Today’s issue of The New York Times has an interesting article about the the gap between the expectations and the reality of collegiate athletic scholarships. It is the first part of a three-part series this week called The Scholarship Divide.
But the expectations of parents and athletes can differ sharply from the financial and cultural realities of college athletics, according to an analysis by The New York Times of previously undisclosed data from the National Collegiate Athletic Association and interviews with dozens of college officials.
The article supports the comments recently made by Dan Donigan at the Springfield Soccer Club banquet in February.
This might be the most sobering statistic of all:
In 2003-4, there was the equivalent of one full N.C.A.A. men’s soccer scholarship available for about every 145 boys who were playing high school soccer four years earlier.
The article also discusses a scholarship angle that I have not seen previously seen discussed: parents.
Coaches surveyed at two representative N.C.A.A. Division I institutions — Villanova University outside Philadelphia and the University of Delaware — told tales of rejecting top prospects because their parents were obstinate in scholarship negotiations.
“I dropped a good player because her dad was a jerk — all he ever talked to me about was scholarship money,” said Joanie Milhous, the field hockey coach at Villanova. “I don’t need that in my program. I recruit good, ethical parents as much as good, talented kids because, in the end, there’s a connection between the two.”
The article has been added to the articles section of the website. The section is password protected with the same password that is used for the contact lists.
