ND Fans Want Championships, Not Necessarily High GPAs (DSR)

[Granger Irish]

Recently, Domer Sports Report posed a poll question. The question was what would you rather see from ND sports programs? An overall team gpa (grade point average) of over 3.0 or a winning, National Championship program, but a gpa of under 3.0?

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[no.1IrishFan]

I like what Ray Williams said, I think that's the same way I feel too.

 

[BGIF]

Recently, Domer Sports Report posed a poll question. The question was what would you rather see from ND sports programs? An overall team gpa (grade point average) of over 3.0 or a winning, National Championship program, but a gpa of under 3.0?

That's a meaningless poll based upon a meaningless question and a sample of all of 117 SPORTS FANS, isn't it?

The difference in your baseline is a GPA of 0.1 or less. Hardly a significant difference. Do you really think a GPA of 2.9 would have generated 6 more wins last season or beaten MSU in OT and the Bush Push in '05 and won the Championship Bowl for an NC that year?

The team GPA isn't an issue. Should ND admit outstanding athletes who are marginal students, the Prop 48 guys, into the program would be a significant question. But also meaningless. You could do a poll on it, it's been done before, and it's not going to change anything.

"But if ND Admissions had approved Randy Moss ..." He still wouldn't graduated.

ND Admissions requirements aren't easy because ND isn't an easy place for academic success. You have to have the abiltiy to handle the work including the prerequisite coursework and then you have to the commitment to do the work. Not all athletes want to do that. Carson Palmer didn't, David Terrell didn't. Instead they took the easy path and chose USC and UM and played against ND.

Many state institutions have a student body where 50% of the students fail to graduate. At ND the number is closer to 5%. Huge difference. At ND freshman take the same courses. What is the benefit of ND admitting a guy with 4.3 speed that hasn't taken Algebra, as an example? He'd flunk out his first semester because he's not prepared. How about the guy with the 4th grade reading level? He'd excel if ND only gave him a chance, right?

Paddy Mullins has a 2.2 GPA entering his Senior Year of HS. He claimed he just didn't apply himself. ND Admissions told him, "START NOW!" He did, showed significant improvement and got admitted. Of course, he missed Spring Ball this year as he was academically ineligible. Did he fail to apply himself again or is he in too deep a hole due to poor HS preparation? ND has an excellent Tutoring Program to help the athletes focus on classes and assignments. But if the student lacks the fundamentals there's only so much they can do.

Last numbers I saw are now several years old but had the ND freshman class with an average SAT of 1350. That's out of 1600, not 3 parts. And I believe they were in the Top 5% of their HS graduating class. Tell me how a kid with a 2.2, a SAT of 800, competes in an ND classroom. Kinda of like a 5.0 40 yd dash running back competing for starting TB, isn't it?

At ND if you don't compete successfully in the classroom you don't get to compete on the field. Athletes like Robert Smith are going to get in trouble with a coach because he wants to study of test rather than watch opponent game film. Athletes like Jabari Holloway don't get to start games at ND if they miss practice even because of a class. He Holloway cut class for practice he wouldn't gotten to play.

ND isn't Michigan or Tennessee, you don't get 3 credits for Introduction to Walking and 3 more for Advanced Walking. There are cake majors to hide the "dumb (or lazy) jocks". You don't get to cruise like Katzenmoyer did at OSU and magically get 3 A's in summer school in Golf, Music Appreication, or Aids Awareness to get eligible and then not take any classes your Senior year and stay eligible. When the press got hold of that the OSU president was "stunned" to learn that you could be a senior at OSU without making any progress toward graduating. About 5 years ago or less the SEC Commissioner was "shocked" to learn that the previous bowl season, 6 players in the SEC played in Bowls after they had recorded a 0.0 GPA. Now you can't do that in the SEC. You have to take and pass a minimum of 2 courses. And they have student athletes that have difficulty doing that. Perhaps that's why they play for the NC so often.

 

[Granger Irish]

BGIF:

Thanks for your in-depth opinion. The article was just about our opinions of the poll. The idea was which was more important to a person: the gpa or the National Championship. The results look like it is the National Championship. As long as a ND student or prospect is not a thug or incapable of entering, who cares what the gpa is? I maintain that there are students who have the numbers, but maybe shouldn't be at ND. On the other hand, I am sure there are a lot of good character students who do not have the scores or gpa that should be at ND.