Putting the STUDENT in Student Athlete

So far in the last year we have talked about all aspects of what it means to be a BYU Football player, except the role the guys play as students at BYU and the challenges that presents. Being a Student Athlete is a unique experience. This should help to give you a little insight into what the players face on a daily basis in the classroom and answer the age old question, “Do athletes get special treatment from their teachers?”

Let’s start with registration. I would say that the special treatment of student athletes begins and ends here. Athletes get priority registration because of their unique schedules. For football you have to have all your classes done by 2pm and then you can start taking night classes at around 7pm. Other sports have different practice schedules, but the university gives you the opportunity to work your schedule around your athletic commitments.

How do the teachers treat the players? I only had three teachers at BYU that really even cared about BYU football. One of them was the Mens Volleyball coach. But I never had a teacher give me something I didn’t earn because I was a football player. In fact there were multiple times where being an athlete actually worked against me.

It has been interesting to talk with friends in the NFL about players and their school work. I have come to the conclusion that BYU is the only school playing by the rules. 90% of the guys in the schools represented in the NFL have guys who don’t do a lick of school work their entire college career. And then we as football fans wonder why the players are always in trouble and why so many college football players end up working at McDonalds. I am so glad that the academic standard at BYU is by the book and demands that the players get their own education while at the school.

When we play away games we usually leave BYU around noon the day before. So on Saturday games we rarely miss class. On the occasional Thursday game you could miss classes on Wed and Thur. Usually teachers are good about helping you out and working with you to turn in assignments that may be due. Football is the best sport to play when it comes to travel because 90% of the time we will miss only 1 hour of school if any (keep in mind we always finish by 2pm and most classes are either M-W or T-Th). The sports I feel bad for are basketball, baseball, etc where you go on road trips that last a week or more and you have to take your school work on the road with you. The closest football comes to this is Bowl Week. At the bowl games we have a room set up with computers and academic advisors to help the players wrap up their school work and finals.

Coach Mendenhall’s standard for the team is a 3.0 GPA. Any player who falls below that has to meet with academic advisors to ensure that they are going to class and turning in their assignments. In order to stay eligible you have to maintain at least a 2.0 GPA and pass 15 credit hours in between seasons. For someone to not be academically eligible is beyond me. There are enough easy elective classes you can take to boost your GPA and passing a class is all but guaranteed if you just show up to class.

In conclusion, I get tired of hearing that athletes get special treatment at BYU. The reality is that we really are put at a disadvantage. We are competing in the classroom with students who had near perfect GPAs coming out of the high school who set the bar high for teachers at BYU. Then we take 4-6 hours of study time a day to play a game.