[Goose]

Did Jim Plunkett have to file a plan to graduate in five years or is that something new from the “No Fun” Stanford administration?

At State you could take 20 years if you wanted. Just pay the $31 registration fee. Our conference was infamous for guys playing six or seven years. Nobody cared. Nobody checked.

I knew football guys that were around for five years in the Plunkett era and I'm reasonably sure they didn't have to file a plan. At least if they did, they never talked about it.

Plunkett had a serious thyroid tumor removed his freshman year. I am pretty sure that would have generated a reason for slower academic progress and an extra year, if such were required. As I recall, the way the system worked back then was that you had to get your advisor to sign your course list each fall quarter (every quarter as a freshman). This was designed to make sure you were "making satisfactory progress towards a degree". It was usually a pretty perfunctory process and I am pretty sure my advisor didn't look at my transcript to see how I actually was doing. If you weren't "on schedule" to graduate on time (because you actually failed too many courses, which today is of course impossible :-), you and your advisor both got a computer notice and things did get messy. OTOH, if you had enough units to graduate and didn't apply to do so, when you showed up for year five you and you advisor "would have some 'splaining" to do. They were supposed to get you out in four years, and if they didn't it was a problem for both you and your advisor. However, if your advisor was supportive, it might have gone through OK. I don't know because I never knew anybody who did it. Stanford was expensive enough (even then) that few would spend the money if it was avoidable. Most scholarships also were for four years, though not all. Athletic scholarships were probably a different matter.

There was another thing in play at the time, namely the draft. Originally you could be 2S for an indeterminate number of years. When it became obvious that was encouraging people to stay in school just to avoid the draft, the rules were changed to say you could be 2S for only four years, or five years if you were in an accredited program that required five years. Guess when co-terminal programs were invented? Originally, getting admitted to a PhD program was a deferment basically for life, but that too changed. Eventually you had to take your chances after five years in college, max.

[Goose]

Did Jim Plunkett have to file a plan to graduate in five years or is that something new from the “No Fun” Stanford administration?

At State you could take 20 years if you wanted. Just pay the $31 registration fee. Our conference was infamous for guys playing six or seven years. Nobody cared. Nobody checked.

I knew football guys that were around for five years in the Plunkett era and I'm reasonably sure they didn't have to file a plan. At least if they did, they never talked about it.

Plunkett had a serious thyroid tumor removed his freshman year. I am pretty sure that would have generated a reason for slower academic progress and an extra year, if such were required. As I recall, the way the system worked back then was that you had to get your advisor to sign your course list each fall quarter (every quarter as a freshman). This was designed to make sure you were "making satisfactory progress towards a degree". It was usually a pretty perfunctory process and I am pretty sure my advisor didn't look at my transcript to see how I actually was doing. If you weren't "on schedule" to graduate on time (because you actually failed too many courses, which today is of course impossible :-), you and your advisor both got a computer notice and things did get messy. OTOH, if you had enough units to graduate and didn't apply to do so, when you showed up for year five you and you advisor "would have some 'splaining" to do. They were supposed to get you out in four years, and if they didn't it was a problem for both you and your advisor. However, if your advisor was supportive, it might have gone through OK. I don't know because I never knew anybody who did it. Stanford was expensive enough (even then) that few would spend the money if it was avoidable. Most scholarships also were for four years, though not all. Athletic scholarships were probably a different matter.

There was another thing in play at the time, namely the draft. Originally you could be 2S for an indeterminate number of years. When it became obvious that was encouraging people to stay in school just to avoid the draft, the rules were changed to say you could be 2S for only four years, or five years if you were in an accredited program that required five years. Guess when co-terminal programs were invented? Originally, getting admitted to a PhD program was a deferment basically for life, but that too changed. Eventually you had to take your chances after five years in college, max.