Kansas Loses a Pair of Scholarships
Perhaps a sign that KU football has arrived, the Jayhawks became one of 17 Division I-A football programs to lose scholarships as a penalty for it's poor graduation rates. The Jayhawks were the only Big 12 school to be penalized in this manner and Washington State was the only other BCS conference school to be similarly sanctioned.
Now, in addition to the fat jokes about their head coach, the mental capacity of the players at KU is now fair game. How many Jayhawks does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
None. They don't need to change a light bulb. They're used to being in the dark.
KSU basketball was similarly shamed, losing a basketball scholarship (Bob Huggins strikes again!) I guess that makes the entire state of Kansas fair game. For example, a friend of mine got arrested for smuggling books into Kansas, but he got off on a technicality – no one could prove they were books.
But seriously folks, with the NCAA finally giving some real incentive for graduation rates, it's going to give Nebraska that much more of an advantage with its academic support. Even in the Prop 48 era the Huskers managed to graduate players at high rates. Now they can net out to having an extra player or two on the roster against a conference foe. Nice.
5/14/2008
haha, i like the lightbulb joke! It reminds me: how many blondes does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Answer: also none, blondes dont screw in lightbulbs, they screw in hot tubs! ha…
K, if that was sexist and non PC, I plead guilty.
Anyway, maybe KU is too hard a school academically for some of the players to graduate. I mean they are always bragging like they are the Harvard of the Big XII or something. Guess they’ll have to dumb down their curricula…lae…lios….whatever the plural form is for that word(nobody teaches latin anymore…).
5/14/2008
People have been calling UNL the Harvard of the Plains for years now. I laugh every time I hear it. It’s so tacky. It’s like calling the company I work for the “Microsoft of the four county area north of Kansas City.” Or calling Big Red Network the “Slashdot of Husker News.” Except that one actually works…
5/14/2008
I worry that this NCAA policy—though well-intentioned, will only increase the rampant grade inflation that goes on in US colleges and universities.
Chicago, IL
5/14/2008
Doombob, we will not rest till people call us the Wall Street Journal of Husker News. :)
5/14/2008
Jason, how can you say that??
Don’t you know newspapers are going extinct?
;-)
5/14/2008
Ze Bop…..........
My left handed blonde wife just kicked me when she read your joke. (AfterI explained it to her!)
GBR
5/14/2008
Tom Osborne was Nebraska’s first academic counselor. Ursula Walsh gets a lot of credit for the team’s many academic all americans. I don’t know that they “pioneered” academic counseling, like Boyd Eppley did for athletic performance. But at Nebraska, you could say their academic emphasis was and has been integral. As far as “Harvard,” Nebraska’s accredited, which is good enough. (I know they offer a mean “agriscience” curriculum!)
Concerning the others with slightly less emphasis, I don’t think teams got enough forewarning. It would have been better, I think, if schools had like 4 years or so, to get it together. San Diego St. for example, is getting decimated with this, along with their other problems.