Which School's Graduation Rate Puts the 'Student' in 'Student-Athlete'?

Being a Miami fan isn't easy and not living in Miami for quite some time can make it even tougher. Throw in that the team has been on a bit of a down swing lately (haven't been in National Title game in a whole 5 years if you can believe that) and it gets worse. I know my Canes have a reputation of trash talking and taking an unnecessary roughing the passer penalty once in a while and yeah, they were on probation twice, the second set of charges included pay for play, a Pell Grant scandal, hit pools and hidden drug tests but one area where people just seem to have it dead wrong is in the classroom. I find that this is one area where college football fans seem to be absolutely clueless and they seem to think that because a team trash talks or knows how to celebrate a defensive TD that their players don't go to school, the statistics and facts don't bear out this argument. While Miami lands in the upper half of graduation rates we also need to consider when discussing these numbers that players who left early for the pros count against these numbers and the total allowable scholarship number by the NCAA per school per football team is eighty five. So let's dig a little deeper.

Let me just get this out since we've thrown it out as somewhat of a barometer the University of Miami graduates football players at a seventy percent clip (basically a low C average on a grade scale), but this includes guys who left early for the NFL and in case you haven't noticed Miami has the most of any school of these guys in the NFL. Now I lived in Cincinnati for quite some time so I got it from the Ohio State fans and they used to tell me the same thing about their Buckeyes. Well everyone knows that good ol' Mo Clarrett is doing time and Reggie Germany had a 0.0 gpa but barely half of the players overall at OSU leave with a degree, 53 percent to be exact. That number puts the Buckeyes in 10th place in their conference ahead of only Michigan State who comes in at 43 percent. Not all is as bad as it seems in America's heartland as North Western gets it done in the classroom at a 94 percent clip. Penn State fans usually talk a nice game when it comes to academics but the numbers show the Nittany Lions coming in at 76 percent or graduating about 4 more players a year than Miami though the difference in guys leaving for the NFL early goes in Miami's favor by a much larger number on average.

While the SEC is the toughest and best conference on the field the past few year they haven't backed it up in the classroom. Vandy has a stellar 91 percent and even Florida who sends a lot of players to the NFL early comes in at 73 percent but then it drops off substantially as Tennessee comes in at 52 percent, LSU at 51 percent and Alabama at 49 percent. Does anyone think that when ESPN's Gameday visits Georgia this year that Kirk Herbstriet is going to ask Mark Richt how he gets up and looks at himself in the mirror with his guys graduating at a 41 percent rate. As deplorable as that graduation rate is I highly doubt it and we're far more likely to hear about what a great guy Richt is and what a fine team he's put together.

I will give Notre Dame and anyone for that matter their props when they deserve it and as the Fighting Irish come in graduating guys at 93 percent I think it's fantastic and a testament to their administration in getting rid of Lou Holtz who thought ND should sacrifice their academic principles so he could win a few football games. Of course now the Irish can only beat teams that graduate in the 90's as well in Stanford and Duke but fell to Boston College who also weighs in at that 93 percent number. Speaking of the Eagles, congrats to their program as they are the model for every other team in the country, they get it done both in the class room and on the field. While I'm no Doug Flutie fan and I think his announcing is probably one of the worst and least insightful out there right now regardless of his Heisman performance down in the Orange Bowl; BC is one of the few who make the rare Bowl appearance and top graduation rate lists year after year.

So at what point do we draw the line in the sand and say that it's acceptable or unacceptable? Is Pete Carroll's USC number at 57 percent acceptable because of the amount of guys that leave early? To me at least it's clear that San Jose State's 36 and Mark Stoops Arizona team at 41 percent are unacceptable. Does it surprise me that Georgia Tech only comes in at 51 percent?, of course it does but it also makes it a lot less surprising that Chan Gailey is gone as Head Coach and Navy's Paul Johnson who made 5 straight bowls graduating guys at a national best 95 percent is in.

I've really only scratched the surface here and coaches need to be held accountable for their players more. You have heard this from me before and you will hear it again. While the athletes truly are young men and are as accountable as anyone the coaches have an obligation to the other students that their "student athletes" are students. I think it's just an awesome thing when an inner city or not so inner city kid without the financial means gets to go to college and it's all paid for because he can do something special. It doesn't even always have to be sports, they still give scholarships for academics but does anyone really believe that other free rides being given out are treated with such disregard? I don't have those numbers, I only have the ones the NCAA provides.  So next time you even think of ribbing your buddy about West Virginia's graduation rate (65%), things are even worse in some places you may not even realize.