Coach Speaks
'... [Clemson coach Tommy] Bowden ... says all athletes eligible by NCAA standards should be admitted to Clemson.
“That’s what you’d like,” Bowden said. “They’re going to pay me all this money and put me in charge, then I’d like to make the decisions (about admissions).”
I’m not certain when coaches began to believe they had more power than a school president, or an admissions committee or any other segment of the academic community. In Bowden’s case, maybe it stems from watching his famous father — Florida State coach Bobby Bowden — become bigger than his athletics director or university president.
...His claim is that a commission of university presidents several years ago established minimum NCAA guidelines for prospective athletes to be admitted to school. Thus, he says, schools should abide by those minimum standards.
“They took the presidents and they spent years and invested millions of dollars and said, OK, if he gets an 820 (SAT score) and 2.5 (GPA), for the most part, he can succeed in college,” Bowden said. “Now, who are we to say, wait a minute, no, no, not this school they can’t (be admitted and succeed). That’s where I have a problem.”
The problem with Bowden’s logic is that nearly every request for a special admission to his program — and that of Spurrier’s at USC — has been granted over the past three years. More than 50 percent of both coaches’ past three recruiting classes were special admissions. Understand, a special admission is one who would not qualify under standard college admissions guidelines.
The handful of prospective athletes at USC and Clemson who were denied admission over the past two recruiting classes were extreme cases.
... Bowden ... said that there is natural friction between academics and athletics. He said animosity is created when athletes get into school as special admissions while prospective students with a 4.0 GPA and 1200 SAT score are denied admission. He said there exists jealousy over his million-dollar salary, while university professors seldom reach six figures.'
---thestate.com---
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