COLUMN: At USU, Academics really do come first

    In response to Liz Emery’s April 6 column regarding an academic priority for student-athletes, I agree with the principle of academic primacy. However, most of her research and citations are outdated, inaccurate or not valid.  

    Academic reform in intercollegiate athletics, spearheaded a decade ago by the late-NCAA President Dr. Myles Brand, makes moot much of what Ms. Emery states as purported fact. For starters, student-athletes actually have more rigorous academic standards to meet than do non-athletes. They must meet progress-toward-degree metrics every semester/academic year to remain eligible. Essentially, if they are not a student first in order to meet these metrics, they will not represent their sport or this institution as an athlete.

    I would also argue her assertion that our student-athletes underachieve with regard to GPA. Ms. Emery cites MSNBC posting a national average college GPA of 3.22. I searched MSNBC and could find nothing on this. Her source, I discovered, was Answers.com. On their website, the question “What is the national average GPA for college students?” is asked.  Answer: “3.22 says msnbc.” No study was cited. No population given. No link to research or author. No data whatsoever. I’m quite certain any sociology, psychology or English professor would discredit this source as unreliable. Furthermore, according to the Utah State University Office of Analysis, Assessment and Accreditation, outside of an independent research study no entity is asking for or collecting college GPA data. This data is not reported to the U.S. Department of Education, which would be the only reliable source outside of a comprehensive, multi-university study.

    That said, we in athletics track approximately 390 student-athletes, of which – after the Fall 2010 semester – 192 had a 3.20 or greater cumulative GPA. This amounts to 49.2 percent of our student-athlete population. Do we brag about this? Absolutely. We also brag that we have had more Academic-All Conference selections (3.00 GPA or better) than our conference counterparts in nine of the past 10 years. Furthermore, a key factor Ms. Emery fails to mention regarding “earning their scholarship” is that student-athletes are engaged in practice, conditioning, weight training and film study. They easily log 30 or more hours per week in these activities, carry from 12-18 credits and still make time to study. I think, given their physical and mental exhaustion, our composite student-athlete GPA of 3.125 is quite remarkable.

    Ms. Emery also cites an article from Thesportjournal.org, which states college athletes earn fewer degrees, take longer to do so and with less demanding curricula. This article was published in 1990, 21 years ago. As mentioned, academic reform in college athletics has evolved lightyears in just the last 10 years alone. I wasn’t in this field 21 years ago, and Ms. Emery was likely a toddler, so to be fair these data may have been accurate … in 1990. 

    Every bachelor’s degree at USU has the same curricula and requirements for student-athletes as it does for non-athletes; there are no student-athlete specific majors. Student-athletes are earning the very same degrees taking the same classes as non-athletes. There are no double standards in the classroom. With regard to earning fewer bachelor’s degrees, as the 1990 study postulates, the opposite is actually true today. The Department of Education tracks all students entering college on a six-year clock to graduate. The most recent report, which is public information, shows that USU student-athletes graduated at a 73 percent rate, compared to the USU general student body rate of 53 percent.  Furthermore, the four-year-class cohort shows 60 percent of USU student-athletes graduated, compared to 48 percent of the USU student body. In my 10-plus years at USU, these rate differences have been the norm rather than the exception. Our goal in athletics is to graduate our student-athletes in four-and-a-half years, or fewer, which is a bit less than the national average of 4.7 years according to the College Board.

    Are there student-athletes who would just as soon play their sport and not attend classes? Sure. But that does not mean they do not take academics seriously. For example, of the six men’s basketball seniors this year, four will graduate this semester, and two earned their bachelor’s degree in 2010. Given the amount of class time missed due to travel for spring competition, this too, is quite remarkable.

    Whereas Ms. Emery believes collegiate athletics, with regard to academics, will not change anytime soon, the reality is they have been changing all along … and will continue to do so.

Brian Evans is the USU associate athletics director.