Education Secretary: Graduation Rates Should Determine College Post-Seasons

Hey, Congress wants to dictate the BCS and college football, what's one more thing I guess?

(sigh)

As basketball teams across the country prepare for March Madness, Education Secretary Arne Duncan is putting forth a proposal to ban men’s teams from the tournament and all post-season play if they fail to graduate 40 percent of their players.

“Frankly, that's a low bar, and not many teams would be ineligible," Duncan told reporters yesterday. "Over time, we should set a higher bar. But it's a minimum, a bright line, which every program should meet to vie for postseason honors."

If the NCAA had already adopted Duncan’s idea, a dozen of the teams in this year’s tournament would have been barred from competition – including Kentucky, Louisville and Tennessee.

With a 73 percent graduation rate among players, President Obama’s top pick, the Kansas Jayhawks, would still be allowed to play, according to a recent study by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport.

The study also reveals a significant disparity between the graduation rates of black and white players: 45 teams graduated 70 percent or more of their white players, but only 20 teams graduated at least 70 percent of their black players.

Duncan, who played professional basketball in Australia from 1987 to 1991, first suggested the idea back in January. While he can’t force the suggested changes on teams, he said he will encourage schools to enact reforms.

There is an irony to this of course.  Duncan was talking about this, the very day his boss, President Obama, was on ESPN for a second straight year telling Andy Katz's his bracket.  (His -- like most of America's -- has been blown up and is now said to be writing a tell-all book entitled "Screw You Big East Catholic Schools")

In a perfect world, Duncan is right.  Schools; and the NCAA, which is about to spend millions this weekend and the next two after that selling us on the nobility of the student athlete, should be doing all they can to make sure students graduate.  But we don't live in a perfect world; we never have, we never will.

What we live in is a world where university chancellors and college presidents act like hypocrites when it come to student athletes.  They will talk the talk about education and all that jazz, and then turn around and willingly cash the checks which come from TV, clothing, and other endorsement deals which come from the fruits of college athletics.  Then, when they get questioned about player graduation rates, will turn it around and blame the NBA, the NFL, MLB, or the NHL; or as some are doing so after this report, their athletic directors or coaches.  After all, they're busy people, why bug them with details like that?

Funny how it's only if a guy leaves early for the NBA it's a social problem, but if a college sophomore drops out of college of his or her own accord, no one says a thing.

This is hard for some to believe, but college is not for everyone.  Some people can't handle the pressure; it's just how it is.  (And shockingly, those who want to go, can usually find the means to pay for it now or over time.)  Many college basketball players -- especially those at top-notch programs -- are not at college for an education, they're at college to get noticed by the NBA or some other professional league in Europe or some place else in the world.

Would it have been better if earlier in their lives they been taught there's more importance in life in a book than what's on basketball court?  No doubt, but by the time these kids are in college, they've heard it all before; and if they haven't listened by then, they just aren't going to listen to you.