get a job doing something. Now to play football you need the experience, training and coaching you get in college. There is no substitute and the union rules require you to wait. In men's basketball you have to wait one year and of course you can do that wherever you desire. You don't have to go to college but there is a great benefit even if you don't get an education. Surely if you work at a college you should understand this. I bet many STEM majors might view your class in the same way, if they do the work they pass, if they don't they fail. Simple!!!
The Times Sunday Magazine had a cover story strongly suggesting that an Ivy League education for most is Not worth the time or money. Because, in the main, it is about learning to test, or to please a professor by tossing back what she/he wants, not about students' acquiring ownership of a body of information that they can work with, grow with. There is no real world experience acquired or applications forseeable. Convenal widom aside,, how one handles the spatial relationships, the interpersonnel relationships, the physics, geometry, awareness, decision making and execution in the ever-and-rapidly changing environment in an extraordinarily complex, learning-as-performing, performing-as- learning, game, especially as presented on a team coached by a master educator like Larry Brown fits ptrcisely the educational paradigm that the Times' article pines for.
African Americans comprise a ridiculously small percent of the undergraduate students at most colleges and universities, and have far and away the highest drop-out, completion rates. The Ivies and others, SMU, for decades now, ever since the 60s, has refused to invest the resources needed to make a place in which underprivileged African American students might find a community and educational system that suits them. Why not. Because they cannot take in and reguritate information that the students who can find near utterly useless?
SMU was Not useless to this basketball player. It was invaluable.
African Americans comprise a ridiculously small percent of the undergraduate students at most colleges and universities, and have far and away the highest drop-out, completion rates. The Ivies and others, SMU, for decades now, ever since the 60s, has refused to invest the resources needed to make a place in which underprivileged African American students might find a community and educational system that suits them. Why not. Because they cannot take in and reguritate information that the students who can find near utterly useless?
SMU was Not useless to this basketball player. It was invaluable.
such good christians as smu. brett shipp did excellent job with this story. dallas school district is cesspool of incompetence and greed. since when is smu of such academic importance? better than some , but athletes always have a free ride. big money boosters could care less if their athletes, or their heirs, can read and write. heroin , sexual assaults are not uncommon.
I used to love college sports. I was the sports editor of the school newspaper at San Diego State back when Don Coryell, John Madden, and Joe Gibbs were coaching there.
I used to plan my weekends around watching college football. No more. College sports, particularly football and basketball, are corrupt. The NCAA is complicit in the corruption. The reason--big surprise--is money, the millions of dollars that accrue to the schools, the NCAA, and the coaches.
Alabama's football coach makes over $12,000 per DAY, over $500 an hour. Three of the five highest paid state employees in California are college football coaches. But, as we know, the players (you know--nudge, nudge, the "student-athletes") are denied anything remotely resembling fair compensation.
I'm done with college sports. To watch them, attend them, or even read about them is to be complicit. What a shame.
I used to plan my weekends around watching college football. No more. College sports, particularly football and basketball, are corrupt. The NCAA is complicit in the corruption. The reason--big surprise--is money, the millions of dollars that accrue to the schools, the NCAA, and the coaches.
Alabama's football coach makes over $12,000 per DAY, over $500 an hour. Three of the five highest paid state employees in California are college football coaches. But, as we know, the players (you know--nudge, nudge, the "student-athletes") are denied anything remotely resembling fair compensation.
I'm done with college sports. To watch them, attend them, or even read about them is to be complicit. What a shame.
2
Mr. Powell and Joe Nocera continue, thank goodness, to spit into the wind about the corruption of the NCAA and Big Time College Sports, Inc. Just as with the legalized violence of the NFL, it is the bottom feeding tribalism and escapism of the fans and the pandering of the TV networks that are at fault. There is a lot of shame to go around.
2
"Tragedy"??
Larry Brown did this. The DISD did this. SMU did this. The NCAA did this. Overt cheating. Lying. Thieving. Stealing.
This is not a "tragedy". This should be a crime. And ALL of the adults who actively, knowingly, conspired to commit it should be fired, fined, and possibly even jailed.
Tragedy?
For Keith Frazier, certainly. But for all the adults involved? I think not.
Larry Brown gets a NINE GAME suspension... for the THIRD time he's been caught!
The NCAA should be spun off as a private business... completely separate from our universities... and our institutions of "higher learning" should return to their mission of educating qualified students.
: ) L
Larry Brown did this. The DISD did this. SMU did this. The NCAA did this. Overt cheating. Lying. Thieving. Stealing.
This is not a "tragedy". This should be a crime. And ALL of the adults who actively, knowingly, conspired to commit it should be fired, fined, and possibly even jailed.
Tragedy?
For Keith Frazier, certainly. But for all the adults involved? I think not.
Larry Brown gets a NINE GAME suspension... for the THIRD time he's been caught!
The NCAA should be spun off as a private business... completely separate from our universities... and our institutions of "higher learning" should return to their mission of educating qualified students.
: ) L
2
One of the root issues here is why do the athletes have to attend college in the first place. Why is the NCAA the minor league/farm system monopoly? Further, why must gifted, top 1% ball players be constrained by academic performance?
If we take the view of what is best for the kids, couldn't we argue that focused pursuit on one of the most lucrative positions on the planet is a good risk to take? Why should his physics grade constrain him?
If we take the view of what is best for the kids, couldn't we argue that focused pursuit on one of the most lucrative positions on the planet is a good risk to take? Why should his physics grade constrain him?
2
Yawn...
Larry Brown again?
Academic deceit to win and ultimately destroy yet another college sports star?
Why is this news? It's just the way it is. Always has been, and quite unbelievably, seemingly how it always will be.
Here's an idea. Let's trip up more non-inner city white kids with the college recruiting, toss out another used and useless kid, scandal whirlwind. Perhaps like the current heroin/painkiller/methamphetamine drug epidemic, when white kids start getting hurt, someone will pay attention? Maybe even Congress will step out of the cheering section and actually do something. It seems the only hope!
Larry Brown again?
Academic deceit to win and ultimately destroy yet another college sports star?
Why is this news? It's just the way it is. Always has been, and quite unbelievably, seemingly how it always will be.
Here's an idea. Let's trip up more non-inner city white kids with the college recruiting, toss out another used and useless kid, scandal whirlwind. Perhaps like the current heroin/painkiller/methamphetamine drug epidemic, when white kids start getting hurt, someone will pay attention? Maybe even Congress will step out of the cheering section and actually do something. It seems the only hope!
1
Working-class white kids - primarily males - have been hurting themselves with heroin in numbers equal to or greater than other demographics for decades (the Times's recent race-baiting narrative was wholly false and easily disproven). White folks have always been disproportionately represented amongst amphetamine users - I must have missed the initiative that responds to that.
Yawn.
Yawn.
The only surprise should be that anyone is surprised.
Should we ban college athletics, or admit that they are the business they are and pay the athletes?
Over the table, I mean.
Should we ban college athletics, or admit that they are the business they are and pay the athletes?
Over the table, I mean.
When will the college student athletes take the responsibility for themselves and realize that they are being used by the colleges? This happens in college football constantly but we need to lay the blame with the students themselves, or the parents who think a professional contract is possible.
Sure the recruiters and coaches who put glory first over helping the student athlete are jerks but, the kids don't have to drink the cool aid!
I don't follow college sports and perhaps I'm missing something
Sure the recruiters and coaches who put glory first over helping the student athlete are jerks but, the kids don't have to drink the cool aid!
I don't follow college sports and perhaps I'm missing something
6
There is a problem with expecting the athletes to take responsibility. It has to do with how they have been treated since they were pre-adolescent, and their psychological development has either been retarded or ceased altogether. In the case of elite performers in the major sports, they have been enabled since they were too young to be responsible, and we as a society have allowed that to happen. It is not entirely the athletes' fault. They are child-men.
1
They are going after poor kids with little resources and few trustworthy mentors. They see this as their ticket out. What are their choices? Say no to a possible future that can pull them and their families out of poverty?
1
You are missing quite a bit. For many students, esp those in revenue sports, college athletics is the only way they can afford college. The promise of pro opportunities is blinding. It's absurd to expect high school kids to have higher standards than the million dollar who make huge promises they can't keep.
1
What Price Glory ?
The young athletes naturally seek to capitalise on their talen,t
the High School Coaches want to win and desire to see their players
placed in top sports programs so that younger players will come to their
High Schools, the Colleges want the best players and the students and
alumni want a winning program...
Meanwhile the whole system is corrupted.
Academic integrity is lost.
Most of the recruited athletes never make it to the pros
and do not receive a decent education.
All the while the Head Coach makes millions and acts like
innocence personified.
Michael Powell and the New York Times ought to investigate why
50 students a year at UC Berkeley and UCLA are admitted though
they have less than 3.0 High School GPA's and SAT scores in the lower
25th percentile...while thousands of students are turned away who have
above 3.75 GPA's and SAT scores in the top 10th percentile.
The young athletes naturally seek to capitalise on their talen,t
the High School Coaches want to win and desire to see their players
placed in top sports programs so that younger players will come to their
High Schools, the Colleges want the best players and the students and
alumni want a winning program...
Meanwhile the whole system is corrupted.
Academic integrity is lost.
Most of the recruited athletes never make it to the pros
and do not receive a decent education.
All the while the Head Coach makes millions and acts like
innocence personified.
Michael Powell and the New York Times ought to investigate why
50 students a year at UC Berkeley and UCLA are admitted though
they have less than 3.0 High School GPA's and SAT scores in the lower
25th percentile...while thousands of students are turned away who have
above 3.75 GPA's and SAT scores in the top 10th percentile.
1
In case you're curious, most of the adults in this universe tell themselves they're just trying to help disadvantaged kids, while they pocket fees for "scouting", accept bonuses based on the performance of their student-athletes, and etc. And we call these people "molders of men" and etc.
And nothing brings in alumni money like winning sports teams.
This stable will not get cleaned out for a while, if ever.
And nothing brings in alumni money like winning sports teams.
This stable will not get cleaned out for a while, if ever.
1
You could probably find 5 stories like this every year. Sports make money for colleges and big time sports make big time money.
Until their is a real organization looking out for the student-athlete it will continue.
And we are about to prove it does not matter as March madness obliterates everything else.
Until their is a real organization looking out for the student-athlete it will continue.
And we are about to prove it does not matter as March madness obliterates everything else.
The tragedy begins all the way back at the beginning. Failing public school systems and lack of optimism and faith in the future from low income parents.
I question the whole basis of the college game. These kids are pushed through high school and college, to their detriment, while risking possible career-ending injuries. They are essentially unpaid fundraisers for the colleges whose alumnae and contributors demand first-rate program.
It would probably be better for some of these athletes to go straight to the NBA, where at least they can earn some money.
It would probably be better for some of these athletes to go straight to the NBA, where at least they can earn some money.
42
Like Kobe Bryant. Smart move on his part.
Pros need farm teams to develop skills in their young players. Colleges are not farm teams. It's all about the Benjamins, unfortunately. Money, money, money. And the kids suffer.
Pros need farm teams to develop skills in their young players. Colleges are not farm teams. It's all about the Benjamins, unfortunately. Money, money, money. And the kids suffer.
2
In an added level of corruption, the NBA stopped allowing players to jump straight to the pros. A kickback for the college level and the NBA gets another year of free (for them, not taxpayers) training. A few players go to Europe but most contenders opt for one-and-done.
Julliard teaches next to nothing of a standard curriculum. They simply don't bother. They're a $300 million enterprise. rolling in money. They conduct a large number of paid performances each year, with none of the revenue going to the student performers. The students are essentially unpaid fundraisers for the school, whose alumnae and contributors demand first-rate performances. Perhaps you saw Whiplash, a depiction of an abusive and obsessed teacher, presumably at Julliard. Lots of folks love to bash college sports. But the arts is a sacred cow. Bottom line, Julliard is more like SMU than it is different..
Originally College Athletics was intended to provide an outlet for students of to learn teamwork, leadership & as an athletic outlet. There were no athletic scholarships where kids were recruited based not an academics, but on the ability to dunk a basketball, run with a football or hit a baseball. You had to be a degree seeking student- not someone using it as a farm team for the Pro leagues.
Enter the snake into the Garden...
Today you have a sports industry being conducted by institutions charged with educating young men and women- most of whom are considered non-profit- who are recruiting kids with at best marginal ability to do real collegiate work and using up their eligibility to fill stadia with screaming fans and to provide programming for the Disney/ESPN Sports Empire. None of this has anything to do with the primary mission & purpose of any College or University.
At many schools the highest paid staff is not the President. The highest paid staff is a Football or Basketball Coach. In Arkansas, Assistant Coaches at the University of Arkansas make more than the Governor or any elected officer of the State.
COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION $233,488
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH $219,779
CRIME LAB MEDICAL EXAMINATION $208,390
SUPREME COURT CHIEF JUSTICE $180,000.00
GOVERNOR $86,890
Arkansas Head Football Coach $3,780,529
Arkansas Head Basketball Coach $2,489,290
Arkansas Vice Chancellor - Athletics $1,025,823
This needs to end. Ban athletic scholarships.
Enter the snake into the Garden...
Today you have a sports industry being conducted by institutions charged with educating young men and women- most of whom are considered non-profit- who are recruiting kids with at best marginal ability to do real collegiate work and using up their eligibility to fill stadia with screaming fans and to provide programming for the Disney/ESPN Sports Empire. None of this has anything to do with the primary mission & purpose of any College or University.
At many schools the highest paid staff is not the President. The highest paid staff is a Football or Basketball Coach. In Arkansas, Assistant Coaches at the University of Arkansas make more than the Governor or any elected officer of the State.
COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION $233,488
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH $219,779
CRIME LAB MEDICAL EXAMINATION $208,390
SUPREME COURT CHIEF JUSTICE $180,000.00
GOVERNOR $86,890
Arkansas Head Football Coach $3,780,529
Arkansas Head Basketball Coach $2,489,290
Arkansas Vice Chancellor - Athletics $1,025,823
This needs to end. Ban athletic scholarships.
54
Frankly, I think the Commissioner of Education is overpaid, too.
Or simply structure UA athletics as a concession and let it out for bids. Let an IMG or Fox or Nike or ESPN manage the facilities, pay the coaches, control the "intellectual property," hire the coaches, negotiate the TV rights - and, oh yes, pay the university an annual fee.
Those Republican governors talk a good game when it comes to cutting costs and reducing the size of gummint through privatization, but that's all they do.
How about it, Gov. Hutchinson? Looking at you, too, Gov. Kasich.
Those Republican governors talk a good game when it comes to cutting costs and reducing the size of gummint through privatization, but that's all they do.
How about it, Gov. Hutchinson? Looking at you, too, Gov. Kasich.
1
ugh - for "hire the coaches" please read "hire the tutors." Because you know that's not small potatoes either.
I think you are mistaking irony for tragedy - tragedy relies on a loss of the ability to even choose one path that is good.
Irony is all of the paths being open and someone consistently choosing the wrong one.
Just in passing - foolishness flows from irony when we assume that 'animal spirits' stopped the protagonist and his actual family from choosing the right path.
Irony is all of the paths being open and someone consistently choosing the wrong one.
Just in passing - foolishness flows from irony when we assume that 'animal spirits' stopped the protagonist and his actual family from choosing the right path.
2
Brown has a long history of such shenanigans, and he apparently lied about this to the reporter. But will HE face any sanctions or lose his job, as he should? Oh, no, that's "different"!
"Brown had coached college ball twice before, and twice the N.C.A.A. sanctions ax had fallen on his teams, at U.C.L.A. and Kansas. Those penalties were ridiculous, he told me. Check it out.
I did, and he was wrong. At Kansas, there was a taped phone call in which Brown admitted to illegal payments and assistants who acted as bag men. At U.C.L.A., he coached his team to the title game, only to have the N.C.A.A. toss out the tournament run because Brown had played two players who were academically ineligible."
"Brown had coached college ball twice before, and twice the N.C.A.A. sanctions ax had fallen on his teams, at U.C.L.A. and Kansas. Those penalties were ridiculous, he told me. Check it out.
I did, and he was wrong. At Kansas, there was a taped phone call in which Brown admitted to illegal payments and assistants who acted as bag men. At U.C.L.A., he coached his team to the title game, only to have the N.C.A.A. toss out the tournament run because Brown had played two players who were academically ineligible."
3
Larry Brown is suspended for nine games; minimizes his other sanctions "they were ridiculous" at UCLA and KU. Yet SMU hired him and continues to employ him? He blames it on underlings? Yet Frazier "an emotionally fragile/talented young man" has to leave SMU. While Frazier didn't have the academic credentials to attend SMU, was not accepted by the faculty committee, the Provost allowed acceptance? Who is monitoring SMU's reputation? It appears the professors stayed firm but were "out-played"? And we wonder why some professional athletes are convicted of crimes? Aren't they taught rules don't apply to them if they have enough talent. There's more than one thing rotting here.
39
I would venture that if we could get inside the skulls of the athletic and administrative corner cutters, we'd find an impression of academic "meritocracy" markedly different from the ethical baseline implied by this commentary- and quite possibly more accurate.
Whereas the article portrays corrupt coaches, administrators and assorted enablers as tainting, corrupting and violating the generally accepted principles of meritocracy and honest educational achievement, the "on the ground" reality of college education generally is one that nearly across the board completely subordinates nearly all learning to the crudest and most cynical economic calculus, such that cheating is nearly universal, and grades virtually meaningless because of how in what spirit they are procured, be it fraternity exam and term paper recycling and files, the billion dollar a year ghost writing industry (term papers $100 per page), and even "honest" cramming having no other goal than GPA maintenance.
If an honest assessment of where learning ranks in college education and the pervasiveness of strategies rendering the whole "industry" merely a revenue business and society-wide personnel agency (certify the mix of grit and pragmatism that spells success in the economy), doctoring of grades seems less offensive than against the more polyannish fantasy of "honest" meritocracy.
Whereas the article portrays corrupt coaches, administrators and assorted enablers as tainting, corrupting and violating the generally accepted principles of meritocracy and honest educational achievement, the "on the ground" reality of college education generally is one that nearly across the board completely subordinates nearly all learning to the crudest and most cynical economic calculus, such that cheating is nearly universal, and grades virtually meaningless because of how in what spirit they are procured, be it fraternity exam and term paper recycling and files, the billion dollar a year ghost writing industry (term papers $100 per page), and even "honest" cramming having no other goal than GPA maintenance.
If an honest assessment of where learning ranks in college education and the pervasiveness of strategies rendering the whole "industry" merely a revenue business and society-wide personnel agency (certify the mix of grit and pragmatism that spells success in the economy), doctoring of grades seems less offensive than against the more polyannish fantasy of "honest" meritocracy.
Frazier remains healthy? By what measure? After being taught by every example for years and years that cheating is absolutely warranted as long as it allows him to play ball, I would hazard a guess that Frazier is anything BUT emotionally healthy after leaving SMU. He is a victim of the worst sort of exploitation. Shame on his coaches, SMU, the NCAA, and every person who manipulated this young man to their own ends. A nine game sanction is no penalty at all.
29
Perhaps his treatment by adults should be considered a form of child abuse.
10
Don't watch sports. Play them.
5
Didn't SMU athletics learned anything from their NCAA "Death Sentence" of years ago? Criminy, and they're supposed to be an institution of higher learning -- with the emphasis on learning...
11
I still recall the words of an otherwise forgotten prized recruit, whose college ambitions had been stalled for several years boasting that after three attempts, he was confident he would PASS his ACTs. Since "passage" in the eyes of the NCAA was an amazingly low score just above 50%, this academic barrier seemed modest for someone who had hoped to be college material for years.
2
The tragedy is that there are no adults in the room. Criminal acts may have been committed here - where is the district attorney's office to investigate?
3
Actually, to me the tragedy is that there lost of adults in the room -- it's just that none of them had any sense of morality. The only character in this story who turns out to be even somewhat honest is the young man who trusted these cynical excuses for human beings with his future.
Another in the litany of the murky world of college athletics. The various professional leagues should have their own farm systems - like football(soccer) clubs do all over the world. College athletics should have no scholarships - just financial aid. Students who want academics and play a sport will be able to do so and folks who want to play professionally will have their shot. Amateur college athletics in the big time sports - basketball, football is a farce.
9
When are our universities going to focus on their prime responsibility of educating our young people instead of fronting for the NFL and the NBA?
These athletic programs have evolved into massive money making machines for colleges nation wide, while the professional sports leagues sit back and then pick off the cream of the crop in their draft... free of charge.
Those who don't make the cut face a disappointing future.
Let the professional leagues set up their own farm systems similar to baseball and make their own investments in the future of their organizations. Stop using the public trust and the fate of our children to fund their enormously profitable enterprises.
These athletic programs have evolved into massive money making machines for colleges nation wide, while the professional sports leagues sit back and then pick off the cream of the crop in their draft... free of charge.
Those who don't make the cut face a disappointing future.
Let the professional leagues set up their own farm systems similar to baseball and make their own investments in the future of their organizations. Stop using the public trust and the fate of our children to fund their enormously profitable enterprises.
11
It could be added to this excellent article that colleges and universities have actively introduced courses and majors that are very weak in substance for the purpose of keeping athletes eligible. Complicity goes beyond high schools and the NCAA - it includes university and college presidents and faculty.
19
Gee, turning college athletics into a billion dollar entertainment industry has caused some difficulties? Wow, what a shock.
33
Billion dollar industry? Chump change. College athletics involves tens of billions annually.
The Parent should be held more accountable than the coaches. It is the responsibility of the parent to protect gu o ld their child in right direction. Sadly the $ clouded the vision. I hope, in the future he receives the proper guildence. He can bounce back and teach future youths abut the pit falls and mantipulation of the sport.
1
You're right that no one generally has the student's best interests at stake more than his or her parents, but in this case he was let down at home too. Who else will be his guide? Those closest to him have too many stars in their eyes.
Methodist: grade fixer, cheat,? The University Regents are in or their basketball program is out.
1
Colleges and Universities should TEACH students. Money for that central mission is in short supply. NO college or university money should be spent on sports. Colleges and universities should encourage donors to give to EDUCATIONAL programs, not sports.
Sadly, Colleges and Universities are teaching their young students a grossly inappropriate lesson -- that wheeling, dealing, lying, back-room deals, and falsified grades are acceptable. None are.
Sadly, Colleges and Universities are teaching their young students a grossly inappropriate lesson -- that wheeling, dealing, lying, back-room deals, and falsified grades are acceptable. None are.
15
Apparently Keith Frazier never had an actual childhood, being treated as an athletic commodity from an early age. May he have the foresight and honest guidance to complete his education, get away from all of the leeches that surround him and lead a normal life.
Even for the few who grab the prize of a professional career, the end result is too often a physically damaged, uneducated, middle-aged broke guy with decades of mediocrity to look forward to. A fool and his money will be parted.
What makes it worse is that the adult leeches happily bounce along raking in millions of dollars leaving busted up young lives in their wake. All for our entertainment.
Even for the few who grab the prize of a professional career, the end result is too often a physically damaged, uneducated, middle-aged broke guy with decades of mediocrity to look forward to. A fool and his money will be parted.
What makes it worse is that the adult leeches happily bounce along raking in millions of dollars leaving busted up young lives in their wake. All for our entertainment.
47
Hoe does he complete his education - by getting an actual high school diploma? It's fairly clear from the article that he is NOT prepared for college even now. This is the kind of kid who, were he not an athlete, would benefit from something like Job Corps. They could help him get a GED and learn a skill.
3
Here's news. No one cares about a kid's education if they themselves don't care about it.
13
Agree to a point.
"When the N.C.A.A. barred the Mustangs from postseason play in September, Brown called a team meeting. Frazier stood up and, in a loud, quavering voice, insisted that Brown tell everyone the truth: It was all Frazier’s fault.
He ran out of the room in tears.
By early winter, Frazier had lost his starting position and was coming off the bench. This was not his hoop dream. After leaving S.M.U., Frazier transferred to North Texas, where his A.A.U. coaches have connections."
My read is that Keith was held accountable [tough love rather than coddling] and he childishly [?] ran away to someone who knew/coached hims since 8th grade. Lets see, helping a young man grow up [I consider personal responsibility a prerequisite to adulthood and maturity] as opposed someone who undeniably knew [as AAU coach they probably know more than parents] what was going on at every step.
From what is reported here, SMU didn't abandon the kid, even after all the trials, travails, and sanctions; Keith quit SMU!
Interesting reading as counterpoint: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/sports/basketball/a-leg-rebuilt-a-life...
"When the N.C.A.A. barred the Mustangs from postseason play in September, Brown called a team meeting. Frazier stood up and, in a loud, quavering voice, insisted that Brown tell everyone the truth: It was all Frazier’s fault.
He ran out of the room in tears.
By early winter, Frazier had lost his starting position and was coming off the bench. This was not his hoop dream. After leaving S.M.U., Frazier transferred to North Texas, where his A.A.U. coaches have connections."
My read is that Keith was held accountable [tough love rather than coddling] and he childishly [?] ran away to someone who knew/coached hims since 8th grade. Lets see, helping a young man grow up [I consider personal responsibility a prerequisite to adulthood and maturity] as opposed someone who undeniably knew [as AAU coach they probably know more than parents] what was going on at every step.
From what is reported here, SMU didn't abandon the kid, even after all the trials, travails, and sanctions; Keith quit SMU!
Interesting reading as counterpoint: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/sports/basketball/a-leg-rebuilt-a-life...
Yeah but the kid learns his values from the so-called adults around him. Frazier never stood a chance given his environment.
Sarah,
I have had classes with star football players and there is usually one requirement for them to pass--- They have to show up. That's all this kid had to do.
I have had classes with star football players and there is usually one requirement for them to pass--- They have to show up. That's all this kid had to do.
1
When a kid shows phenomenal athletic talent everyone pays attention to him and helps develop his skills. But those same people pay little attention to his educational development. If they did, we wouldn't have issues about grades or test scores. But there's no pay for the crowd from that. No full stadiums, no scalpers ticket sales, no agents fees, no under the table gratuities.
The only thing that comes from and emphasis on education is a well rounded young man, able to make his way in the world as a contributing citizen. Once upon a time that was also the goal of college athletics. But look where we are now.
The only thing that comes from and emphasis on education is a well rounded young man, able to make his way in the world as a contributing citizen. Once upon a time that was also the goal of college athletics. But look where we are now.
5
It is a disgrace when high schools care more about their athletic success than their academic success. It is a disgrace when parents look at a child and only see dollar signs. It is sad that a child is taught that cheating is OK and even helped to cheat by the adults that surround him. It is a disgrace that colleges and the NCAA have a business model for athletic success that outweighs their educational mission. They are all greedy hypocrites, along with the manufacturers of sports equipment, the boosters, and the media networks.
The solution is not, as some propose, to make college athletics even more professional by paying the players. The solution is for public institutions (both high schools and colleges) to get out of interscholastic athletics entirely. Why should taxpayers support this system? Private schools can do what they want, so long as they run their sports departments as separate, for-profit enterprises that are regulated and taxed like any business. Talented athletes who are not interested in education should play for professional teams when they're ready.
The solution is not, as some propose, to make college athletics even more professional by paying the players. The solution is for public institutions (both high schools and colleges) to get out of interscholastic athletics entirely. Why should taxpayers support this system? Private schools can do what they want, so long as they run their sports departments as separate, for-profit enterprises that are regulated and taxed like any business. Talented athletes who are not interested in education should play for professional teams when they're ready.
16
Something similar happened to a classmate in high school. He was recruited by an elite college to take the geometry position on its math team. We was kicked out when they discovered he lied about lettering in dodge ball.
67
Yes, but as long as he could "code" he was gold in Silicon Valley and is now there founding a siren site on how to get rich without college.
Maybe part of the problem is the attention the media pays to all sports collegiate and professional.
As for Frazier, we don't know what his SAT's were, but the fact that all the attention is focused on his GPA suggests his SAT's were ok. Nobody denies that Frazier was an immature kid who could only succeed with help. Many ballplayers in his position attend a postgraduate prep school or a junior college for a year or two. In retrospect, that was the way to go.
Frazier has no money and it's hypocritical to criticize under the table payments to a dirt poor kid while there is a call for payment of athletes for their services.
As for Brown, he has nothing left to prove about his coaching. He's one of the greatest ever. I suspect he stepped over the line here because, unwisely, he believed that Frazier was necessary to his program and, unwisely, he stepped over the line on behalf of a kid like himself.
The NCCA has a lot of honorable rules, and they must be followed. But I am not gonna get all hot and bothered when a caring coach steps over the line for a needy kid. And I suspect Frazier benefited from the relationship, He never got into trouble with the law at SMU. Last night, at North Texas, he was arrested for not paying back traffic tickets. Another poor black kid who may be heading to jail for driving while black.