When I was a grad student at NU, they called this "Dyche Stadium"... the program has come a long way
The continuing saga at Northwestern, where more lawsuits are being filed after the firing of head coach Pat Fitzgerald, is pretty sad to see.
I think a lot of people are thinking what I'm thinking: If there's a hazing problem at a program like NU, how much more so could there be a problem at Alabama, Georgia, the U, etc.
Northwestern, (I got my Masters there in 1994), has always had a good academic reputation, but that reputation soared to new heights over the last 30 years. It is now one of the most difficult colleges to get into, (and one of the most expensive), in the country. A BIG part of NU's rise has to do with the concerted effort the administration made to improve student life on campus, which had always been pretty sad. Getting the football team to a competitive place was a major aspect of that push, along with upgrading the physical look of the campus. As bad as this current controversy is for Northwestern, it's hard to believe it will suffer a fall back to where it was in the 1980s both in athletics and in regards to academic selectivity.
VERY selfishly, I admit I was sorry to see the Wildcats hire David Braun as interim head coach this week. I was kind of hoping they'd go for a youngish Ivy coach to show that it wanted to go a more "academically friendly route" and grab either Princeton's Bob Surace or Yale's Tony Reno. Again, that's me being selfish since taking the head coach away at this point would throw either Princeton or Yale into a tailspin just before the season. But we're stuck with those tough coaches for another year at least!
Things are far from perfect in the Ivies, and every program has its rogue incidents from time to time. But the Northwestern story is a good reminder that the Ivies are doing it mostly right when it comes to athletic priorities. It's also a reminder that allowing our football champions to play in the FCS playoffs would hardly be a dicey move when you consider what other programs are dealing with these days.
2 comments:
If you took a confidential poll of the players, on a completely anonymous basis, I really wonder how many would prefer to extend their season for another few weeks. We tend to overlook the incredible academic burden that we place on our football players, and no sport demands as much as football in terms of time and effort. So I would forgo the opportunity if it were up to me. I fully expect that other bloggers will take violent exception to this, but how many players in fact breathe a huge sigh of relief when the season comes to an end. It’s not that they don’t love the sport, it’s just that there comes a point where enough is enough.
The question is whether the student / athletes are in C U for an education or just to play football ...
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