U.Va. needs giving for Groh to go

Most of you whining about the money in college football have no clue what you’re talking about.

1) Most university athletic programs, including UVa and Va Tech, are self-sufficient; a.k.a. they are funded SOLELY by athletic receipts and contributions. No general fund money goes into the program.
2) Athletic scholarships are awarded yearly, just like academic scholarships, and like students on academic scholarship, an athlete’s GPA can fall below the 2.0 NCAA standard once. The second time it happens they lose the scholarship. The difference between students on academic and athletic scholarship is students on athletic scholarship have the added responsibility of spending a minimum of 20 hours a week away from their studies playing their sport.
3) Most schools require athletes to meet the same academic entrance standards as non-athletes, including UVa and Va Tech. There are exceptions; for example, basketball players at Duke do not have to meet the same academic entrance standards as non-athletes. Duke, that horrible academic university.
4) According to the Journal for Higher Education, the graduation rate for football players at NCAA schools is 67%. That means two-thirds get their degrees within a six-year period. The rate for all students at the same schools is 65%.
5) Something like 240 players are drafted by the NFL each year and about another 180 are signed as free agents. There are more than 7,000 players on rosters of the 120 FBS schools each year. The HUGE majority of college players never get even a shot at the pros. To suggest college football is NFL training camp for most players is an absolutely vacuous statement.

Bald Chicken - Did Tech stop teaching English? The plural of “party” is “parties” and I think you meant “their” social calendar.  Congrats on loyally watching a team which finished 3rd in the ACC.  I hope it takes you far.

Season ticket sales have fallen?  You don’t say.  Maybe it’s because people like me, whose family had season tickets and loyally supported the Cavs for over 30 years, through good times and bad, couldn’t afford the $6,000 “voluntary contribution” to the Virginia Athletics Fund it would have taken to keep our seats.  Keep Groh, fire Groh, it’s all the same to me.  I’ve had it with the whole program.

Div 1 football is nothing more than training camp for the NFL. I’d bet that less than 5% of VT or UVA’s football team would have any shot at being accepted to the school if they weren’t football players.

Let me begin by acknowledging that there are benefits that accrue to Universities as a result of their football programs. I readily acknowledge, too, that much of the money that supports these programs comes from donations restricted to athletics. That said, the multi-million dollar investments in Division I football facilities, programs and coaches salaries, has reached the point at which they are greatly disproportionate to the benefits that accrue to the academic programs of our Universities. It is time they are brought back in line with the benefits to the Universities’ overall academic mission.

Especially at a time when our Universities lack the funding necessary for affordable tuition,  adequate academic facilities, and faculty, it is, in my opinion, unconscionable that we spend so much on what is, primarily, entertainment. It is long past time for the NCAA to cease pretending as if most college football players are “student-athletes” Division I programs far too many are essentially NFL-trainees with little interest in academics.

I would very much like to see athletic scholarships administered like all other scholarships, and contributions for athletic scholarships given to and administered by our Universities’ general scholarship funds. In that case, while contributors might elect to designate their gifts for “athletic scholarships”, the dollars contributed to “athletic scholarships” would be administered by the Academic Divisions in consultation with, but not controlled by Athletic Administration.