The Relationship Between Academic Profile And Athletic Department Competitive Success At National Collegiate Athletic Association Division Iii Private Colleges And Universities

Little to no research has been conducted examining the factors contributing to athletic department competitive success in NCAA Division III intercollegiate athletics. Several studies have linked student-athlete institutional choice factors to academic factors, while Division III student-athletes have indicated that both athletic and academic programs are important in their college choice (Goss, Jubenville, & Oregan, 2006; Konnert & Giese, 1987; National Collegiate Athletic Association, 2008; National Collegiate Athletic Association Research, 2011; National Collegiate Athletic Association Research, 2016). The NCAA Division III philosophy states that student-athletes should be integrated into the whole of the institution, not treated differently than non-student-athletes, and that admissions standards should be the same for student-athletes as they are for non-student-athletes (Stubbeman & Cooper, 2015). This research examined the relationship between institutional academic profile and athletic department competitive success. Academic profile was measured through institutional selectivity (acceptance rates), caliber of incoming students (ACT/SAT scores), four-year graduation rates, and retention rates (first to second year of enrollment). Athletic department competitive success was measured by the institution's placement in the Learfield Sports Directors Cup (LSDC). Spearman rank correlation was used to examine each independent variable against the institution's points earned in the LSDC. Positive relationships were found between each independent variable and points earned in the LSDC - ranging from -.306 to .563. These positive relationships present various implications and considerations for institutional administration and coaches to consider in recruiting student-athletes and setting expectations for competitive success.

College Sports and Institutional Values in Competition interrogates the relationship between athletics and higher education, exploring how college athletics departments reflect many characteristics of their institutions and are also susceptible to the same challenges in delivering on their mission. Chapters cover the historical contexts and background of campus athletics, issues and institutional tensions over market pressures, the spectacle of college athletics and how this spectacle influences athlete experiences, and the ways in which leaders are navigating these issues. Through stories of higher education that focus on the ways athletic departments leverage their institutional values, this book encourages readers to examine the purpose, mission, and academic values of their institutions, and to evaluate the role of their athletic programs, to improve outcomes and experiences on campus for students and student-athletes alike.

There are numerous books documenting the challenges of student athletes and presenting recommendations for academic success. They primarily focus on understanding the issues of student-athletes and recommendations are oftentimes overly simplistic, failing to explicitly provide interventions that can be executed by student-athlete support personnel. In addition, the topic of supporting student-athletes who are academically at risk and/or are diagnosed with high incidence disabilities has been overlooked by scholars resulting in few publications specifically focusing on providing strategies to the staff/personnel who serve these populations. The general target audience is college/university practitioners who interface with student-athletes who demonstrate academic and social risk in the realm of athletics. These stakeholders include but are not limited to: academic support staff, student athletes, parents, coaches, faculty/educators, counselors, psychologists, higher education administrators, student affairs professionals, disability services coordinators/personnel, as well as researchers who focus on education leadership, sports, and special education. All of these groups are likely to find this book attractive especially as they work with student-athletes who are at-risk for academic failure. Also, it is ventured that this book will become the staple text for the National Association of Academic Advisors (N4A), the official organization for all personnel who work in collegiate academic support and can be used by members of intercollegiate athletic associations to reform policies in place to support at-risk student-athletes.

Higher education and intercollegiate athletics have long had a complicated relationship. Examining the interconnection between the two and from a variety of theoretical and practical angles, this volume highlights many of the debates surrounding higher education and intercollegiate athletics and the financial dependency between these two long-standing entities. Topics include: a comprehensive history of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, an examination of the funding mechanisms utilized by intercollegiate athletic departments, an in-depth magnification of the increasing corporatization of higher education and athletics, and a look into potential future debates and lines of inquiry surrounding this topic. This is the 5th issue of the 41st volume of the Jossey-Bass series ASHE Higher Education Report. Each monograph is the definitive analysis of a tough higher education issue, based on thorough research of pertinent literature and institutional experiences. Topics are identified by a national survey. Noted practitioners and scholars are then commissioned to write the reports, with experts providing critical reviews of each manuscript before publication.

The President of Williams College faces a firestorm for not allowing the women's lacrosse team to postpone exams to attend the playoffs. The University of Michigan loses $2.8 million on athletics despite averaging 110,000 fans at each home football game. Schools across the country struggle with the tradeoffs involved with recruiting athletes and updating facilities for dozens of varsity sports. Does increasing intensification of college sports support or detract from higher education's core mission? James Shulman and William Bowen introduce facts into a terrain overrun by emotions and enduring myths. Using the same database that informed The Shape of the River, the authors analyze data on 90,000 students who attended thirty selective colleges and universities in the 1950s, 1970s, and 1990s. Drawing also on historical research and new information on giving and spending, the authors demonstrate how athletics influence the class composition and campus ethos of selective schools, as well as the messages that these institutions send to prospective students, their parents, and society at large. Shulman and Bowen show that athletic programs raise even more difficult questions of educational policy for small private colleges and highly selective universities than they do for big-time scholarship-granting schools. They discover that today's athletes, more so than their predecessors, enter college less academically well-prepared and with different goals and values than their classmates--differences that lead to different lives. They reveal that gender equity efforts have wrought large, sometimes unanticipated changes. And they show that the alumni appetite for winning teams is not--as schools often assume--insatiable. If a culprit emerges, it is the unquestioned spread of a changed athletic culture through the emulation of highly publicized teams by low-profile sports, of men's programs by women's, and of athletic powerhouses by small colleges. Shulman and Bowen celebrate the benefits of collegiate sports, while identifying the subtle ways in which athletic intensification can pull even prestigious institutions from their missions. By examining how athletes and other graduates view The Game of Life--and how colleges shape society's view of what its rules should be--Bowen and Shulman go far beyond sports. They tell us about higher education today: the ways in which colleges set policies, reinforce or neglect their core mission, and send signals about what matters.

Addressing major policy issues and athletes’ well-being in collegiate sports. College athletes are at the very center of emerging campus debates over their legal, financial, and academic role. Amid ongoing litigation and pressure from internal and external stakeholders, many policy makers and university leaders are scrambling to determine the nature of this role. This timely and comprehensive volume identifies and discusses bylaws and legal decisions that have impacted the college athlete’s ability to pursue higher education. It also explains and critiques the formal policies of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and member institutions while examining critical issues relevant to the growing fields of sport management, athletic administration, and sports law. Aimed at anyone seeking to enhance their understanding of the intercollegiate athletics landscape, College Athletes’ Rights and Well-Being is divided into four sections. The first lays out the historical foundations that have shaped the intercollegiate athletic experience. Subsequent sections describe the principles, structures, and conditions that influence how athletes experience campus life, as well as the increasingly commercialized business enterprise of college sports. Told from the perspective of athletes and written by leading scholars and researchers, the book’s sixteen chapters are enhanced with useful lists of key terms and conversation-provoking discussion questions. Touching on everything from concussion protocols and collective bargaining to amateurism, Title IX’s gender-separate allowance, and conference realignment, this important book is designed for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students, scholars, educators, practitioners, policy makers, athletic administrators, and advocates of college athletes.

Making the Connection: Data-Informed Practices in Academic Support Centers for College Athletes is practical and ideal for those who seek to use research to inform their individual and organizational practices. This volume is primarily intended for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students, though scholars, researchers, teachers, practitioners, coaches, athletics administrators, and advocates of intercollegiate athletics will also find it useful. It comprises a series of chapters that cover a wide range of evidence-based approaches designed to enhance the practices of those who work closely with college athletes. Given the breadth of the field overall, this single volume is not exhaustive, but the current concerns, challenges, and themes of relevance to higher education researchers, practitioners, and others are well addressed. The intent of the text is to spark conversation about how college and university constituents can reframe their thinking about the importance of innovative research to careful, informed practice. Likewise, the contributors hope that it will inspire greater awareness and action among practitioners, as well as advance scholarship in the area of athletics. Each chapter includes current research, and in some cases theoretical perspectives, which should assist practitioners enhance the well-being of college athletes. Each chapter also offers guided discussion questions that are ideal for use as the basis of further conversation in the classroom setting. Adopters of this text will benefit from leading voices in the field who delve into complex issues, shedding new light and presenting unique opportunities for understanding a diversity of perspectives on evidence-based practices in support centers for athletes. In all, this volume provides a rich portrait of data-driven practices designed to assist practitioners and others who work closely with college athletes, and lays the groundwork for an ambitious and long overdue agenda to further develop innovative research that informs the practices of athletics stakeholders and improves the quality of experiences for college athletes.

ABSTRACT:

This monograph explores and discusses issues related to student-athletes with emphasis on entering student-athletes, and on development of programs to facilitate positive relationships between student-athletes and their universities. Following an introduction by the editor, the included chapters are: (1) "An Interview with Mike McGee" (Betsy O. Barefoot); (2) "Counseling the Collegiate Student-Athlete: History, Problems, and Possible Innovations" (Tim Fields); (3) "Self-Efficacy: A Tool for Providing Effective Support Services for Student-Athletes" (Jutta Street); (4) "Essential Components for Successful Collaboration between Coaches and Athletic Academic Advisors" (Pam Wuestenberg); (5) "Student-Athlete Welfare or 'Welfare'?" (Daniel Boggan, Jr.); (6) "NCAA CHAMPS/Life Skills Program: Results of the Help-Seeking Survey Research Project" (Meg Murray); (7) "History of the NCAA CHAMPS/Life Skills Program" (Emily Ward); (8) "The Impact of NCAA Propositions 48 and 16 on the Academic Preparation and Graduation Rates of Student-Athletes" (Jerry L. Kingston); (9) "Community/Junior College Transfer Student-Athletes: Ethics, Integrity, and the Second First-Year Experience" (Karl Mooney); (10) "The First-Year Female Student-Athlete: Characteristics and Interventions" (Carol A. Gruber); and (11) "Race and College Sports: A Long Way To Go" (Richard E. Lapchick). (Individual chapters contain references.) (DB)