bluebyyou

February 15th, 2016 at 8:45 AM ^

Here's a link to an interactive map of the campus.  Really quite the place with better facilities than the vast majority of universities.

http://img.hostexp.com/#UMAP_2014120304943

Tuition for a football player if you have to write the check is 72,000 per year.  Because of the talent at IMG, I can understand why JH wants to go there.  Based on the ownership, and what and whom they represent, I get funny vibes from the place.

Joined: 09/07/2009

MGoPoints: 18531

Everyone Murders

February 15th, 2016 at 10:08 AM ^

I can't speak to the football side of the equation, but a few years back IMG bought Nick Bolletteri's operations and he's a fairly controversial figure in tennis.  On the plus side, many great players came out of the Nick Bolletteri Tennis Academy over the years.

On the minus (bad vibe) side, there is a strong perception that his academy would encourage middling players to board at the NBTA at a very high annual cost to subsidize the superstars he'd bring in from around the country/world.  So if a rich kid* had dreams of being a tennis pro, but no realistic possiblity of achieving that dream, the NBTA reputedly was more than happy to take that kid's money.

I don't know how that plays out on the football/soccer/golf side of the equation, or if it's true w/r/t tennis any more.  But if that NBTA "stroke the rich kids for profit" stuff is going on, I get uncomfortable vibes too.

*Or if a rich kid's parents had dreams of their kid being a pro.  Depending on how rich the family, this is not overly-problematic.  But families that are mortgaging their future over the banking on Johnny/Jenny being the next Djokovic?  That's troubling to me if Johnny/Jenny has no chance of being the next Djokovic.

Joined: 12/14/2010

MGoPoints: 65552

oriental andrew

February 15th, 2016 at 4:47 PM ^

I think this has been a criticism of NBTA for decades. To be fair, though, if a bunch of overly rich people want to send their kids there, or to live out their own never-realized golf/tennis pro dreams, then who am I to judge? This is probably also why many kids only go there for 1-2 years. 

The potentially sketchy part of it is that there may be strong undercurrents of "if we give you a scholarship, keep us in mind for when your kid goes pro in whatever sport." Less of an issue for professional tennis or golf, where most of these young pros have already made themselves ineligible if they're played as pros in any events (not uncommon in those sports). Since you can't go pro in football until well after HS graduation, this is where it gets sketchy. The assumption is that they recoup much of their scholarship expense through representation, but that's a fairly long runway, and I'm sure they'd love (expect, even) special consideration on that front when the time comes.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 55938

Everyone Murders

February 15th, 2016 at 10:32 AM ^

That thread looks like a bit of a Charlie Foxtrot.  I'm not inclined to delve too far into that thread, as it looks like a time-suck of epic proportions.

But my quip was more along the lines of this:

Joined: 12/14/2010

MGoPoints: 65552

Clarence Boddicker

February 15th, 2016 at 4:20 PM ^

I actually did read those Magnus posts and, yeah, that's some pretty terrible shit. Especially considering the nature of what Manning did, according to court documents. And the intense devotion to cheesecake on the TTB site.

Joined: 05/27/2011

MGoPoints: 69763

Section6

February 15th, 2016 at 10:10 AM ^

Like MAgnus came off sexist as hell in the Peyton Manning thread. Go ahead and read the comments and then tell me if you want to visit his site if he responded that way about a memeber of your family who is a female trainer.

After reading that it has further confirmed my suspissions that Magnus is a POS.

Like me or not, thats my first amendment right.

 

What do yo expect from someone who used to plaster girls all over his website, meathead.

Joined: 11/19/2015

MGoPoints: 5875

Tex_Ind_Blue

February 15th, 2016 at 10:39 AM ^

I didn't like his POV on the Manning thread as well. My opinion differs from his and that's fine. But I am not going to bring up his other website here. Also calling names is not helpful, unless 'meathead' is something you use as a pet name for your loved ones. In that case, I am honored. 

Joined: 12/31/2014

MGoPoints: 7680

James Burrill Angell

February 15th, 2016 at 8:21 AM ^

Does anyone else think there is something a little messed up about a company that is essentially a group of agents running a high school for elite athletes. I can't really figure out how the NCAA hasn't tried to put the kibosh on this. Basically IMG has done an end around to the NCAA rule limiting college athletes from signing with agents by influencing them as high school kids. Further, what high schools would want to play these guys. It's like a freaking all-star team.

Joined: 08/12/2009

MGoPoints: 15918

DairyQueen

February 16th, 2016 at 2:43 PM ^

100% like European/South American soccer academies.

But American culture views competitive sports/athletics with a sort of altruism and social equity. This IMG academy certainly flies in the face of that.

In Europe, that is most certainly not the case.

It's not surprising at all it took this long, it certainly doesn't sit well with American cultural views towards athletics/competitive sports.

Nowhere anywhere else in the world will you see TOP athletics linked with TOP education, save for in the United States.

The two sports where the US produces the best talent, period, are also the two sports with the MOST intimate ties to the American Universities:

Basketball and Football (which the US has competitive dominance over)

The major sports where the US is not the sole producer of the best talent: Hockey (Canada, US, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Czech) Soccer (Everywhere in the world), and Baseball (Central America, US), the universities do not own or are linked with the premier talent/competition.

But in IMG's case they are also asking to be subsidized by the ultra-rich (c'mon 72K/yr makes me vomit, 4 yrs of in-state tuition-only at UM is less than that--and that's 1 year versus 4 years, and athletics versus EDUCATION).

It's mind-blowing

 

 

Joined: 04/20/2014

MGoPoints: 6642

M-Dog

February 15th, 2016 at 10:26 AM ^

If they did, they would easily get it.  

There are private high schools in my area that already have tuitions inching up toward $50K.  I personally think that is nuts, but at some point if you can afford $50K you can afford $70K if you are rich enough and you think there is a future payoff that's worth it.

 

Joined: 07/06/2008

MGoPoints: 256937