Rich Phillips: Kennedy could be Eligible by December 17

[PoconoPony]

Do we really want to have any player spend even two years here and end up being functionally illiterate, like Dexter Manley was after 4 years at Oklahoma State? In reality, there is really no excuse for flunking any course at SMU. None. You have tutors, you have other students (even girlfriends) who will help you study for a class. I suspect since the frats have test banks on professors, the athletic department does as well. I know that the players are told which profs are reasonable and which ones want to brag at the Faculty Club about flunking an athlete. The key fact is and I've taught college classes. If a student is coming to class, showing interest in the subject and appears to be making positive progress, the prof is going to cut him some slack. An F becomes a D, a D becomes a C- and so forth. LB coached Allen Iverson who managed to stay eligible at Georgetown despite being a bit of a prima donna. I so vividly remember a football player telling me, I'll never play in the NFL, and this is my job, to play football so I can get this degree and have a life not driving a dump truck.

I have a very good friend who played football in the 60s who later told me: " I failed to study at SMU and now I have a life as a local delivery truck driver."

[Rebel10]

I have a very good friend who played football in the 60s who later told me: " I failed to study at SMU and now I have a life as a local delivery truck driver."

Did he have pro potential and he was allowed to play? Maybe they should have declared him ineligible. If they had done that you think he might not be a truck driver now?

[gostangs]

im not talking about 40 years ago - and i am not tailing about the bottom half. But if you took the top 20 football teams and the top 20 basketball teams in the country and tried to find an actual student - you would be hard pressed to do so. It is no B.S. - and you are just kidding yourself if you do not understand it. The entire NCAA money sports student athlete is an illusion - it is a facade and a farce.

[CoxMustangFan]

im not talking about 40 years ago - and i am not tailing about the bottom half. But if you took the top 20 football teams and the top 20 basketball teams in the country and tried to find an actual student - you would be hard pressed to do so. It is no B.S. - and you are just kidding yourself if you do not understand it. The entire NCAA money sports student athlete is an illusion - it is a facade and a farce.

You are so full of crap. Kansas, Duke, et al, all have tons of kids with a high GPA. Hell, some of those kids are challenging for top academic awards (Ellis at KU graduated top of his HS class, Greene had offers to Harvard, etc.). I get that schools take the marginal student that is a grade risk (and some more than others), but just because we took one and got burned, you shouldn't make insulting generalizations. It's just flat out insulting

[Rebel10]

im not talking about 40 years ago - and i am not tailing about the bottom half. But if you took the top 20 football teams and the top 20 basketball teams in the country and tried to find an actual student - you would be hard pressed to do so. It is no B.S. - and you are just kidding yourself if you do not understand it. The entire NCAA money sports student athlete is an illusion - it is a facade and a farce.

You are so full of crap. Kansas, Duke, et al, all have tons of kids with a high GPA. Hell, some of those kids are challenging for top academic awards (Ellis at KU graduated top of his HS class, Greene had offers to Harvard, etc.). I get that schools take the marginal student that is a grade risk (and some more than others), but just because we took one and got burned, you shouldn't make insulting generalizations. It's just flat out insulting

Cliff Alexander?

[CoxMustangFan]

im not talking about 40 years ago - and i am not tailing about the bottom half. But if you took the top 20 football teams and the top 20 basketball teams in the country and tried to find an actual student - you would be hard pressed to do so. It is no B.S. - and you are just kidding yourself if you do not understand it. The entire NCAA money sports student athlete is an illusion - it is a facade and a farce.

You are so full of crap. Kansas, Duke, et al, all have tons of kids with a high GPA. Hell, some of those kids are challenging for top academic awards (Ellis at KU graduated top of his HS class, Greene had offers to Harvard, etc.). I get that schools take the marginal student that is a grade risk (and some more than others), but just because we took one and got burned, you shouldn't make insulting generalizations. It's just flat out insulting

Cliff Alexander?

Sure, not at all saying gostangs is completely wrong. I went to school -- and had classes -- with Paul Pierce and, wow is all I can say. HCLB has had to build the program with some "high risk, high reward" types and the gamble hasn't worked perfectly. Zero need to denigrate genuine student athletes at other programs because LB wants to try his luck at the tables. Makes our whole board look petty and ignorant.

[Rebel10]

Wow meaning Pierce was smarter than you thought?

[CoxMustangFan]

Wow meaning Pierce was smarter than you thought?

He's bedded more women that I've ever seen and he's worth nine figures. Not judging.

[Rebel10]

Wow meaning Pierce was smarter than you thought?

He's bedded more women that I've ever seen and he's worth nine figures. Not judging.

I thought you were talking about his IQ.

[CoxMustangFan]

Wow meaning Pierce was smarter than you thought?

He's bedded more women that I've ever seen and he's worth nine figures. Not judging.

I thought you were talking about his IQ.

He not the smartest bloke is what I'm saying. I'm agreeing there are examples of scholar-lite athletes.

[Hoop Fan]

this is one of those things that there will never be a right or easy answer. what you have to acknowledge is that this is an American problem that starts in high school if not well before. There are very few HIGH SCHOOLS, yes high schools, in America that will flunk a star player before a playoff game. High schools have 6 week grading periods too, when was the last story you read in Texas or Florida or anywhere of a stud HS football player going ineligible? Does not happen folks. You think all these kids are getting it done in the classroom? No, not even at the middle and upper income high schools are all 100 kids in the 'revenue' sports passing ALL their classes (well not in reality).

So colleges like SMU are in a bad spot. They either have to play along to a degree. Or they have to throw massive resources at the problem. Or they have to not play the D1 game. I don't know MK's situation. If he was giving effort, and just needed a few more points to pass a single class, it did no good to fail him for anybody's sake, not his, not the schools. Now if he needed one teacher to give him a B instead of a C in a certain class so that his overall GPA was good enough, then that's a tougher issue. Hard to ask one professor to inflate a grade for the sake of a kids overall gpa.

I don't know, i'm sure we all want these kids to have good lives when they finish SMU, i know i do. Just have to wonder if sitting MK actually helps him or hurts him have a better life. happy thanksgiving.

[mrydel]

I understand your point but you have to have a 2.0 to play in Arkansas and a lot of kids do sit because of that. Of course it usually is not the headline maker, but it does occur every so often.

[Treadway21]

Ryan Manual won the academic athlete award - not sure what's it was but has over a 3.5.

MK has 2 jobs. Play basketball and not fail in class. Not too much to ask.

[GiddyUp]

This thread is tired, hope he gets back soon.

[sadderbudweiser]

Hey. You are being way to [deleted] this thread.