[FarmBoy]

I saw an article posted on CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com about the possibility of Pete Carroll becoming the next coach of UCB, in the event that Tedford falls on his face at the same time PC runs through his goodwill in Seattle. Most of the commentors thought this was an impossible scenario for a variety of reasons, but one off-cited barrier was "UCB's academics." None of the posters would elaborate on what they meant by that, but everyone universally seemed to nod there heads and agree that it was a barrier. I assumed the academic related barrier had to do with the difficulty of getting recruits who meet elevated admissions standards, but is the real academic problem at Berkeley avoiding getting suspended for not meeting adequate progression to graduation? Does UCB football take all comers, regardless of academic potential and just cross their fingers that there's an easy enough major that the kids will stay eligible? Seriously, how do you get to sub-50% graduation rates for your athletes if you supposedly are an institution of higher standards?

I'm sure the C.al fan talk track is something like "well, at C.al, we don't just hand out A's like at sooooome schools, you have to work for you degree," but if that's the case isn't it irresponsible to be signing all of these players who don't stand a chance of actually graduating? It's incredibly cynical and mercenary to be signing kids with a high probability that they will neither play professional football (at least not for an extended career) nor get a degree that will help them provide for their families after football ends. It's actually quite sad for the players, as you imagine that during the recruiting process they're sold a big story on the value of a C.al degree. Little do they know that very few of them will actually earn that degree, let alone in a major that will position them for a career in the future.

[FarmBoy]

I saw an article posted on CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com about the possibility of Pete Carroll becoming the next coach of UCB, in the event that Tedford falls on his face at the same time PC runs through his goodwill in Seattle. Most of the commentors thought this was an impossible scenario for a variety of reasons, but one off-cited barrier was "UCB's academics." None of the posters would elaborate on what they meant by that, but everyone universally seemed to nod there heads and agree that it was a barrier. I assumed the academic related barrier had to do with the difficulty of getting recruits who meet elevated admissions standards, but is the real academic problem at Berkeley avoiding getting suspended for not meeting adequate progression to graduation? Does UCB football take all comers, regardless of academic potential and just cross their fingers that there's an easy enough major that the kids will stay eligible? Seriously, how do you get to sub-50% graduation rates for your athletes if you supposedly are an institution of higher standards?

I'm sure the C.al fan talk track is something like "well, at C.al, we don't just hand out A's like at sooooome schools, you have to work for you degree," but if that's the case isn't it irresponsible to be signing all of these players who don't stand a chance of actually graduating? It's incredibly cynical and mercenary to be signing kids with a high probability that they will neither play professional football (at least not for an extended career) nor get a degree that will help them provide for their families after football ends. It's actually quite sad for the players, as you imagine that during the recruiting process they're sold a big story on the value of a C.al degree. Little do they know that very few of them will actually earn that degree, let alone in a major that will position them for a career in the future.