Hey Guys..Long Time...But Wanted Your Thoughts

[PGY Tiercel]

However once if you want to get your BS and move on to graduate school (pretty much indicating that you don't want a career in whatever sport) then you need to give up sports at the varsity level.

The comment in the parenthesis is so wrong it's funny.

Really, because which professional athlete has gotten a Masters or Ph.D in history, English, chemistry or whatever and then went back to playing. I'm not talking about coaching or administration, but playing whatever sport. More then aware of the fact that many coaches and administrators have advanced degrees.

To answer your previous question, I partially addressed in my first comment, Many graduate programs expect you do not work an outside job while in school. That right there makes this program incompatiable with being a grad student. Secondly working outside is different from sports while in graduate shcool is that most people work around their class and other school responsibilities. That can't be done if you are on a sports team.

[transfer2BGSU]

I don't see how any school would admit a student into a graduate program and let him play football.

That because you're at Kentucky where football is looked at the same as football at Duke.

Now if Tubby found a kid that he wanted to bring in to play some hoops.....

[Ineedbotox]

Its a dumb rule. If you are going to graduate school you should be a graduate student and not an athlete. You have your time as an Undergrad to play sports. Graduate school is for serious academinc and professional training.

I've gotta laugh at the typo while I disagree with you on this one. I've been to grad school, and I will have to say, it's not so tough. Trust me, the real world is a WHOLE lot harder.

So tell me why someone who has earned another year of free tuition by redshirting should pass that up? The whole transfer thing could cause problems & it probably will be overturned. But if I were a student athlete who had plans to go to graduate school anyhow, and I could transfer to another school that might have a better graduate program, why wouldn't I want to do that?

[Jacobs4Heisman]

So tell me why someone who has earned another year of free tuition by redshirting should pass that up? The whole transfer thing could cause problems & it probably will be overturned. But if I were a student athlete who had plans to go to graduate school anyhow, and I could transfer to another school that might have a better graduate program, why wouldn't I want to do that?

I'm sure there are legitimate kids who would use this rule. My gut tells me that there would be many more cases in which a student transfers to a bigger football school, and takes a few graduate classes on his way to the NFL.

Life is full of tough decisions. If you are really serious about getting a post-grad degree in order to further a career, then you either choose between academics and football, or you postpone your grad school for a year.

[leardm17]

Really, because which professional athlete has gotten a Masters or Ph.D in history, English, chemistry or whatever and then went back to playing. I'm not talking about coaching or administration, but playing whatever sport. More then aware of the fact that many coaches and administrators have advanced degrees.

Why couldn't a student-athlete get their masters in business or education while participating in athletics? Maybe it would lead to a career in coaching. I believe most NCAA and NFL coaches are encouraged to get a masters degree.

I'd like to stretch this new rule a little further in that a student-athlete is only eligible for a 5th year regardless of their red-shirt if they are pursuing a masters degree. With greater emphasis on the student and not the athlete, we may see some stereotypes go away.

[transfer2BGSU]

I'd like to stretch this new rule a little further in that a student-athlete is only eligible for a 5th year regardless of their red-shirt if they are pursuing a masters degree.

How do you determine if a person is pursuing a masters degree?

Don't be so fast to hit that reply button, because I know all of the tricks the students use so it "appears" they are pursuing a degree.

[PGY Tiercel]

Why couldn't a student-athlete get their masters in business or education while participating in athletics? Maybe it would lead to a career in coaching. I believe most NCAA and NFL coaches are encouraged to get a masters degree.

I'd like to stretch this new rule a little further in that a student-athlete is only eligible for a 5th year regardless of their red-shirt if they are pursuing a masters degree. With greater emphasis on the student and not the athlete, we may see some stereotypes go away.

Its possible, but I think Jacobs, scenario of a student going for one year and moving on is more likely to happen.

If you want to see stereotypes go away then what needs to be done is do away with Monstrous Athletic departments and treating Football and basketball like professional franchises. 85 scholarships in which many of them seem to have academic problems is troubling. If all student athletes were provided some funding/tution assistance it would be much better system.

[Ineedbotox]

I'm sure there are legitimate kids who would use this rule. My gut tells me that there would be many more cases in which a student transfers to a bigger football school, and takes a few graduate classes on his way to the NFL.

Life is full of tough decisions. If you are really serious about getting a post-grad degree in order to further a career, then you either choose between academics and football, or you postpone your grad school for a year.

In the bigger scheme of things, so what if someone transfers to a bigger school? If that's what they want to do, let them. They worked hard enough to get the scholarship. Let them have it when they want, where they want it.

As an aside, my husband had a year of eligibility left when he was in law school. I told him he should have used it to pay for a year of law school, since I graduated early & I was paying for his school at that point. He promptly declined. No way did he want to bust his butt playing football on top of law school. But, he had plenty of friends who went to grad school while they were playing their last year of eligibility.

I just don't get what the gripe is. If you have a problem with someone going to grad school and playing football somewhere else, you should have the same problem if they stayed at the same institution and played while taking graduate classes. It should be up to the student to decide. It's their life.

[PGY Tiercel]

How do you determine if a person is pursuing a masters degree?

Don't be so fast to hit that reply button, because I know all of the tricks the students use so it "appears" they are pursuing a degree.

You mean like the ones at BG you say they are in the Ph.D. program to get that extra couple of thousand dollars in stipen, but then up leaving with a masters in 3 years.

(I know for a fact several in Biology did this)

[leardm17]

How do you determine if a person is pursuing a masters degree?

Don't be so fast to hit that reply button, because I know all of the tricks the students use so it "appears" they are pursuing a degree.

You mean like the ones at BG you say they are in the Ph.D. program to get that extra couple of thousand dollars in stipen, but then up leaving with a masters in 3 years.

(I know for a fact several in Biology did this)

Do you know any students not involved in athletics that do this as well?

[Warthog]

I am not seeing the issue here. If a kid has the talent to play in the NFL, the scouts will see them if they are at Ohio State, BG, or Tiffin. If you have skills, you will get noticed wherever you play. You don't need to transfer to a BCS school to get recognition. Assuming he wouldn't go pro, lets say Dan Macon runs for 2,000 yards and wins the Heisman this year, and is on track to graduate in May. Do you think he would need to "attend graduate school" at a BCS school for one year so that he could get a shot in the NFL? No, so his choice is just to go pro or come back to BG. Why would he, or anyone in a situation like that want to transfer?

Or if they know they aren't good enough to play in the NFL, how many students delay their real career just so they can suffer through one more year of football at a new school? Rob Warren is my example here. He could have come back for one more season, but decided to move on with his life. Andrew Hart is another example. He had earned a medical year I believe, but passed it up to start a career.

On the other hand, if you are truly interested in your education, you pick your graduate school based on academics, not the football program. I just don't think you are gonna see many players graduate from OSU, MI, BG, with one year of eligibility left and then go play one year for Duke, Penn, Stanford, Northwestern, whatever. If you choose to go to one of those graduate schools, its because you are ready to move on with your life, not because you want to play more football.

To me, the most likely "abuse" would be in our favor. A player that went to a BCS school, but gets stuck behind a superstar/hot youngster and never gets the shot they think they deserve. They could trade down to a MAC school for graduate school and try to make their mark with one great season.

[PGY Tiercel]

Oh yeah none of them were athletes, I'm just saying the stupid things ALL students do to get extra money. But don't worry I'm sure someone can find an example of a student athlete cheating the system too, as hard as that might be to believe.

[BGSUfalcons]

One problem I've noticed in this thread is that too many people are making broad generalizations about how easy or difficult graduate school is, how much time one must commit to one's studies while in graduate school, etc. Let's face it, certain graduate programs, or disciplines in general, require much time, effort, and, dare I write, intelligence. Others don't.

Also, as with almost everything in life, one only gets out of graduate school what one puts into graduate school. Two people can be in the same program and one can be much busier than the other. One can be working hard to earn good grades, spending large amounts of time on research and/or teaching, working to get published, and traveling to conferences. The other can be playing Xbox.

I think that, for the most part, it would be hard for someone to balance graduate school and D-1 athletics if he/she were serious about pursuing a career in a field that required him/her to publish and/or present (or, for artists, exhibit at legitimate places), teach beyond the secondary level, and otherwise conduct legitimate research. I'm not saying it can't be done, but the person would have to be very talented and hard-working.

EDIT: I should add that it is certainly plausible that many could do enough to get by for only one year while playing a sport.