Norm just addressed this situation on The Ticket

[RGV Pony]

when I say "qualified" I'm talking full qualifiers under NCAA Clearinghouse
when I say "marginal" I'm referring to SMU's own standards

there are out of state students with 3.0 GPAs who can't get into Texas. Some school districts have changed their policy to where class rank is no longer published so as to allow their students a better shot at getting into state universities, because kids with a 3.2 didnt finish in the top ten per cent.

That said, how many Texas signees have below a 3.0 GPA and are admitted anyway? I'll bet at least half their class could be considered "marginal."

If we're going to be Top 25, we need to be Top 25. Let 'em in. Tutor them up. Maybe Turner could google Oher and Ole Miss.

Yes I know SMU is private and the others arent. But if you're going to espouse changes to level the playing field, exactly who are we level with? Yale?

[ponydawg]

I fine with having some academic standards here and there (especially if we are letting in more borderline athletes per stallion) if we are very very close to our competitors, but would like to know where that line is and have a bigger problem with the kids finding out 2 days before they move into dorms.

According to rlm1951 "The ACT was taken in March. Everything was 'approved' in mid-April". No reason it should take 4 months to say the kid's SAT score was low for almighty SMU.

[abezontar]

and support them with the NECESSARY AMOUNT of tudors ...

my first thought as well

[RGV Pony]

do we have the admission department being bombarded by long lists of marginal recruits.

so NCAA qualified but "marginal"...how many D1 programs let these guys in..

Same thing happened at Michigan a few weeks ago. Kid landed at Louisville, I think. He may have had some additional legal issues though if I remember correctly, but it was definitely the admissions office that made the call there.

Many of us when this first came down wondered if legal issues were contributory. Had there been, it would have been probably a lot easier to stomach the decisions, albeit not without citing the example of one of our current defensive starters who had some sort of legal runin between his senior year in HS and freshman year on the Hilltop.

[Stallion]

OK for RGV-

I'll clarify-"marginal" refers only to athletes who are closely scrutiunized for admission to SMU under SMU and NCAA Standard

Admissions of students and athletes in Division 1A have nothing to do with each other otherwise most teams couldn't field a flag football team.

[huskerpony]

Here it is:

http://www.michigandaily.com/content/do ... university

At least Michigan issued a statement. It says nothing but f-off, but at least they said something.

[Stallion]

This has very little to do with our situation-he was charged although never convicted of two felonies.

[RGV Pony]

Admissions of students and athletes in Division 1A have nothing to do with each other otherwise most teams couldn't field a flag football team.

my point exactly. So what's the story? Why the issue with a low SAT if the kid qualified? Why the issue with a transcript? So did the admissions committee simply come up with an arbitrary standard to which athletes are held? You may not realize it, but you're proving the point that either Turner must have misspoken when he said changes had been made to admissions standards as they relate to football.

Notre Dame's standards for a regular student are posted below...again, this shows that I agree with what Stallion says above. The normal admissions standards don't apply to athletes. And if they don't, would not the best gauge be does the prospective student athlete qualify under NCAA guidelines, barring any character and/or legal issues?

Admission to the University is competitive. Admissible students possess strong academic records and are usually ranked at or near the top of their high school class. The average student admitted for the class of 2013 was ranked in the top 4% of his or her graduating class. These students also scored well on Standardized Tests. For the class of 2013, the middle 50% of admitted students scored between 1390 and 1490 on the SAT and between 32 and 34 on the ACT. A quarter of the admitted group scored above those ranges and 25% scored below. Students admitted to Notre Dame also build strong extracurricular records and are dedicated, passionate leaders in their communities and are evaluated positively by their guidance counselors and teachers. Finally, students competitive in our applicant pool reveal themselves and their personalities in well-written personal statements. Rather than tell us facts about themselves, they show us their uniqueness in a variety of different ways.

[ponydawg]

Here it is:

http://www.michigandaily.com/content/do ... university

At least Michigan issued a statement. It says nothing but f-off, but at least they said something.

And at least the kid found out in early June, giving him a month to land at Louisville, not the day you are moving into dorms.

[Stallion]

All I'm saying is that before we start a lynch-mob and burn down the barn we should know the profile of FULL QUALIFIERS denied admission. I'd prefer admitting all kids that pass the Clearinghouse but with the deemphasis of the SAT I think there could be a reasonable basis for denying admission to some of these kids whose SATs are well below 700. I haven't changed my standards-the NCAA did by deemphasizing the SAT minimum. If these are kids scoring well below 700 SAT we can still compete without what used to be non-qualifiers. If these kids are above 700 SAT I'll load your gun and light the match

[RGV Pony]

All I'm saying is that before we start a lynch-mob and burn down the barn we should know the profile of FULL QUALIFIERS denied admission. I'd prefer admitting all kids that pass the Clearinghouse but with the deemphasis of the SAT I think there could be a reasonable basis for denying admission to some of these kids whose SATs are well below 700. I have changed by standards-the NCAA did. If these are kids scoring well below 700 SAT we can still compete without what used to be non-qualifiers. If these kids are above 700 SAT I'll load your gun and light the match

fair enough

[Nacho]

again the sat is completely useless and doesn't predict anything.

[smuuth]

Stallion is right. Do you want to lower your standard and compete with UNT, Louisiana Monroe/Lafayette, Troy, Texas Tech? Or do you want to maintain your standards, work harder and sell your university to recruits with what matters and compete with Duke, Wake Forest, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, Stanford.

[RGV Pony]

Do you want to compete with Texas Tech?

yes.

[couch 'em]

Or do you want to maintain your standards, work harder and sell your university to recruits with what matters and compete with Duke, Wake Forest, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, Stanford.

Take a look at those teams and their ability to recruit, their conference, etc. Sure, we'd all like to take high academic athletes. But you have to be in a position to do that. We have to take some risks with some mroe marginal players that are less desireable to better programs to BUILD ourselves up.

Simply trying to recruit high academic players doesn't work. For proof, see the past 20 years at SMU, Rice, Tulane, etc.