Does the Chicago Tribune have an agenda?

[The Gold Helmets]

Did you guys see the two recent articles implying ND is relaxing their academic requirements for football players? It was written by Brian Hamilton, but I don't know if that was him asking Kelly about it at the presser. Does anyone know?

I wrote about the two articles and included links in my blog post

Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly Meets with Media to Kick Off the 2011 Season.

 

[GoldenIsThyFame]

Oh this should be good.

In short YES. The Trib is nothing more than the paper you put on the bottom of your pet cage around these parts.

 

[TheTurningPoint]

Brian Hamilton has written about ND not being able to get players in the past. Now this.

I know its his job to report and to get people to buy the paper, which in the day of technology is probably an uphill battle. but he is def on the edge of being a thorn in the side of ND.

I know that the "rape" stories should have been told bc that is a very serious matter reguardless if it was football player/coach/student/regular joe, but the way he handled that was classless to the family, the girl(s), and ND.

 

[The Gold Helmets]

I guess I really never noticed. I don't usually read the Chicago Tribune though. The two articles and the questions at the presser did pop out at me.

 

[irish1958]

The Chicago Tribune's "fair and balanced" approach has been suspect ever since the 1948 fiasco.
You need to be extremely skeptical about anything that is published on those pages.

 

[AvesEvo]

I haven't seen the article, but ND does have lesser admission standards for athletes... right? If it is true then Hamilton is just reporting the truth.

 

[tadman95]

Does the Chicago Tribune have an agenda?

Yea, sell papers!

 

[IrishInFl]

 

[NDinL.A.]

Gold Helmet, yes, Hamilton has a MAJOR agenda against ND. Big time. And yes, it was him asking those questions at the press conferences. On Monday, he was trying to goad Michael Floyd into lying, but Michael wouldn't bite. He kept asking Michael Floyd if he had been to any bars lately (people have seen him at some), hoping that Mike would say no and then Hamilton could burn him with evidence, but Michael calmly told him he had been to some in social gatherings but that he hadn't had any alcohol. Obviously Hamilton was disappointed that he had no story.

The guy is scum, plain and simple. He was trying to burn Kelly on the rape-that-never-happened, writing story after story, trying to create a conspiracy that was never there. Buck Frian Hamilton, and I mean that in the meanest way possible.

 

[BeauBenken]

Buster or Whiskey...I'm waiting for someone to post a "Hater gonna hate" .gif or .jpeg

 

[clashmore_mike]

The best part of Kelly responding to Hamilton's question at the presser yesterday was his comment about asking Bob Davie. I thought that was a pretty clear shot at Hamilton's story.

 

[clashmore_mike]

 

[Pachuco]

Seriously?

Seriously?

Is this the same reporter who works the camera like he's never kissed a girl? Dude is painfully awkward. Maybe a player/coach ruffled his hair or gave him a noogie after an interview, and his ego couldn't handle it. Now, he seems to be on the warpath. I tend to side with the nerds, but this dweeb needs to check himself.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

How the ChiTrib gets away with having such a biased hack cover ND is beyond me.

Buster or Whiskey...I'm waiting for someone to post a "Hater gonna hate" .gif or .jpeg

 

[Veer option]

Kelly should send Nix out to smack that douche around.

 

[GoldenIsThyFame]

Is this the same reporter who works the camera like he's never kissed a girl? Dude is painfully awkward. Maybe a player/coach ruffled his hair or gave him a noogie after an interview, and his ego couldn't handle it. Now, he seems to be on the warpath. I tend to side with the nerds, but this dweeb needs to check himself.

Close, the guy you are referring to is Brian Bennett.

 

[kmoose]

Wow, what a hack job. This guy acts like ND is just now allowing some players in who may be merely good students. Tony Rice was a Prop 48 kid. There were all kinds of rumors that Chris Zorich's grades were mediocre at best. The only "fact" in the articles that I saw, to support the author's conclusions, was one kid who supposedly told a reporter that he scored a 17 on his ACT, in his junior year. Did they bother to try to find out if that same kid retook his ACT, and scored significantly higher the second time around?

However, it does look like ND's administration is backing off of some of it's more draconian policies. Jordan Prestwood's transfer from FSU is a good example. Notre Dame football notebook: Prestwood's transfer finally complete - wsbt.com

I'm not gonna get too irate about it, but it certainly seems like this Hamilton jackrag has a bone to pick.

 

[Pachuco]

Haha

Haha

Close, the guy you are referring to is Brian Bennett.

Wow. Personal apologies to Brian B. I stand corrected. I resume feeling sympathy for the guy, and side with a fellow nerd once again. Brian Hamilton - what's your excuse?

 

[Buster Bluth]

Buster or Whiskey...I'm waiting for someone to post a "Hater gonna hate" .gif or .jpeg

haha rest assured I wanted to, but I was watching my brother graduate from college.

and by watching him graduate, I mean surfing Irish Envy. I just didn't have my .gif stash in my tabs on the iPad.

Is that dedication for the first day of fall camp or what? hahah

 

[Irish To The Core]

I think Hamilton is trying to tip one of N.D.'s sacred cows (high academic standards) to create controversy in a big ND market. However there is clearly a difference in relaxing standards and adopting a more flexible approach.

Notre Dame's admissions people are working with Brian Kelly to help a few borderline kids clear the hurdles they face in the admission process. In the past the admissions department tended to operate in a less collaborative manner. I think the difference here is Brian Kelly. He has gone out of his way to get to know the staff all over the university and to engage everyone in a collegial fashion. In a very short period of time, he has developed a very broad network of colleagues at the university and his style has paid dividends.

I do believe that now when Kelly approaches admissions regarding a problematic recruit, the response is not a hardline "No he doesn't meet our standards" (as it was so often in the past) but rather, "Perhaps if the applicant were to do this or this, we could use those factors to admit him despite a lower SAT".

Residence Life (who were the poster boys for Draconian rule) have also lightened up and I believe that is largely due to the paradigm shift initiated by Coach Kelly.

So, I think Hamilton is looking at a rose and calling it a weed.

 

[peredonov]

Yes, $

That's it.

 

[crzychris]

I haven't seen the article, but ND does have lesser admission standards for athletes... right? If it is true then Hamilton is just reporting the truth.

Yes, but you rarely see any recruit with a HS GPA under 3.0, whereas any other BCS program can put kids who cannot handle a rigorous academic program in a generic "general studies" major. Honestly, when you look at college rosters it is disheartening to see how many players at other schools aren't getting the education they should be, making the so-called school more of a football factory. Yeah, athletes have an easier time getting in to ND, but no easier time when they are in school than any other student.

Also, the Ivies (including Harvard and Yale) have relaxed academic standards from general admits...I believe an Ivy athletic recruit has to have an ACT of 29, very high but wouldn't normally sniff an Ivy unless you were a legacy. All schools do it for athletes, this isn't something ND practices.

 

[Buster Bluth]

Also, the Ivies (including Harvard and Yale) have relaxed academic standards from general admits...I believe an Ivy athletic recruit has to have an ACT of 29, very high but wouldn't normally sniff an Ivy unless you were a legacy. All schools do it for athletes, this isn't something ND practices.

This is 100% true. My roommate and friend from high school was considering playing at Yale and I think he had a 29. Decided to go to Ohio State instead though.

The admission requirements everywhere are lowered for athletes. Why the Chicago Tribune can't comprehend that is beyond me.

 

[johnnykillz]

Regardless of their agenda, it is not honorable.

Some shunned senior editor must have been denied acceptance.

Most of us were.

That doesn't deny what is, The University of Notre Dame.

Jealousy of that variety, is surely unhealthy.

 

[dshans]

... The admission requirements everywhere are lowered for athletes. Why the Chicago Tribune can't comprehend that is beyond me.

Admissions, "everywhere" take into account more than raw GPA, SAT and ACT numbers. I think that my extracurriculars, including being a four year swim team member, (three as a letterman) played a role in my acceptance to ND. I didn't take the ACT's. My HS GPA was good but not in the top ten. My SAT's were solid but not in the elite echelon.

My point? Academic standards are balanced with possible/probable contributions to the community-at-large. Excellence in athletics can show dedication, determination, accomplishment, leadership and an ability to interact with both authority and compatriots. A desire to undergo the rigors of academics and football at Notre Dame is a definite plus.

That ND offers and provides the necessary (legal) help to elevate a possible 2.0 student to a potential 3.4 student is a credit to the university. This "service" is available to all students.

Rock On, ND!

 

[NankerPhelge]

I got turned down by ND out of high-school. Then I did very well at IU, despite myself, and was accepted for transfer. I learned later that I was the beneficiary of a campaign by Dean Waddick to get more local kids into the University, because he thought the local community that had been instrumental in supporting the University in its early days was being neglected to an extent by the insistence on ever-higher academic standards and Notre Dame's pride in being a "national" school. (I guess that could mean that all of us Granger hicks were "slower" than most of the other people in the country). I did OK, and got my degree (after a few bumps in the road). Maybe good old Dean Waddick changed his mind after I left?

 

[phgreek]

My AVATAR is primarily due to this Jackwagon...He is on my list of people to Slap the $hit out of on sight...

My list keeps growing...does that make me old and bitter?