Have Academic Casualties...

[Stallion]

its impossible to be eligible with anything close to a core 1.3 GPA. The core GPA not the actual GPA is the GPA used on the sliding scale. Even if he had a 2.0 Core GPA he would have to score unrealistically high on his ACT to become eligible at SMU or anywhere else. I thought Fabyon said he raised his GPA high enough to qualify? Here's a link to the sliding scale

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cac ... M_SBQXaqzg

[Ikus]

Froggies following this thread. Kind of understand why they hate us.

http://www.killerfrogs.com/msgboard/ind ... pic=114856

Funniest part there is that they call their thread "ACCADEMIC troubles at SMU"

[NickSMU17]

Its amazing that they don't realize the differences in the 2 schools academics....We have no education/PE major....These kids have to either rough it in the communications dept. with all the Thetas, or take harder classes at Cox....most TCU kids can't even get into Cox...

[ReedFrawg]

Froggies following this thread. Kind of understand why they hate us.

http://www.killerfrogs.com/msgboard/ind ... pic=114856

Funniest part there is that they call their thread "ACCADEMIC troubles at SMU"

Rest assured the original poster caught hell for that misspelling!

[35straight]

Class of '04 had a graduation rate of %100. We won about 7 games, can't really remember. You can turn athletes into students, but you can't turn students into athletes.

[ponyboy]

OK, so I just skimmed all 8 pages here. Am I the only one who does not know who missed their grades? I am guessing that it has not been publicly announced yet, or did I truly miss it?

I guess we'll find out eventually.

[Junior]

Froggies following this thread. Kind of understand why they hate us.

http://www.killerfrogs.com/msgboard/ind ... pic=114856

Funniest part there is that they call their thread "ACCADEMIC troubles at SMU"

Rest assured the original poster caught hell for that misspelling!

My favorite was the guy who said "the grammer police are out". I guess the spelling police took the day off, though.

[Bergermeister]

I will be surprised if we had anybody "flunk out" - (that didn't want to)

[Get_Some_Ponies]

NCAA Rules
You need 24 credits a year, 18 of which have to come in Fall/ Spring. That means you can take 6 in summer school or a January intersession if that's an option. So in theory you could sign up for 12 hrs in the fall, drop two classes if you just really only played ball, pass 12 in the spring and you're fine. Summer school really only helps if you need to pull up a borderline GPA. If you screw it up you have to take and pass enough classes over the next term so that you average 12 passed hours over the preceding two semesters. So if you suck [deleted] in spring and pass 3 hours, it would take you two semesters to get back out there and that's if you can take a full load over summer and the fall. When you enter your third year you need to have completed 40% of your degree requirements. You also have to declare and you need to be halfway finished by that year.

SMU Thoughts
1.) If you only play ball and you're on campus you should be able to pass 3 classes a term which would take care of the degree progress and required credits aspect.
2.) Regarding GPA: I know players who were not allowed to drop courses they were failing. A new policy was put in mid-semester last Fall where Orsini has to sign off on student athlete drops. I understand that they're getting a "free" education but this seemed like a stupid budget concern that hurt athletes. If a random student was getting killed in some finance class they could drop it and try again next semester (even though Cox would probably give them hell). Some of our guys took it on the chin and couldn't drop. So let's say you're a really borderline guy at Tech who signed up for 15 hrs, drank a lot of beer and ended up dropping down to 6 which you passed at a 2.0. That athlete could take 6 hrs at Summer school and be fine. Same situation at SMU where that player can't drop and ends up with 2 Cs, 2Ds and an F. Congrats on the 1.4. Now you need 15 hrs of Bs to get the GPA up high enough.
3.) Can someone speak to the availability and depth of funding for summer school? Why don't we make every scholarship player or starter who has lettered go to Summer I? They can knock out 25% of the degree progress requirements between summer lifting and running.
4.) How much more money would it cost to have an extra attendance checker who is on the same loop only 70 minutes behind the first checker. Or is it considered impossible to ask a professor to check athlete attendance at the beginning and end of a course? Or make them sign in twice?
5.) How good are the academic advisers for athletes? I'm all for people majoring in Engineering, Finance, Applied Mathematics or whatever but let's make sure we've got the easiest routes those guys can take through those programs mapped out. We talk about the boost in recruiting and giving that comes from the bowl game. How f'ing awesome would it be to be watching a New Year's Day bowl with the Ponies kicking [deleted] and Brent Musburger going on about our Academic All Americas. Don't think that wouldn't open up a few wallets. Who knows...maybe even for Foreign Languages.
5.) Totally get and agree and understand that ultimately you need to be responsible for your education as a student athlete, that it's on you, and that you can't just show up. You should actually read the book (which the university buys for you), hit up the tutors, and study for tests.

[ddderrius]

I know this isn't an excuse but these kids come from inter-city schools and if you've never been to one then you might not know that they are way behind on the education. As long as you can pass the TAKS test you're good, becauses thats the only thing they're teaching now. And if know some of these boys personally then you'll know they worry about failing they want to succeed. But SMU is no easy place for them. Alot of them would do well to go to Junior Colleges and get the transitioning from high school to college. This is just my two cents.

[southerncomfort]

What amazes me is how much help these SA's receive. Freshmen have 8 hours of study hall and if you're doing poorly (and not a freshman) then you're still in study hall. They have advisors, they have schedules made out for them weekly, they are given planners/agendas, they have the LEC open til 10pm etc. THEY ARE GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITIES to succeed. I understand it is a huge change and yes, public education has failed them for the most part. Trust me, I know this, I am a recent graduate teaching in DISD. I spent four years working with student athletes at SMU. I understand the pressure and challenges of balancing athletics and the classroom but it's difficult for me to understand how these SA's are literally failing assignments, tests and entire classes. Even the JUCO transfer SA's struggle. These SA's oftentimes are too enamoured with the idea that they will be going professional, that something great will happen in the classroom with little to no work at all and perhaps most importantly, they don't know how to take advantage of the opportunities given to them as SA's. I think a lot of the SA's need to be taught the simplest things whether it be learning to take notes, keeping an agenda or study habits - this isn't necessarily their fualt but the lack of motivation to learn in the classroom is something that they must find within themselves.

[smuuth]

These "institutions of higher learning" have to get back to what is right for the university and the individual student. These coaches who profess to "giving a guy a second chance" just because he is a good athlete aren't doing anyone including the athlete any favors. If a kid is borderline let him or her go the JC route first and hopefully move on to a four-year institution later. These coaches who exploit these young men in order to just get a year or two out of them before they are ineligible aren't helping these young men. The basketball programs with the "one and dones" are even more of a joke. Is it really true that Kentucky hasn't graduated any basketball players in the last 5 years?

[gostangs]

We've tried the "lets do it the right way even though nobody else does" routine. It doesnt work. Let someone else be the martyr - I say we load up with idiots, keep them in school as long as possible, win some games and attract better students for the rest of the school.

[Mestengo]

We've tried the "lets do it the right way even though nobody else does" routine. It doesnt work. Let someone else be the martyr - I say we load up with idiots, keep them in school as long as possible, win some games and attract better students for the rest of the school.

1.an utterly foolish or senseless person.
2.Psychology. a person of the lowest order in a former classification of mental retardation, having a mental age of less than three years old and an intelligence quotient under 25.

I don't think we need idiots in the run & shoot.

[gostangs]

Whatever - you know what I mean, Ms Fusspucker.

We need to be able to get the same guys winning programs go get. You dont target who you think can handle SMU - you target the players we need in order to win at teh top level - and then figure out how to keep them in school. This is successfully accomplished by 80-90 other schools - so I think we can swing it.