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I was reading an article on ESPN about the investigations going on at Georgia with the basketball program. Apparently they have classes like "Coaching Principles and Strageties of Basketball." Now I love my basketball, but is this for real? How can the University get away with course offerings like that? I guess I am just really naive but that is freaking unbelievable! Here's the link: <A HREF="http://espn.go.com/ncb/news/2003/0304/1517912.html" TARGET=_blank>http://espn.go.com/ncb/news/2003/0304/1517912.html</A>

Welcome to the world of state schools! Courses by that name, and others of similar nomenclature, are not uncommon. Check out some online college course offerings. I'm sure some of these require registration through the athletic department "academic" advisers.

That's a bunch of baloney, if schools are going to do that, they might as well start paying the kids, cause if those are the type of classes they are taking, their education is worthles, and they are getting nothing in return for playing at that school, unless every single person in that class is looking to become a coach.

Obviously, some who take these "courses" plan to become coaches, some take them solely to maintain or acquire eligibility, and some enroll for "elective" credit that would count toward total hours and GPA, but is not required by the degree plan. We used to make light of "basket-weaving", but it's the real deal!

What kind of classes do you suppose Dement took as a PE Major at East Carolina? I will gurantee that at least one of them had a similar name, and given ECU's academic rep., it was probably a 400 level course.

How can students still need to commit academic fraud if they are all taking courses like this.

you guys failed to notice an even more incredible fact-the teacher of the Georgia class was Jim Herrick, Jr the son of the Head Coach ans assistant coach himself. Next we could have classes like "How to Keep Morons Eligible" coached by Jackie Sherrill.

I vaguely remember that Coach Prewitt taught a similar course back when we have a PE major, and that Sammy Hervey took that class.

SMU did offer a class equivalent to that, as well as a class in coaching football and classes in badminton and volleyball and weight lifting, etc. when we had a PE major. I dont see what everyone is laughing at, if we are going to scream about the need for "Athlete Friendly Majors" and for a PE department to help the transfer of JC players, we dont have any room to give Georgia a hard time just for offering this class. Most schools that have PE or Biomechanics or Recreation as a major will offer something similar.
The danger with these classes is when they become subverted as a trick to keep athletes eligible. Tarkanian did something similar at UNLV, when a "Dance" class that was only open to athletes for registration, and was held in a closed gym, turned out to be an extra 3 hours per week of practice time for the basketball team.

Well, I for one am glad that we no longer offer degrees in PE or recreation, regardless of how it affects our recruiting...of course when it happened I doubt that it helped one of my favorite faculty, but she came through it ok and I think has a much better position becuase of it.

Years after Coach Prewitt was head basketball coach, he taught a Racquetball course at Dedman that I took (I was probably the only student who realized who Coach Prewitt was).

One day, after giving the class instructions as to the rules of game, he asked if there were any questions. I said “Who was the last SMU basketball coach to win a SWC Championship?” The whole class seemed perplexed by my line of questioning until Coach Prewitt responded…”That would be me.”

I support PE courses for athletes and students as long as they are legitimate. Since this can be open to abuse, oversight should not be with the athletic department.

To argue that some schools abuse PE courses/degrees, therefore we should not offer it, strikes me of being too Pye-ish. I believe PE degrees are good for our athletic department and good for our university. Just run them with integrity. We can all agree on that.

I agree, nothing wrong with a PE major that is run with credibility. What I find interesting is that most of you that have posted above seem almost surprised that such classes exist in all of the large state schools. I see that as either a reflection of how long it has been since SMU has actually fielded championship teams in the major sports or that we as SMU fans are incredibly naive. I have come to believe that nothing that the large state schools do when it comes to competing for championships is anything but credible. It has gotten to the point that the large state schools are, for the most part, an academic wasteland for athletes. I am talking in context of what schools like SMU, Rice, TCU, Vanderbelt, Tulane, Stanford and Duke offer their student athletes. This is just my gut feeling based on what I have read and observed in the media. Nothing concrete to support this opinion.

As a Physical Education degree holder from SMU I would like to let you know that I think SMU needs to bring this degree program back. Now here is why.
One, athletes enjoy sports and look to coaching a career.
Two, having coaches at local high schools promotes SMU to the prep athlete helping SMU recruiting.
and finally, to earn this degree PE majors have to take the same Biology, Chemisty, Anatomy and others as in any of the sciences.

Yes, it could be abused but I doubt that at SMU.
G

Agreed, BUS. This administration would not tolerate abuse.