the academics argument....

[Geetee]

if something doesn't change in our Athletic Administration, then that's all we will have is...an academic argument with a bunch of losses.

Money and fans will dwindle, but at least we'll have...the academic argument.

Gailey will be defended by...the academic argument.

Moore and Braine will keep their job because...you guessed it.

Our new stadium will look great filled with FSU, Clemson, and Ugag fans...unless something changes.

But we can dern sure debate our academics...and keep on assuming that FSU et al don't have good educational programs for their students.

Do we have good academics? of course. do other schools? of course. Are we on the right track with academics and athletics...my fear is that we are not. I feel GT is at a crossroads.

Let's back the team, but press for change.

 

[ncjacket]

So you made half an argument. You think something needs to change. But you never said what. There are probably a lot of people on here who would agree with you if they knew what you were getting at. Here's my take.

1) I have no problem with expanded curriculum that would appeal more to potential SAs as well as other students. Sports medicine/training, athletic administration, are two ideas I've seen kicked around. I'm not for PE or some other "easy" major tailored specifically for athletes.

2) SAs have to do their work and make progress towards their degree. We have to commit the resources to help them get there and we also have to make them understand they have a requirement to attend class, turn in assignments, etc. If they don't, they shouldn't play.

3) We have to be careful in recruiting to be sure we find kids who have the ability and interest in doing the class work. They don't have to be geniuses, and I don't mind taking some chances, but we have to put alot of time in looking their character. Then #2 kicks in.

4) Our AA and especially the academic advisors have to take the position that if an athlete fails out, they failed. Coaches have to be on the front line, they are the only ones who can really get kids attention.

One big problem we face is that no matter what Tech wants to do in terms of curriculum there's no guarantee that the Board of Regents would let us do it. Tech's mission is pretty narrow so we can't just do what we want. Perhaps what we need is to more fully expound on the other options we have and make sure kids know about them.

 

[jimbobGT]

Originally posted by ncjacket:
2) SAs have to do their work and make progress towards their degree. We have to commit the resources to help them get there and we also have to make them understand they have a requirement to attend class, turn in assignments, etc. If they don't, they shouldn't play.

<font size="2" face="Arial, Verdana, Sans-Serif">This is where we failed miserably. I have a couple of questions. Folks in the GTAA should definitely have paid more attention to how the students were doing, but did the SAs who failed out ask for help? Obviously the new system had so many cracks that we allowed so many kids to fail, but did the SAs tell someone that they were in trouble?

 

[ncjacket]

Somebody help me here. It may have been in one of the articles but what I'm still not clear on is whether the players actually flunked classes, or whether they didn't take enough hours or the right courses. The last info I saw on Hollings, for instance, made it sound like there's no way he can get back on track to be eligible. That would seem to be a problem with number of hours or not taking the right courses to complete % requirements towards degree. Anybody actually know what the deal was?

 

[smack-jacket]

One question I have is what happened or took place that would make the coaching staff and AA to not pay attention to the progress and status of the players in their academics. Maybe I'm not up to date but it seems like not only coaches but the players, themselves would throw up some kind of caution flag saying that I've got a problem and I need help. Maybe the players did but they just could not cut it. What is the major change that happened between O'leary and CG. To me it's like letting my 14 year old daughter go out every night and not asking where they are going or what time they will be home.