Why not make athletics an academic discipline?
Sally Jenkins' column in the Washington Post articulates something I've long thought would be a good idea. If someone can get a degree in music, fine arts, business, etc., why not athletics? Doing so could bring transparency and accountability to athletic departments, bring coaches under faculty rules (and perhaps deflate that salary bloat), and blur the student-athlete distinction. Curious to hear what others think (notwithstanding the "it'll never happen" gut reaction).
September 7th, 2020 at 11:53 PM ^
It’s a valid question. Certainly, they put a lot more time into football than I did with my classes when I studied computer science at Michigan. They’re learning, getting graded, and generally advance in there football studies over the course of their stay. I just don’t see it as a degree track. I do think they should get course credits for ‘lectures’ and ‘labs’, and there’s models in place to evaluate their progress from a performance standpoint. There just needs to be some broader context to create a degreed program.
PS. The notion that this recognition would cure coach salary bloat by integration into the academic community is preposterous.
September 8th, 2020 at 8:57 AM ^
It wouldn't cure salary bloat for the football/MBB coaches, or the labor exploitation that is at the root of big-time college sports. But most coaches and most athletes aren't operating at that level or generating that kind of revenue. It would be cool if someone from the swimming and diving team, or the cross-country team, or whatever, could build a degree around their sport, rather than having to cram their massive amount of training around an academic degree. Not to mention kids from D2 and D3 and NAIA schools. And of course the P5 football/MBB players.
Not saying that athletes should be able to graduate with a major in practicing and competing. More that instead of doing dummy degrees in something else (*cough* African-American Studies at UNC *cough*), why shouldn't they be able to build a degree around their sport in a way that includes credit for practicing and competing, and makes their schedules less insane? Athletics is deeply embedded in the "broader context" of society, as you put it. It's not hard to imagine cobbling together an academic degree program with sports at the center: history, sociology, business, economics, African-American studies, gender studies, etc.
I majored in political science. I've directly applied what I learned from, say, Intro to Political Theory, exactly zero times for any job. But that's not the point of a liberal arts education. That class was really interesting and it helped give me a grasp of history and society that underlies the way I understand the world, not to mention the kind of cultural and social capital that are needed to succeed in white-collar work. (Shout-out to Mika Lavaque-Manty.) I absolutely believe that kids are learning stuff from their coaches and training that they will carry with them. Could be cool to build around that in a different way.
September 8th, 2020 at 9:22 AM ^
Upvoted for the Mika shoutout. His political theory course was one of the more fun, thought-provoking classes I took at UM.
September 8th, 2020 at 11:24 AM ^
Same! Loved his class.
+1
September 8th, 2020 at 11:44 AM ^
Logged in to +1 the PS. Faculty salaries are by no means standardized. This article is old, but indicative of the status of faculty salaries in general: https://www.chronicle.com/article/faculty-salaries-vary-by-institution-type-discipline/
Also, even within a department and rank, there is still significant variability. In some states/institutions faculty salaries are stagnant or not keeping pace with inflation. (This is generally more prevalent the farther away from the flagship institution that you are. So probably more prevalent at U of M Flint, rather than at U of M Ann Arbor.) So the only way individual faculty keep pace with inflation (or beat it) is to petition for raises. This is often done after they win a major grant, or by seeking another position and using the offer you get as leverage to get a raise.
For the institutions/states that are funding faculty salary increases, these are often merit-based. (Note: not saying this is good, bad, or indifferent.) Whether you agree with merit-based raises or not, I think we would all agree that merit based raises create more salary inequity and actually exacerbate salary bloat.
September 8th, 2020 at 12:07 AM ^
And e-Sports as an online degree!
September 8th, 2020 at 1:27 AM ^
Not sure if you were joking, but it is a fair point.
September 8th, 2020 at 12:07 AM ^
To me, an obvious answer is that the vast, vast, vast majority of college athletes will make $0 playing sports professionally. And to give them a degree in "football" does not prepare them for a life outside of football. Universities like Michigan give athletes a spotlight and opportunity to go pro in their sport, but also a fall back with a meaningful degree. I think telling them it's ok to major in football is narrowing the scope of what their lives could be when they stop playing
September 8th, 2020 at 12:22 AM ^
Football would be in good company with plenty of other majors.
September 8th, 2020 at 12:32 AM ^
Touche.
September 8th, 2020 at 12:38 AM ^
this makes no sense. The purpose of a university isn't to get you a job, and there are plenty of majors that don't prepare you for a life outside *insert humanities major here*
Additionally, I wouldn't be surprised if a major in "sports" prepared you for a job better than many other humanities degrees. There are job opportunities for coaches, personal trainers, athletic directors, etc. etc. I mean I could go get a 4 year, $200000 degree in Classics. Does that prepare me better to get a job in the real world?
September 8th, 2020 at 1:08 AM ^
This all raises an interesting question, which is what the purpose of a university should be. I'm sure that I'm not the first to suggest that we need to re-examine this given that a student can now go $150k into debt and leave with a degree that does not even come close to landing her a job.
September 8th, 2020 at 1:50 AM ^
Just because you can make unwise decision going to college doesn't mean its purpose should change. I'd love it if competition arose that was purely vocational training, a la the coding bootcamps, but actually scaled up to last two years and be more comprehensive for students straight out of high school to be prepared for careers without some of the fluff of a university.
September 8th, 2020 at 3:36 AM ^
I agree with all of that in a sense. But something needs to change when the penalty for an unwise decision by an eighteen year old is $150k in debt.
September 8th, 2020 at 8:31 AM ^
I believe that students are taken advantage of by not getting accurate short and long term financial information for a given major when applying for education loans. Part of the application process should require a student reading a printout showing average wages for a chosen major for a new hire and then information for average wages at the five and ten year mark as well as data showing how long it will take to pay off the loan if one stays in the chosen profession.
I do appreciate that one may go to professional or graduate school in a totally different area and change the numbers, but that is the exception rather than the rule for many majors.
As for the sports major, will the GPA and ACT/SAT requirements be the same as the general student body as students who are not collegiate athletes may also wish to take these areas of study?
September 8th, 2020 at 8:40 AM ^
So, you're arguing for truth in lending? What a novel concept. Silly me, I thought higher education wrapping itself in a cloak of virtue negated such concerns.
September 8th, 2020 at 12:04 PM ^
Yeah, broadly something needs to change. Too many 17 year olds are told they have to go to college and no one gives them any guidance beyond that so many take on massive debt and many end up with degrees that don't help them much. I know too many folks in their 30s still digging their way out of debt and aside from the impact to that individual household, when it's a big chunk of a whole generation, it weighs down the whole economy.
September 8th, 2020 at 2:35 PM ^
Calling the breadth and depth of a Liberal Arts education from a school like Michigan "the fluff"?!
Spoken like a true voc tech coding trainee Ron!
September 8th, 2020 at 12:06 PM ^
Certainly browsing the list of undergrad majors it's hard to say 'Professional Athletics' definitely should not exist because of the poor job prospects, but also defend the existence of any number of...questionable majors you can choose. There are many undergrad degrees which have extremely limited job prospects on their own
https://admissions.umich.edu/academics-majors/majors-degrees
September 8th, 2020 at 10:40 AM ^
To me if they wanted to work athletics into a degree, they should just add it into some type of "sports business" major. Part of their studies would focus on the business aspect of sports, and part of it could give them credit for the work they've put in on the field. Coaches or even a new teacher position on the coaching staff could evaluate how they're progressing athletically. Film room could in some way be considered a class or lab. I think there's room for something like this to be considered a legitimate academic major, especially when you consider some of the other majors people are pursuing.
September 8th, 2020 at 2:21 AM ^
First of all, a degree in sports doesn't have to be all about playing football. It could also provide coursework and instruction to help with a career in sports sales, administration, media relations, licensing, advising, coaching, event organization, training, ect.
Second, so are you saying then schools should cut other hard to make a career out of it programs like drama, dance, art, and history? Because those are also programs where the vast majority of graduates will not be able to obtain a sustainable career with.
September 8th, 2020 at 9:45 AM ^
As a Kines grad, I also thought of the sports management program as most analogous to what rainingmaize described. That said, I know a lot athletes who were part of the sports management program at UM and it was unclear to me how much, if at all, they were allowed to use their sports experiences towards their degree. Additionally, the athletes that were part of the program were predominantly white and affluent. The same is true for the rest of the Kines programs, although sports management seemed to be the only one that had "prominent" (football and basketball scholarship) student-athletes in it.
During my time at UM, I most frequently encountered "prominent" student-athletes in large, 100-level lecture halls. They usually sat in back and slept, talked, or screwed around on computers/phones the entire class. It's a shame that the university has not found a way to channel the players' existing funds of knowledge towards a more sports-specific degree. At the very least, allow them to use their athletic experiences as some sort of upper-level or cognate elective.
September 8th, 2020 at 6:22 AM ^
Your first sentence could describe many different college degrees.
September 8th, 2020 at 12:13 PM ^
I would argue a vast majority of degrees don't prepare you for the real world.
September 8th, 2020 at 2:53 PM ^
When Jordan Kovacs or any given Glasgow walked on at Michigan, their chances of someday earning a living playing football may have seemed slim.
While they all worked hard, and clearly had more talent than college coaches and recruiting coordinators realized, it would probably have been unwise for any of them to major in football.
When Nico Collins or Dax Hill accepted scholarships to attend & play football at Michigan, barring serious injury it was a given they'd be making their livings playing football. A degree that combined a recognition of the time commitment playing at that level requires, with some gen ed and marketing/business courses, would serve them well I believe.
When I was a youngster growing up in Ann Arbor, our PE student teachers and AA Parks & Rec activity coordinators were always Michigan athletes earning credit toward PE degrees. Best experience ever for us, and I'd like to think had value for them as well!
Majoring in football or basketball would just be a return to the ol PE major
September 8th, 2020 at 1:22 AM ^
Back in the '60s, it was very common for football players to get degrees in phys ed, at least at other schools. That's basically treating athletics as an academic discipline.
September 8th, 2020 at 2:04 AM ^
61 percent of the players over the last 20 years do not have a major field going into their senior season and usually take a LSA -General Studies degree. Here are what most of the other football players major in: LSA – African Studies, LSA -English , LSA – Sociology, Kinesiology – Sports Mgmt. Of course there are a few of those who take pre-Med, engineering, mathematics and computer science.
September 8th, 2020 at 2:06 AM ^
I believe Dan Patrick has also talked about something like this. Some sort of major for athletes that has classes for communication, dealing with agents etc. Basically something that might help athletes make better decisions and be in a better position to succeed if they do reach the big time. Wouldn’t work for everyone but certainly something to think about. The cost of a college education has been spiraling out of control for awhile and I am honestly surprised it hasn’t reached a tipping point. I thought the pandemic might be a reckoning for a lot of colleges but it doesn’t seem to be happening yet. I have 2 useless college degrees and probably would have killed myself because of the crushing student loan debt. However I was saved when I unexpectedly received an inheritance from a dead relative. It was enough to pay off my debt and get out clean. I think college is a rip off and it would better serve high school students if they understood all their options.
September 8th, 2020 at 6:15 AM ^
No college degree is ever useless. Even the most boutique-level degrees can still lead to meaningful and successful careers, but it is incumbent upon the individual to plan and/or be flexible in it's application. (Also, the utility/value discussion extends beyond simply the payday result - although it is more difficult to assess that impact, which varies on an individual basis).
It may be easier to find employment with certain degrees over others, but this is also why universities require a broad compliment of classes outside one's major to provide some additional facets to their academic curriculum. Earning the degree proves that the graduate can think critically and complete tasks - a necessary trait for most careers.
September 8th, 2020 at 7:10 AM ^
I 100% disagree that no college degrees are useless. My buddies wife has a useless degree. If she were to get a job with the degree she has outnif college, paid the minimum on her student loan, which she'd have to do with the pay she'd receive, she may pay it off before she dies. That is 100% useless. Instead she is in a job that she had while attending college that has zero to do with said degree. All she has is a very expensive piece of paper
September 8th, 2020 at 8:40 AM ^
If you don't mind, could you share the specific name/field of the degree? I am sorry to hear that your friend's wife is in this position, but I hold to my earlier premise that no (legitimate) degree is inherently useless/worthless (and even some of the... we'll say less-than-legitimate degrees... can still have value).
As with most everything in life, so much depends on the choices of the individual. Luck absolutely plays a role, but there are so many instances in life where one can make the choices to mitigate (or even reverse) the effects of bad luck (or previous bad choices).
P.S.: This is *not* to say that all degrees/curricula are fairly priced. That is an entirely different (though related) discussion that involves many other considerations aside from simply the cost (for the record, I think the inflation of education expense has been ridiculous but the advent of rapidly-improving online education - most of which is free - will serve as a game-changing event).
September 8th, 2020 at 12:11 PM ^
I guess it's semantics. Technically her degree is not 'useless' as some jobs still require a nominal college degree rather than just a high school diploma. However, it does show that many college degrees have an absolutely abysmal ROI. Spend $100k+ to make a little more money than a HS grad can be a significant net loss
September 8th, 2020 at 2:13 AM ^
I think its a pretty good idea to be honest. There are a lot of careers in sports these days outside of just being a pro. You could be a coach, athletic director, run a sports league/camp, sell tickets/sponsorships/marketing, work in sports apparel licensing, ref/ump, run media relations, be a personal trainer, organize a 5K, or work in Intercollegiate athletics which could involve things like advising and compliance.
Heck, we even have a major for that called Sports Management. And while its very much an easy major, no one is going to question if a student belongs in the school for majoring in that.
Assuming we make athletics a minor and sync it with a legit Sport Management program (i.e not the one that automatically passes you to keep you eligible), I don't see why we can't make athletics an academic discipline.
September 8th, 2020 at 3:03 AM ^
This would be an interesting debate topic.
On one side you have an evolving of the academic institution to see athletics differently as represented in the OP. On the other you could argue having more stringent limitations on how much time athletics is allowed to take out of a students time. I can see value in both paths. Either way, I think you could argue that every employee of the Athletic Department should have some requirement for contributing to the academic endeavors of the university.
September 8th, 2020 at 6:12 AM ^
A degree in athletics is an interesting concept. It would certainly be as useful as a psychology degree.
September 8th, 2020 at 7:13 AM ^
I've often thought about this but I think a lot of what athletes would want to do can already be done as part of a kinesiology degree. Part of what's missing is more practical things, but those aren't the sort of things that universities are supposed to train people to do, since universities aren't trade schools.
I do think there should be theoretical courses about, e.g., football, where you study the evolution of various concepts in the history of the sport, offered for credit to all students. You can take the kind of material covered by Smart Football or Neck Sharpies and structure it like a class. There's no reason that couldn't be offered as a for-credit course.
September 8th, 2020 at 10:29 AM ^
I generally agree with you about kinesiology being close enough right now. But to your next point: The school of music literally has degrees in instrumental performance, where the teaching training is specially to train the student in a particular instrument. As these degrees usually require an audition prior to being accepted into the program, this would be similar to a degree in sports.
September 8th, 2020 at 7:43 AM ^
The major team sports hold a broad enough knowledge base to legitimate serious consideration for a major. From the playing and coaching of individual positions, psychological aspects of play and competition, training, injury diagnosis and treatment, play design and overall strategies.
September 8th, 2020 at 8:07 AM ^
While Jenkins, and those she quotes have interesting ideas, some of value, I see 3 conceptual problems.
1. Education vs. training. Considering athletics as an academic discipline will get stuck in the struggle colleges have always had between whether they're broadening students' mental capacities so they can see the world more broadly, can adapt to new work, and can keep learning OR preparing students for jobs. (Harvard originally aimed to train preachers; many early 20C colleges were finishing schools preparing students for their place in high society; biz schools are thriving on the theory that it's the only training for running a business.)
2. Mind vs. body. Though human functioning doesn't split so neatly, the apparent divide still dominates our thinking. Tasks and fields that seem mind-driven get more respect than those that seem based on physical prowess. And even as we talk about the undeniable mental aspects of football, we still depend on the twinned cliches of Dumb Jock / Surprisingly Smart Jock.
Notice that ideas in Jenkins' column essentially RELY on the Surprisingly Smart Jock cliche.
3. Competition + money. Tommy Amaker and Nick Sabin and the others may be great teachers, but they're hired and make big money not for teaching prowess but because they win. Because MANY people are interested in sports, that means lots of money's involved, so money drives sports in orders of magnitude above academics.
September 8th, 2020 at 8:30 AM ^
There are a ton of jobs out there that definitely don't require a degree, but you need one to get hired. I'm just throwing a random number out there. I think about 75% of jobs could be taught with one or two years of OJT. Obviously there are specialized fields out there that definitely require years of study.
September 8th, 2020 at 9:12 AM ^
Yep. A solid HS education is more than enough for most jobs.
September 8th, 2020 at 10:23 AM ^
For many jobs, yes. But college does a better job of helping students learn how to learn, so they can adapt to new situations, new challenges, and new jobs, when downsizing happens. (Because the world's changing so rapidly, very few people will be in the same job in 20 years.)
Also, as a practical matter, hiring for many — most? — jobs requires a college degree.
September 8th, 2020 at 10:47 AM ^
Most jobs most definitely do not require a degree. Now, had you said "good jobs", or "well paying", then the word most would be accurate.
September 8th, 2020 at 10:45 AM ^
Yes, most for our service based society type jobs. But not for STEM jobs.
September 8th, 2020 at 2:39 PM ^
Totally disagree for the vast majority of STEM jobs. Unless you want to be a PI, or something of the like, most STEM jobs could easily be taught on-the-job to a high school graduate. You don't need a 4 year biology degree to do PCR. Plenty of people are self-taught software engineers. A year or two of on-the-job training, combined with self study, would produce a much better software engineer than a recent graduate, who has spent the past 4 years learning abstract data structures, discrete math, and finite state machines, but can't use Github.
September 8th, 2020 at 8:44 AM ^
How does Football 101 sound? Football 201 could be the theory of offense while the 202 class the theory of defense. What about the other 18 sports venues such as gymnastics or swimming? You get the point. It will make the joke of taking Underwater Basket Weaving class really legit.
What could you do with a major in football in the real world? You'd have to get a job coaching at any level-that could work.
The whole idea doesn't sound practical.
September 8th, 2020 at 8:55 AM ^
Many of the players end up with careers in coaching, if not on the college level, at least in high school. The time they put into football prepared them for that career. While I hadn't thought of football being a major, I do believe that they should get credit for all the time they put into practice, film study, and games. Maybe something like 6-10 credits for the fall season. They are learning and studying as much - if not more - as any other student on campus.
September 8th, 2020 at 10:24 AM ^
Most players do NOT end up in coaching. There aren't that many coaching jobs, not compared to the thousands and thousands of players every year.
September 8th, 2020 at 10:01 AM ^
Nice column. For a year or two I have thought it would be a good idea to have a varsity sport count for credits during that semester.