College Athletes Should be Allowed to Major in Football: Dan Treadway

[The Straight Story]

College Athletes Should be Allowed to Major in Football: Dan Treadway

As absurd as it might seem at first, the idea of allowing college athletes to major in football could make a lot of sense, argues Dan Treadway, a student at the University of Texas.

Sports like football and basketball dominate many college campuses, given the prestige and revenue they generate for universities. Because “they are popular, profitable, and a deeply rooted part of the collegiate experience,” Treadway writes, administrators need to figure out “some sort of credibility to the idea of a ‘student-athlete.’”

So why not think outside the box and let football players major in their sport?

Treadway compares the idea to the current practice of offering “leisure driven activities such as Theater, Music and Art” as majors. These students will ultimately land work either in their field of interest, or wind up teaching about it.

Football majors would have the same options.

“While only a small percentage of players are fortunate enough to play professionally after graduating from college, the opportunity to receive full education in the sport of football would provide athletes with not only an education in a topic they're interested in, but it would give them the preparation they need to coach the sport at the high school, collegiate or professional-level upon graduation,” he writes.

http://www.allgov.com/Opinion_from_the_Left/ViewNews/College_Athletes_Should_be_Allowed_to_Major_in_Football__Dan_Treadway_110122

[somone]

1. And pay them a salary

Take it out of the head coach's salary

[Tempest]

2. What a dumb idea

The coaching and professional player's market is extremely small compared to the number of players who would jump at the chance of an easy glide through college.

There would be thousands of players graduating in the program with no viable job skills and no market for the small skill set they get.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

4. Aren't all college maors like that nowdays?

Look at all the kids waiting tables, working barista, and manning call centers & low wage obs who have a degree and thousands of dollars in student debt.

[DissedByBush]

6. And current subjects so prepare them for the job market

The phrase most often spoken by an art history grad is probably "Do you want fries with that?"

I don't like football, but it is a major industry in this country, employing a lot of people.

I could understand a degree in the larger area of "sports management" or something like that.

[tammywammy]

8. Aren't there already sports management degrees? n/t

[DissedByBush]

13. No idea n/t

[Book Lover]

14. Yes (nm)

[Tempest]

19. So adding a dumb one is going to help? n/t

[distantearlywarning]

7. Yeah, well, welcome to college.

That describes at least 50% of the majors out there right now.

[immoderate]

17. Bingo! Why are so many school admins former Phys Ed majors?

It's the Phys Ed-School Administrator Complex!

--imm

[provis99]

20. college is not vocational school. It does not train you for jobs.

Personally, I think sports should be thrown off campus. Who would take Oxford or Cambridge seriously if they had a football team?

[Johonny]

3. only negative of this would be

far to many players who would like to get degrees in other fields would be pressured into getting football degrees by their coaches. There simply aren't that many football related jobs for these graduates. There aren't that many coaching opportunities every year. You'd have to take some pre-law classes if they wanted to become agents etc...

It would be interesting to see what "football" classes would be like. I imagine they would exist because it would be a way to get extra coaching time with students outside the NCAA limits :)

[DavidDvorkin]

5. Much better option: eliminate all intercollegiate sports and spend the money saved on education

Only a few sports powerhouses - mainly football powerhouses - make a profit from their sports programs. The great majority of universities lose money on it.

[JackRiddler]

9. Why not? End the charade and let the students who study real stuff alone.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

10. Isn't that what the Phy Ed major is for?

Seriously, most of the jocks find a fairly easy major where they can get lots of "help" when they need it.

[petronius]

11. A 'football' concentration within a kinesiology or sports/rec/tourism major

would make sense - I'd call it analogous to a violin focus within a music degree, or a stage design concentration within a theater degree. And as mentioned above, I'm sure there are sports management degrees or concentrations out there.

As long as the school has a solid and broad GE requirement, I'm OK with finely-focused majors. However, I'd be unhappy with athletics programs requiring a certain major, whatever it happened to be...

[Odin2005]

12. Fuck that bullshit. Student-Athletes are supposed to be STUDENTS first.

[Book Lover]

15. I have a better idea - let the NFL fund their *own* training programs

Baseball has the minor leagues, yes? Why can't football pay up for their own training programs?

[walldude]

18. +1000 How about colleges spend the money they spend on

grown men playing little boy games, on fucking education.

[JCMach1]

16. Screw that... just send them straight to the NFL then