[msqueri]

The NIL is less of a problem than the grad transfer issue in my mind. NIL is money, and the University could find it if they wanted to. Finding an appealing grad program that players could get accepted to and stay is harder. Too many good students on the team can get a portion of grad school paid somewhere else.

Maybe Stanford should start a new graduate program just for athletes.  It could be something like sports management.  It would be a real academic program with classes to assist athletes in their careers during and after they retire from their sport.  I could envision classes in coaching, sports agency, financial management, nutrition, training, etc.

It wouldn't water down the prestige of Stanford's undergraduate program and it could set its own standards for admission.  This would allow both men's and women's sports to bring in grad transfers.  Maybe the only way you could get into the graduate program is if a Stanford coach made the recommendation.

This might also allow us to retain some of our seniors with remaining eligibility rather than have them grad transfer to another school.

I know what you are trying to say, but this is bass ackwards.  We should not, under any circumstances, start a program just for athletes.  We shouldn't even start a program because of athletes.  We should start a program on its own academic merits, full stop.  If it happens to be a good fit for athletes, great.

BC

One of these already exists. It's called the part-time "Masters of Liberal Arts." All of our football grad assistants are doing it, and our grad transfer WBB player from Northwestern enrolled in it. We should be leveraging this every year.

I'm hoping Taylor can attract more football-first or even just more well-rounded players than Shaw's eggheads. I've heard an alarming number of anecdotes about recent or current Stanford players who COULD play a fifth year at Stanford and get a Masters of Liberal Arts or a Masters of Communications or something but want something more substantial like a Masters of Management Science & Engineering and, when they can't  get into that program look elsewhere. We need to get to a point where reaching your football pinnacle at Stanford is again the default and players then reverse engineer an academic plan from there, rather than what we've seen in recent years of players trying to put themselves in position as soon as possible to maximize decision space to go elsewhere, as the destination they have in mind is something post-Stanford. A bit more short-term, football-focused, team-oriented thinking won't make the players worse off (maybe some take super senior quarters or get masters degrees that aren't the most they could have stretched themselves academically, while the group as a whole will be more cohesive and likely to succeed at football, which is to say have a fun undergrad experience) and will make the football team better.

[msqueri]

The NIL is less of a problem than the grad transfer issue in my mind. NIL is money, and the University could find it if they wanted to. Finding an appealing grad program that players could get accepted to and stay is harder. Too many good students on the team can get a portion of grad school paid somewhere else.

Maybe Stanford should start a new graduate program just for athletes.  It could be something like sports management.  It would be a real academic program with classes to assist athletes in their careers during and after they retire from their sport.  I could envision classes in coaching, sports agency, financial management, nutrition, training, etc.

It wouldn't water down the prestige of Stanford's undergraduate program and it could set its own standards for admission.  This would allow both men's and women's sports to bring in grad transfers.  Maybe the only way you could get into the graduate program is if a Stanford coach made the recommendation.

This might also allow us to retain some of our seniors with remaining eligibility rather than have them grad transfer to another school.

I know what you are trying to say, but this is bass ackwards.  We should not, under any circumstances, start a program just for athletes.  We shouldn't even start a program because of athletes.  We should start a program on its own academic merits, full stop.  If it happens to be a good fit for athletes, great.

BC

One of these already exists. It's called the part-time "Masters of Liberal Arts." All of our football grad assistants are doing it, and our grad transfer WBB player from Northwestern enrolled in it. We should be leveraging this every year.

I'm hoping Taylor can attract more football-first or even just more well-rounded players than Shaw's eggheads. I've heard an alarming number of anecdotes about recent or current Stanford players who COULD play a fifth year at Stanford and get a Masters of Liberal Arts or a Masters of Communications or something but want something more substantial like a Masters of Management Science & Engineering and, when they can't  get into that program look elsewhere. We need to get to a point where reaching your football pinnacle at Stanford is again the default and players then reverse engineer an academic plan from there, rather than what we've seen in recent years of players trying to put themselves in position as soon as possible to maximize decision space to go elsewhere, as the destination they have in mind is something post-Stanford. A bit more short-term, football-focused, team-oriented thinking won't make the players worse off (maybe some take super senior quarters or get masters degrees that aren't the most they could have stretched themselves academically, while the group as a whole will be more cohesive and likely to succeed at football, which is to say have a fun undergrad experience) and will make the football team better.