Are Notre Dame's academic standards high for football players?

[GBdomer]

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[GBdomer]

I am a long time college football fan, and it has always been my understanding that Notre Dame has high academic standards for their college athletes. Is this true or not? If it is true, could this be one reason that ND isn't able to get the very top players--especially the top black athletes?


Thanks

 

[Endzone2]

You've actually gotten several straight answers to questions that are worded in a troll like manner whether that was intentional or not.

ND has had higher academic standards for a couple of decades. They've been upgraded several times through the last CENTURY. The requirement today are the same as they were under Rockne.

The NCAA requires recruits to have a core course GPA and test score (ACT or SAT) on a sliding basis. The lower the GPA the higher the corresponding test score has to be. For the past 2 years or so the NCAA has required 16 courses of math, science, etc in that Core GPA. ND has required 16 courses for more than 20 years.

ND took 3 Prop 48 (Partial Qualifiers) in it's history. Two were in football and one in basketball back in 1986.

ND requires all freshman to take the same courses called "Freshman Year of Studies". Thus there are no "cake" courses to hide the jocks. ND athletes have to compete with All-American talent on the field and in the classroom. The average ND student graduates in the Top 5 % of their HS class and has a SAT score of about 1350.

ND takes athletes with a lot less than that 1350 level score BUT those they do take have to be able to compete and stay eligible with a academically talented student body. There are no "Walking" and "Jogging" courses to get eligible on.

The ND coaches and faculty keep an eye on their students. If an athlete misses class, doesn't turn in assignments, he doesn't play. ND has a fine tutoring program NOT to do the work for the student athlete but to teach those that didn't learn how to study in high school, how to do it now.

Perennially ND has one of the highest, if not, the highest graduation rate for students AND student athletes regardless of race or sex.

ND also has a student code of conduct and dorm life that not all athletes wish to adhere to regardless of race or sex.

Not all HS athletes want to do the classwork that is required if they are to be successful in college. Many think they've got an NFL contract in their pocket and Coach "X" at Football U. has told them, "Don't worry about class. Homework's not a problem". A number of years ago an Auburn football player, an AU graduate, sued that university as he was a functional illiterate. He won his case. He couldn't read and hadn't acquired useful skills but he was passed on grade by grade because he played football. That won't happen at ND.

We've got threads in the ND football forum which discusses the topic in detail and backs up the data with specific cites.

Well, I'll take that to mean ND does have higher standards, and they actually take them seriously. This gives other schools an advantage in football and basketball because their players can spend more time in the weight room or working out or just doing nothing while at ND the players must go to class, must study, etc. Oklahoma is a school that comes to mind that couldn't care less about academics.

Your statement here is pretty meaningless:

Perennially ND has one of the highest, if not, the highest graduation rate for students AND student athletes regardless of race or sex.

When you throw in chick sports you can get the average up pretty high. The NCAA used to break down graduation rates by sport and race and sex. They would have the graduation rates for whites, blacks, hispanic and "other" in each sport. But, in this age of liberal dominance, the NCAA was forced to remove this annual report. Now it is a distant memory:

http://www.ncaa.org/grad_rates/2002/d1/index.html

Also I remember when the NCAA tried to raise the minimum SAT score from 820 to 900 for all D1A athletes. Two black coaches (John Thompson & John Chaney) took the NCAA to court, and the courts ruled against them. The NCAA didn't fight it. Part of this battle is that higher academic standards are perceived as being unfair to blacks since blacks average 200 points less on their SAT scores than whites do.

So, I think most colleges just pretend to care about academics for their football and basketball players. A few, like ND, actually do care, but given the strong current of political correctness that is against academics, I always have to wonder if it isn't all pretend at all schools. Also, the sports media (ESPN) couldn't care less about academics--or what their criminal records were before they came to college. Most D1A coaches making 4 million/year don't care either. Like I say, there is a very strong current against having academic standards for D1A football and basketball players other than just going through the motions and trying to keep up appearances. And, whether we will admit it or not, it centers around the black athlete--the fact that they naturally do much better in athletics than academics. But the standards IMHO should be much higher than they are now.