[StanUSwagU]

there's been a lot of talk about "transfer slots" and such but fixing part of the problem ought to be as simple as admitting transfers who are judged able to do the work to graduate and be a productive member of the stanford community to replace those players who use the transfer portal to leave stanford.  the total number of available non student-athlete "transfer slots" shouldn't have any bearing on the number of transfer slots available for student-athletes to replace those who leave.  discard the admissions elitism and admit those transfers from the portal whom the coach wants or needs to replace players departing through the portal so long as admissions exercises its reasonable judgment and determines the prospective transfer player able to do the work to graduate, etc.  the "slots" already exist as the team has to be filled--and filled with talented, skilled athletes if stanford's goal of excellence in all things in which it endeavors is to hold water and be taken seriously.

that would be a partial fix for portal exits.  using the portal for regular recruiting and plugging holes should also be addressed but the standardfor admissions ought to be the same, imho.

The idea of splitting any kind of admission decision into "athlete" and "non-athlete" is already anathema to most of the University. One obvious problem is that it would discriminate by gender. Female non-athletes would not be eligible for spaces voluntarily relinquished by football players. IMO the coaches would possibly get some traction by pointing out they had lots of transfers out and needed help replacing those players. The admissions department could then chose to exercise their discretion in admissions to "help" a bit. Or not. A formal policy of "football slots for football players" is a total non-starter.

One might as well postulate that TT should be able to specify who gets admitted each year to play football as long as they appear to be "able to do the work". That policy might indeed make "excellence in all things" (especially football) much easier to accomplish. You would have the same chance of getting that as you would reserving slots in the transfer pool. None and less than none.

Hi Goose,

Some good points, and what I propose I will leave to the legal experts, to see if it would be acceptable on legal grounds:

(1). Stanford is a 'Private Institution', so it has some discretion that Public Universities do not.

What if:

(2). Stanford added 2000 students to its Undergrad Class [about 500 per class eg Frosh, Soph, Junior, Senior]

(3). Stanford created 2 New Undergraduate Majors named:

(a) "Football Theory, History, & Management"
(b) "Basketball Theory, History, & Management"


In order to be admitted or transferred into these undergraduate programs, (and we can work on the granular customized admissions criteria) students will have to have.a very strong background in these fields of endeavor, meaning having played these 2 sports, worked in these 2 sports, or be able to 'write a persuasive essay on the topic, that shows they have great depth & breath of knowledge for these fields of study & exceptional passion for these 2 fields.

(4). What would this solve:

(a) Obviously, great Varsity Football Players & Basketball Players (both from HighSchool & Transfers) would score high on these admissions criteria & get admitted to matriculate at Stanford.
(b) Students (non-varsity athletes) with Lots of Passion & Knowledge for Football & Basketball would score high on these admissions criteria (& these students would be a natural fit for 'regularly attending Football & Basketball games ...thus helping our Attendance at Home Games for these 2 sports)
© A New Culture, Expertise, Emphasis, & Prioritization about Football & Basketball as fields of study, & endeavors for the University to give 110% commitment to, ...would be ushered in at Stanford !

(5) Because we are ADDING 2000 'new' undergrad Slots for these 2 Specialized New Undergraduate Majors named ....

(a) "Football Theory, History, & Management"
(b) "Basketball Theory, History, & Management"

....we would not be taking away existing spots for our 'regular traditional nerdy Football & Basketball apathetic students'. (sorry for that description, I can't think of any other description for now)


(6). I know many will dismiss this proposal as 'outlandish & compromising our Stanford Values' ...but again this will be A 'NEW COMPLETELY ADDITIVE WING/DEPT TO THE UNIVERSITY', ..the 'old, traditional, stuffy, football & basketball apathetic WING of the Unversity', will still be around completely intact !

[StanUSwagU]

there's been a lot of talk about "transfer slots" and such but fixing part of the problem ought to be as simple as admitting transfers who are judged able to do the work to graduate and be a productive member of the stanford community to replace those players who use the transfer portal to leave stanford.  the total number of available non student-athlete "transfer slots" shouldn't have any bearing on the number of transfer slots available for student-athletes to replace those who leave.  discard the admissions elitism and admit those transfers from the portal whom the coach wants or needs to replace players departing through the portal so long as admissions exercises its reasonable judgment and determines the prospective transfer player able to do the work to graduate, etc.  the "slots" already exist as the team has to be filled--and filled with talented, skilled athletes if stanford's goal of excellence in all things in which it endeavors is to hold water and be taken seriously.

that would be a partial fix for portal exits.  using the portal for regular recruiting and plugging holes should also be addressed but the standardfor admissions ought to be the same, imho.

The idea of splitting any kind of admission decision into "athlete" and "non-athlete" is already anathema to most of the University. One obvious problem is that it would discriminate by gender. Female non-athletes would not be eligible for spaces voluntarily relinquished by football players. IMO the coaches would possibly get some traction by pointing out they had lots of transfers out and needed help replacing those players. The admissions department could then chose to exercise their discretion in admissions to "help" a bit. Or not. A formal policy of "football slots for football players" is a total non-starter.

One might as well postulate that TT should be able to specify who gets admitted each year to play football as long as they appear to be "able to do the work". That policy might indeed make "excellence in all things" (especially football) much easier to accomplish. You would have the same chance of getting that as you would reserving slots in the transfer pool. None and less than none.

Hi Goose,

Some good points, and what I propose I will leave to the legal experts, to see if it would be acceptable on legal grounds:

(1). Stanford is a 'Private Institution', so it has some discretion that Public Universities do not.

What if:

(2). Stanford added 2000 students to its Undergrad Class [about 500 per class eg Frosh, Soph, Junior, Senior]

(3). Stanford created 2 New Undergraduate Majors named:

(a) "Football Theory, History, & Management"
(b) "Basketball Theory, History, & Management"


In order to be admitted or transferred into these undergraduate programs, (and we can work on the granular customized admissions criteria) students will have to have.a very strong background in these fields of endeavor, meaning having played these 2 sports, worked in these 2 sports, or be able to 'write a persuasive essay on the topic, that shows they have great depth & breath of knowledge for these fields of study & exceptional passion for these 2 fields.

(4). What would this solve:

(a) Obviously, great Varsity Football Players & Basketball Players (both from HighSchool & Transfers) would score high on these admissions criteria & get admitted to matriculate at Stanford.
(b) Students (non-varsity athletes) with Lots of Passion & Knowledge for Football & Basketball would score high on these admissions criteria (& these students would be a natural fit for 'regularly attending Football & Basketball games ...thus helping our Attendance at Home Games for these 2 sports)
© A New Culture, Expertise, Emphasis, & Prioritization about Football & Basketball as fields of study, & endeavors for the University to give 110% commitment to, ...would be ushered in at Stanford !

(5) Because we are ADDING 2000 'new' undergrad Slots for these 2 Specialized New Undergraduate Majors named ....

(a) "Football Theory, History, & Management"
(b) "Basketball Theory, History, & Management"

....we would not be taking away existing spots for our 'regular traditional nerdy Football & Basketball apathetic students'. (sorry for that description, I can't think of any other description for now)


(6). I know many will dismiss this proposal as 'outlandish & compromising our Stanford Values' ...but again this will be A 'NEW COMPLETELY ADDITIVE WING/DEPT TO THE UNIVERSITY', ..the 'old, traditional, stuffy, football & basketball apathetic WING of the Unversity', will still be around completely intact !