The Scholarship Divide

This is the first of a three part series from the New York Times this week entitled 'The Scholarship Divide.' It's a fascinating read, and I will be very interested to read the next two installments tomorrow and Wednesday.

Expectations Lose to Reality of Sports Scholarships

Good article. There's a lot in there that most people may not know. I was talking to a guy at the baseball game last week and commented that UP has struggled at baseball because we only have a limited number of scholarships to divide among a roster of 30+ players, and most of them will still have to come up with a fair amount of money to afford UP. Hopefully high school athletes who read this will see they still have to put in time in the classroom.

Part 2 of the series 'The Scholarship Divide,' Recruits Clamor for More From Coaches with Less. Be sure to look at the sidebars from yesterday and today (on the left side of the page) with some of the analysis graphs. Interesting stuff.

Excerpt from today:
"More common is the soccer, lacrosse or softball coach who sits in a closet-sized office beside a $100 air conditioner and a 12-inch TV, trying to figure out ways to buy the best athlete possible for the least amount of scholarship money, which can be as little as $400. A jack-of-all-trades, this coach has a job that requires the skills of a stock portfolio manager, labor lawyer, headhunter, family counselor and soothsayer."

The only thing I will say in defense of UP, is pretty much all of the coaches' offices in the Chiles Center are the size of a closet.

I think the volleyball coach's new office (in the back hallway near the loading dock) used to be a closet...

The last in the series 'The Scholarship Divide," entitled It's Not an Adventrue, It's a Job.

Again, check out the sidebar article from today (look at the left side, midway down the first page), which talks about divisiveness and resentment among a team when players know what kind of scholarships their teammates are getting.