The Diamondback: Big 10 Introduces Proposal to Rule Freshmen Ineligible for Football, Men's BBall

[Elessar78]

A lot of the comments against the move in this thread focus on how it will negatively impact the sports programs. Exactly. It's a move to put the scholastic needs of the students first for a change.

 

When I was a freshman in the late 90s at orientation they told us a stat that in the general student population 25% of freshmen don't return for their sophomore year. These are kids who got into an academically selective BigTen school who are there for academic reasons solely. 

 

Put athletics on the back burner. Life will go on.

 

Take it even a step further: vacate wins, trophies, titles if that class' graduation rate after 5 years isn't above 75%.

[Kosher Ham]

I question whether a rule like this would have helped or hurt the one and done players  ( or straight from HS) ?

 

As a prime athlete...every year you play takes it's toll. Also could hurt future earning potential.

 

College made you play longer and you lose millions of potential dollars.

 

Perhaps I am overthinking this, I feel it is not the Universities job to limit, but rather to enhance earning potential.

 

The kids that get these scholarships should indeed be in real classes and certainly one of them should be Financials 101 with Prof. McD5 (I think that was his name).

 

Joke is about McD, truth that class should be a requirement for every college student.

[Elessar78]

Let's just end the charade and move college FB and BB into it's own professional "youth league"

[Burgold]

Let's just end the charade and move college FB and BB into it's own professional "youth league"

The problem with this is that 95% of college BB and FB players don't belong in a professional youth league.  That percentage ought to be allowed to be student athletes.  The remaining 5% are athlete students. Those are the guys who might make it.

 

The question is what should be done about that top 5% or more that top 1% who is almost immediately marketable in the pro-athlete job sphere.  Maybe the answer for them is a minor league (although football has sort of tried minor leagues several times and never found an economic model that could work... world league, arena, etc. all failed).

 

The major question being asked here is what is the real purpose of college.  The answer, I think, is dependent on who you are.  If you are a Zuckerberg or a Kobe than the value of college is practically nil other than to make connections or get that audition tape to get you into the bigs. If you are not that transcendent talent or entrepreneur then college has a lot more utility.

[JoeWolf990]

if the pro leagues gave the HS kids a pathway to work, then I would have no problems with this.

[steve09ru]

Does anyone have the number of basketball players who actually leave college for the pro's before their junior year (when their major and relevant classes would start kicking in)?