"A recruiting class and a half away"

[mustangbill67]

Are you related to the late Dr. Pye?

[SMU 86]

Are you talking about b_ceasar?

[mrydel]

So I suppose if there is any good athlete out there that wants to be a coach or teacher or sports agent should not consider SMU. We only want athletes that want to be engineers, business executives or ballet dancers. All I am saying is that we need a greater diversity in curriculum in order to be able to attract all possible athletes who seek specific areas of education. Just because they do not want to major in whatever you did does not make them a lesser student or person.

[mustangbill67]

Are you talking about b_ceasar?

who else

[skyscraper]

I thought the new school of Education was supposed to take care of this issue for the athletes. Maybe now that it has it's own building on campus and $$ coming in, it will grow.
Hat tip to mrydel for your interpretation of CJ's comments during the AFB. That wasn't something I had considered.

[Mexmustang]

You maybe right Bill67, Wilkerson went to class, worked hard and still failed.

Not according to his father...the kid was a national merit scholarship finalist in high school and simply did not apply himself last year.

[b_caesar]

So I suppose if there is any good athlete out there that wants to be a coach or teacher or sports agent should not consider SMU. We only want athletes that want to be engineers, business executives or ballet dancers. All I am saying is that we need a greater diversity in curriculum in order to be able to attract all possible athletes who seek specific areas of education. Just because they do not want to major in whatever you did does not make them a lesser student or person.

http://www.smu.edu/Admission/Academics/Majors.aspx

Looks pretty diverse to me.

[b_caesar]

Are you related to the late Dr. Pye?

And no. Not even close. I know why you say that, but why should it matter?

[mrydel]

I am not going to argue about this but sheer numbers of majors does not indicate diversity. There is only one major on that list that is close to the ones I mentioned and it states it became available in the fall of 2009. That means progress. Not everyone has the same educational goals as you. And I want to be able to attract students for the football team that have the potential to obtain multimillion dollar contracts, and if not have an education in a field for which they are suited to work. If we can do that then we will see great increases in applications and be able to provide more for those that do not participate in athletics. It can be a win win for both sides.

[b_caesar]

I am not going to argue about this but sheer numbers of majors does not indicate diversity. There is only one major on that list that is close to the ones I mentioned and it states it became available in the fall of 2009. That means progress. Not everyone has the same educational goals as you. And I want to be able to attract students for the football team that have the potential to obtain multimillion dollar contracts, and if not have an education in a field for which they are suited to work. If we can do that then we will see great increases in applications and be able to provide more for those that do not participate in athletics. It can be a win win for both sides.

Yes, you named one or two academic fields of study that SMU may not currently have. And yes, adding those few more might be of marginal help in recruiting, however, we don't want to fall into a potential trap in that respect, either...

For reference: http://www.faqs.org/periodicals/201003/1984269111.html

Why should not having those few majors limit the number of talented athletes we can attract in any of our sports? I believe there are plenty of options available in which our current athletes are very well suited to work after graduation, or a successful pro career, whatever the sport.

[Dukie]

I call BS on this. Why should any athlete at a Division I institution of higher education need a "better environment" or "favorable atmosphere" to succeed on the field? They should be pulling their weight academically just like any other student, including at SMU. If they can't make the grades that the thousands of other students enrolled at SMU do every semester, then they don't belong at SMU. Period.

I'm all for recruiting and retaining talented athletes for our sports teams, but they are students, too, and not only do they need to prove themselves on the field, but in the classroom, so they can graduate and become alumni who eventually donate the big bucks to help SMU grow in all areas, not just athletics. And that's why we have the A-LEC - it's something that every student - EVERY student, at SMU can take advantage of - and it's a rare thing to find at a Div-I school. If anything, James should be supporting that department, and seeing what he can do to help them thrive, so our student-athletes can succeed in both the classroom and on the field.

You need to find a nice D III team to support. Your comments wouldn't be realistic for FCS schools, much less FBS.

[b_caesar]

I call BS on this. Why should any athlete at a Division I institution of higher education need a "better environment" or "favorable atmosphere" to succeed on the field? They should be pulling their weight academically just like any other student, including at SMU. If they can't make the grades that the thousands of other students enrolled at SMU do every semester, then they don't belong at SMU. Period.

I'm all for recruiting and retaining talented athletes for our sports teams, but they are students, too, and not only do they need to prove themselves on the field, but in the classroom, so they can graduate and become alumni who eventually donate the big bucks to help SMU grow in all areas, not just athletics. And that's why we have the A-LEC - it's something that every student - EVERY student, at SMU can take advantage of - and it's a rare thing to find at a Div-I school. If anything, James should be supporting that department, and seeing what he can do to help them thrive, so our student-athletes can succeed in both the classroom and on the field.

You need to find a nice D III team to support. Your comments wouldn't be realistic for FCS schools, much less FBS.

Right. Thanks for that spectacular advice. Guess your job in the athletics marketing department is secure for now, too.

[Stallion]

Clustering is common at even the most rigorous academic institutions. I don't know if they are still on the internet but both Rice and Tulane have conducted studies in the early part of this decade concerning the continuance of Division 1A Football and both studies condemned the academic clustering of student athletes in certain majors at even Rice and Tulane.

[ponyte]

There is more to the environment than academics. Many of the kids that play sports come from backgrounds significantly different from many non athletic SMU students. SMU cost about $50,000 a year. Many student athletes come from families that have not seen that kind of money in one or two years. For all its efforts SMU is predominately white with a very small AA community. All this limits the environment where an athlete can feel comfortable. Clothes, cars, money to spend on dates and other activities and folks that have different backgrounds can intimidate a kid.

At a state school, athletes can find kids that are more like them from a background perspective. That isn't as easy at SMU.

Environment doesn't mean just academic majors but a community for kids as well.

[PonySnob]

Our athletic department needs to be doing whatever the TCU athletic department is doing.........