Clem's son "special admits" 58.7% of athletes

[Goldtimer]

Clem\'s son "special admits" 58.7% of athletes

... vs. 3.8% for the entering freshmen as a whole.

If it's 58.7% for all S-As, imagine what it is for football.

Perhaps this has something to do with the superior athleticism we saw in many positions on the field Saturday. We sure were getting outrun and outjuked a lot.

Are we at a unfair disadvantage when playing Clem's son?

Shades of Ford. It seems whenever Clemson is doing well in football it's time to look under the hood to see what's going on.

The NCAA certification committee says a plan for addressing this and other issues (see link below for details) will be required for recertification of the Clemson athletic program.

Becky Bowman, Clemson's compliance director, acknowledges Clemson has problems: "They're just asking us to report on the implementation of the plan. We noted that we didn't fulfill all the problems in our first plan."

Obviously, Clemson must comply with the same rules as everyone else in regards to a specific S-A, so we can only assume they got in trouble overall because they pushed the envelope in many cases.

Of course, comparing S-As to the general student body at schools which vary widely in admissions requirements is inherently unfair, but other schools with much higher avg. SATs for incoming freshmen; like GT, Vandy, Northwestern and Standord; haven't received letters, so the problem has to be deeper than that.

See the link in the BUZZ for the full story from the Anderson Independent-Mail:

http://www.andersonsc.com/stories/story_page.asp?id=68430

 

[bugboy]

Re: Clem\'s son "special admits" 58.7% of athletes

You ask if we are at an unfair disadvantage when competing with Clemson...

I don't think we are. We're 9-11 against them since joining the ACC. That's pretty darn good. And we were 4-5 against them from '83-'91, which is when they were at their strongest.

Our 2 programs are at about the same level from an athleticism standpoint. The main difference is that they have about 30,000 more fans than we do and a bigger stadium. Other than that, we compete well with Clemson.

Next year, we need to take care of them in our own house.

 

[Goldtimer]

Re: Clem\'s son "special admits" 58.7% of athletes

You're quoting results, which we all know from memory or the media guide. (You could have also quoted the overall series record, which is heavily in our favor.) I was asking whether they have an advantage as a result of having better players on the field, of average, as a result of allowing more "special admits." A disadvantaged team can still win, if it plays a smart game (something I can't say we did Saturday).

 

[goldmember]

Re: Clem\'s son "special admits" 58.7% of athletes

It depends on what they mean by 'special admits'. You could argue that the majority of our athletes are 'special admits' if you mean that they would not of gotten in without thier athletic ability.

 

[bugboy]

Re: Clem\'s son "special admits" 58.7% of athletes

Originally posted by Goldtimer:
You're quoting results, which we all know from memory or the media guide. (You could have also quoted the overall series record, which is heavily in our favor.) I was asking whether they have an advantage as a result of having better players on the field, of average, as a result of allowing more "special admits." A disadvantaged team can still win, if it plays a smart game (something I can't say we did Saturday).

<font size="2" face="Arial, Verdana, Sans-Serif">But we also admit S-A that probably wouldn't get in otherwise. What does "special admit" mean?

My point is that if we were at some sort of disadvantage, then it would show up on the field. It hasn't. We've gone back and forth with these guys for 20 years. Other than a stretch in the late 80's, we've always had close games. And I would say we've had, on average, just about as many good athletes as they've had.

 

[GTTerrific]

Re: Clem\'s son "special admits" 58.7% of athletes

I saw GT athletes outrunning and outjuking some CU athletes at times as well. I don't think CU is any more talented than we are. They out played us on that given day and deserved to win. By no means to I think that CU is "superior" or has "superior" athletism to GT.

Hamilton is a gifted athlete. They have many of their team, but some does GT. Tony Hollings is a gifted athlete. Freddie Smith is a gifted athlete. Daryl Smith, Key fox, Rico, and a ton of GT players are really super great athletes.

I hear your point about the advantage or disadvantage. I look at it this way. They do it their way and we do it ours as far as granting a 'ship and admittance. My hope and prayer is that we do it better.

 

[Culb]

Re: Clem\'s son "special admits" 58.7% of athletes

I'm going to break this down into a very non-PC format.

The question is are we at a disadvantage because Clemson has lower standards for their athletes than we do. The answer is no.

To assume that we are at a disadvantage is to assume that "dumb" athletes are better than "smart" athletes. I don't believe that this is true.

I do believe that there are more "dumb" athletes simply based on the rule of averages. However, since there are a limited number of athletes that play on a given team, numbers don't apply...this isn't war.

Give me 22 "dumb" athletes and 22 "smart" athletes, and I'm willing to bet that they will perform about the same, given the same training and coaching. I'd even give an advantage to the "smart" athletes, because they may more likely to be able to make mental adjustments.

 

[Goldtimer]

Re: Clem\'s son "special admits" 58.7% of athletes

I hear ya, Culb, and certainly, given the same athletic abilities, I'd prefer the smartest of two players, but there are cases of specific players who are not known for their "smarts" and sometimes can hardly complete a sentence, yet execute like "geniuses" on the field, due to natural abilities, practice, and experience.

Take some of our one-der basketball players, for instance. They were a beauty to behold in action on the court, but not so smart in the classroom.

I think you'd agree a team made up of entirely of GT geeks would not stand a chance against varsity players with the lowest SATs and GPAs in each position. Sure, they might outsmart them with a trick play or two, but beyond that it would be no contest.

I saw some very talented CU players juking and jiving around our D players who were trying to untangle their feet. I also saw some beautiful runs by Tony Hollings, and some good play by other Jackets. But, overall, I had the sense that we were playing against a team with more natural talent on average.

But, the Yellow Jackets are not minced meat, and we can beat BYU if we can contain their passing game.

Long term, I'd say we're gonna need 2-3 really good (top 25) recruiting classes and some smarter coaching to reach the plateau of BCS level 3 years out of 5.

 

[beeware]

Re: Clem\'s son "special admits" 58.7% of athletes

Two high school buddies had decided to go to college to major in math...one deciding to go to TECH and the other to klimpsum.
So, on Thanksgiving break, they met back up in their home town and were talking about their experience so far in college.
The TECH guy says majoring in Math at TECH sure is tough; and his klimpsum buddy says yeah but it is tougher at klimpsum. So the TECH guys says...well just wait until you get in to Calculus....and his klimpsum buddy says...that's nothing...wait until you have to take FRACTIONS.

 

[Goldtimer]

Re: Clem\'s son "special admits" 58.7% of athletes

That's not fractionally bad. That's all bad! :-)

Almost as bad as the old one about the Climpson Agri-Engineering student who went back to the farm for Thanksgiving dinner after his first quarter. His dad said, "Son, it's taken 'bout all I'm making on the lower 40 to send you to that high felutin school by a lake, and all you've been talking about is football. Say sumtin smart soes I can see you'se a learnin sumptin." The son thinks about what he learned in Algebra class, and says "Pi R Squared." His dad jumps up so fast he almost splits his overalls, and exclaims, "Dang, boy, they's messin you up! Everybody knows pie are round. Cornbread are square!"

Not sure which joke is older, your's or mine. ;-)

 

[beeware]

Re: Clem\'s son "special admits" 58.7% of athletes

G-timer,
Not sure which is older, but your's definitely ranks higher on the 'groan' factor.