APR THOUGHTS

by Brian P. Foley, The College Baseball Blog

Recently the Academic Progress Rate came out and the University of New Hampshire's Men's Basketball team was cited for low academic standards and have lost a scholarship for next season. The school actually beat the NCAA to the punch by cutting scholarships at the university from 13 to 12 so it will make no difference to the program.

I need to give you some background on the situation before continuing. I worked with the Men's Basketball team at UNH as a student assistant. There was some less then stellar student athletes which came through the school that were more interested in playing NBA basketball instead of getting an education. I challenge any Epic readers to come up with one New Hampshire basketball player that has ever played in the NBA?

I believe that the Academic Progress Rate is necessary to hold the coaching staffs of many universities responsible for the student-athletes that are a part of their program. The argument against the APR is that the student athletes that transfer out of the program and get their degree somewhere else do not count as a graduate of the program. One of the other arguments is that the coaching staffs are not held to their commitment to the players when they leave the university to go to a different school.

I think we should all go to the European system of separating athletics and education while stopping how we try to combine things in this country.