College football and basketball have two objectives.

Mar 27, 2023, 11:54 AM

Note - I know there are several more, like maximizing revenue. But, for the sake of this post, I'm going to only discuss two.

1. Prepare the player for the NFL or NBA.
2. Help the player earn a degree.

Now, these two are not mutually exclusive. And while it's not exactly a zero sum game, it's pretty close. A school could place a relatively high emphasis on both, but normally when one priority goes up, the other goes down. (For extreme examples think Kentucky basketball vs. Yale football.)

Everybody says they want both. The NCAA claims they want both. Conference commissioners say they want both. ADs say they want both. Most coaches say they want both. Only a few are like Calipari who admits he doesn't expect most of his players to earn a college degree before leaving school for the NBA.
Dabo, on the other hand, appears to place a high priority on earning a degree while also winning games and preparing guys for the NFL.

I suspect most coaches have a far lower priority on players earning degrees than they claim they do. (Does anybody really think Kirby Smart or Jimbo Fisher are concerned about graduating players? Jimbo clearly wasn't when he was at FSU and we are still climbing out of the messy hole he dug for us.)

The NCAA clearly isn't interested in college education, in spite of their claims. Name one rule they have implemented in the past 30 years that increases their priority on education. Transfer portal clearly does the exact opposite. (Anybody who has ever transferred for one college to another knows very well about "lost credits.") The rules on "progressing toward a college degree" are a joke.

So, the questions are:
1. What should the priority be?
2. How can we balance the two?
3. Do we want to even balance the two, or just make one the only priority of the two?
4. If so, which one should be the priority?

If somebody died and made me king, I know what I'd do. But, if that were to happen, there would soon be riots in the street, my castle would be stormed, and my reign would be called on account of game. (They wouldn't like the game being played on the field or court.)

So, what's your solution?

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Actually the #1 objective is maximizing marketing for the

*New students as in prospective as well.***

Easy ... XX percentage has to graduate from your school

College football and basketball have two objectives.

Actually the #1 objective is maximizing marketing for the

*New students as in prospective as well.***

Easy ... XX percentage has to graduate from your school

Re: College football and basketball have two objectives.

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