Brain Power: Creating Academic Juggernauts

Dominique Green

Submitted to Graduate Studies- School of Education

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of:

MASTER OF SCIENCE IN STUDENT PERSONNEL ADMINISTRATION

IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Dr. Marilyn Meell

June 19, 2018

Concordia University – Ann Arbor, Michigan

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 SECTION I
INTRODUCTION AND STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Introduction
The University of Michigan is a public four-year research institution, which is known for

its high achieving academic pedigree. The University of Michigan has been recognized as the

number one public university in the nation. Not only known for its rigorous course work and

phenomenal alumni worldwide; the University of Michigan athletic program has received

national recognition for its championship caliber competition. The University of Michigan

Athletic Department manages over 900 student athletes, 27 varsity sports, and a 168-million-

dollar budget.

The goal of this capstone project was to create individual educational plans for student-

athletes (EPSA). The purpose of this plan was to encourage students to select majors which work

best with their schedule and that are to their liking. The EPSA is a model for all varsity sports at

the University of Michigan to utilize for other student-athletes. The EPSA will increase

organization and proper planning skills when taking classes during season play and out of season

play.

I enrolled into the University of Michigan in the summer of 2010 and graduated with a

Bachelors of General Studies in 2016. I originally applied to Michigan for the School of

Kinesiology to study in Sport Management. I currently work as an assistant to the Director of

Football Academics in the Athletic Department at the University of Michigan. My role with the

department was to manage eight current football players with their academic progress and well-

being. I connected them with tutors, checked classes for attendance, sent reminders for

assignments due, and advised them on life goals. I have kept my career goal of becoming a

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Director of Athletics at the fore-front of my mind. I believe that my current position, the

experience of working at University of Michigan, and my research project will assist me to

achieve my career aspirations.

Statement of the Problem

Throughout this research project I have explored the connection between the two worlds

of academics and athletics as it pertains to my eight individual football players that I worked

with. Maintaining academic integrity by college athletes is one of the major issues associated

with colligate athletics. It was important to analyze what Michigan’s Athletic Department was

doing academically to support and encourage the academic progress of their student-athletes. I

will strive to eliminate the perception that student-athletes are not academically comparable with

the rest of the student population.

The need to develop good time management skills by student athletes also needed to be

addressed. Students who were playing football were having a very difficult adjustment to

collegiate athletic schedules. The demand of rigorous coursework at elite academic institutions

such as Michigan, makes it a challenge to succeed because of the pressure of participating in

revenue generating sports. It appears that success during athletic seasons is more important than

the academic demand for success. The average non-athlete student may work between 10—20

hours a week, in addition to their course load and their academic requirements. For the average

student, academic achievement determines if they can keep their academic scholarships to pay

for school. For athletes it is the pressure to perform at a high level to keep their scholarships.

That pressure can and usually does take time away from studying to master their athletic ability

in their sport. In order to mold student-athletes into academic juggernauts, the athletic coaches

and advisors must put academics first and realize that the student-athletes are also college

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students. Juggernauts are massive inexorable forces that can crush whatever is in its path. These

student-athletes are juggernauts on the football field where they give their very best and full

effort. It is important that they exert that same energy and focus on academics and they will be

unstoppable, able to uncap their true academic potential.

Glossary
Juggernaut: a massive inexorable force, campaign, movement, or object that crushes

whatever is in its path

Pluralistic Ignorance: is a psychological phenomenon in which the majority of the group

members hold private attitudes that differ from the perceived group’s norm

Project Description and Relevance

Creating an individual Educational Plan for Student-Athletes has organized the degree

requirements to better assist in declaring a major for student-athletes that will propel them in

future fulfilling careers. The current structure of class selecting has been more random than

selecting towards strengths. I believe that the EPSA will not only guide the student athletes to

plan their course schedule better but will also better assist with the management of their time to

focus more on their academics.

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 SECTION II
LITERATURE REVIEW

Black male athletes are often the focus of discussion in collegiate student-athlete

graduation rates, because they compose a meaningful percentage of athletes who compete in

revenue- generating sports (Gill, 2014). The purpose of the article was to explore the impact that

an intensive learning program could have on black male athletes. Understanding the needs of

student-athletes and how the intense learning program could increase academic achievement is a

focus as mine also. “Are universities providing black male student athletes with the support

needed to graduate (Gill, 2014, p. 413)?” The research presented in the article indicated that in

2008, 58% of the black college football athletes graduated in 6 years, in comparison to 80% of

their white counterpart. Each athletic department has an obligation to provide academic support

and career development to their student- athletes, especially when it comes to helping particular

athletes that are struggling with academics.

In the article, a pilot program was created at the University of Tennessee department of

athletics called TEAM EXCEL (Gill, 2014). In the program, two Master of Social Work (MSW)

students were hired to provide an array of integrated behavioral health services to address the

student-athletes’ physical, emotional, mental, educational, and spiritual needs (Gill, 2014). It is

believed that the academic achievement of black male student-athletes is pertinent to an

institution’s capacity to fulfill their responsibilities to educate all black male student (Gill, 2014).

Data collected indicated only 32% of black males graduate from college within 6 years in

Division 1 schools. Only college campuses, 30.4% of the black males on campus are student-

athletes, and the student athletes only have a 58% graduation rate. The result of the TEAM

EXCEL study indicated that the GPA of the average student-athlete in the intensive learning

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program increased from a 2.09 to a 2.38 GPA between fall and spring semesters. The data

revealed that there were some learning gaps between student-athletes and the average student, as

well as differences between black male athletes and white male athletes. Athletic departments

need to ensure the academic success of all students, especially those with learning challenges.

Information collected on pluralistic ignorance among student-athletes identified that there

are several plausible explanations for student-athletes underperformance (Levine, Etchison, &

Oppenheimer, 2014). In qualitative studies, student-athletes report experiences that conflict

between their student and athletic roles on a college campus. It is important for society to

understand how student-athletes see themselves and the perception projected by their fellow

classmates and professors. In discussions, experts and ordinary people have speculated that the

time requirements that student-athletes put forth in their perspective sport affects their ability to

spend quality time on their academic studies. Therefore, underperformance in academics can be

explained by lack of time allocation for proper study habits. As stated in the article, another issue

for college academic underperformance is the lack of major academic effort prior to a student

enrolling on a college campus.

The educational preparation prior to their first college class is insufficient. Statistically,

indicators such as high school GPA, SAT score, intellectual interest and motivation may have

not been included in the admissions process of the student-athlete’s application. Pluralistic

ignorance, can cause the majority of individuals within a given group to believe quite mistakenly

that they are in the minority (Levine, et al., 2014) This leads to student-athletes being affected by

negative stereotypes when they are seen as unintelligent and unengaged (Levine, et al., 2014) In

the majority of scenarios, student-athletes are not taken seriously by professors, classmates, and

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even some fellow teammates. An experience that may be doubly experienced by student-athletes

of color (Levine, et al., 2014).

As stated in the “Pluralistic ignorance among student athlete populations: a factor in

academic underperformance” Levine, Etchison, & Oppenheimer 2014 article, culture

surrounding sports is also a contributing factor to the poor academic performance. When

individuals are able to indulge in that understanding, it is better to enhance academic

performance and how will be extremely important for the future students (Levine, et al., 2014).

In the article it gave an explanation of a student-athlete who wanted to choose a challenging

major that would steer him toward a career they were passionate about. The example was Steven

Cline who wanted to be a veterinarian but was told that the majority of football players major in

social science. Social sciences were seen as the easier major to stay eligible. As stated in the

article, “Pluralistic ignorance is a psychological phenomenon in which the majority of the group

members hold private attitudes that differ from the perceived group’s norm. In order to fit in,

individuals adopt the public behavior that aligns with the perceived norms, even though most of

the members of that group do not privately endorse those norms” (Levine, et al., p. 530).

No one wants to live the life of a negative stereotype, but group norms and the culture of

environments can cause student-athletes to only do the bare minimum in order to get by. Some

student-athletes are not academically prepared to achieve academically and see their non-athlete

counterparts as smarter and belonging in the classroom. Student-athletes believe that their

schedules do not allow them to be the best students academically. Considering the possibility of

reducing practice time will potentially be useful. Student-athletes will not be successful if they

feel that they need to engage in fewer scholastics activities so as to conform to a group norm or

culture (Levine, et al., 2014). According to Levine, Etchison and Oppenheimer 2014, student-

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athletes privately held positive notions to academic success but perceived three things: that their

teammates did not take school seriously, their non-athletic counterparts were smarter, and their

non-athletic counterparts saw athletes as unintelligent and not deserving of being in class with

them. In other words, participants hold positive private attributes towards academics, while

conforming to the perceived group norms (Levine, et al., 2014).

What are the images presented that show athletic role models? There are not many

positive images which illustrate academic ability over or in conjunction with athletic ability.

What the media portrays is the image that you can become a professional athlete and make

millions of dollars. There is no media coverage on the facts that those chances are slimmer than

lottery odds. The chances to go pro in each professional sport are as follows: 1.2% (NBA), .9%

(WNBA), 1.7 (N.F.L.), 8.9% (MLB), 3.8% (NHL), 1.6% (MLS) (Caulfield, 2010, p. 22). Media

should not promote a popular culture idol that misguides the younger African American

populations into believing that in order to be successful they need to achieve athletically. Instead

media and society as a whole should emphasize education and academic accomplishments

(Caulfield, 2010). One out of nine African American males have a Division 1 scholarship, in

comparison in to 1 out of 50 white males. The purpose of the article was to emphasize the need

for promoting academic student-athlete role models (Caulfield, 2010). One of the examples

given throughout the article referenced Paul Robeson. Paul Robeson did not only have 15 varsity

letters in 4 sports, but he was also a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Nation honor society. Instead

of focusing solely on athlete’s who contribute to their sport, the emphasis on their academic

achievement needs to be at the forefront (Caulfield, 2010).

Often in society, athletes are perceived as less intelligent than their non-athletic peers due

in part to the time commitment of the athlete’s individual sport. Data indicates that female

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student-athletes outperform male student-athletes academically (Comeaux, 2012). This trend

appears to be true because students in revenue producing sports perform lower academically than

students in non-revenue generating sports and non-athletic sports. In the article Comeaux 2012,

of 869 student athletes, 45% felt less intelligent than their counterparts, 44% believed they took

easier classes for eligibility, 37% felt less academically competitive (Comeaux, 2012, p. 285).

The goal of the study was to investigate whether a team’s academic performance measures up to

their athletic performance. “It is believed that the natural competiveness, hard work, and

motivation created while performing in a sport, will translate to the classroom, when in fact it

does not because of their perception they have of themselves and why they think other non-

athletic people perceive them to be” (Comeaux, 2012, p. 285).

The purpose of the article “Examining the Value of Social Capital and Social Support for

Black Student-Athletes’ Academic Success” is to understand how social capital and social

support influence the academic success of Black student-athletes that attend predominantly

White institutions of higher education (Carter-Francique, 2015). In the fall of 2006, the NCAA

indicated that their Graduation Success Rate (GSR) was the highest ever at 82%. These numbers

are misleading when breaking down the numbers by gender and race. In the data collection, it

was found that the GSR for black student-athletes was 67%, compared to 86% of white student-

athletes (Carter-Francique, 2015). Academic success to the NCAA is the ability for their student-

athletes to maintain eligibility, known as “progress towards degree” (Carter-Francique, 2015).

The article indicated that for us to have a significant understating and value the

educational experience of the black-student athletes, then it is important to discuss the broader

experiences of blacks and the educational system (Carter-Francique, 2015). Black students and

black-student-athletes are considered at risk because of the variety of challenges they bring with

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them from their environments. There are six additional challenges that student-athletes face,

which non-student-athletes have to deal with: (a) balancing athletic and academic endeavors. (b)

coping with social isolation and participation in student activities. (c) managing athletic success.

(d) managing their athletic health that include injury and rehabilitation. (e) negotiating personal

relationships with coaches, parents, family, teammates, peers, and the community. (f) adjusting

to athletic retirement and transition into a life after college athletics (Carter-Francique, 2015, p.

164).

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 SECTION III
PROCEDURES
Goals of the Project
The goal was to create individual educational plans for football student-athletes (EPSA).

The purpose of these plans was to be an encouragement for students to select majors which work

best with their schedule and that are to their liking; as well as improve the amount of effort put

into their academic career to succeed. The EPSA was then to become a model for other sport

programs to utilize for their student-athletes. The EPSA will increase organizational skills and

improve proper planning when taking classes during season play and out of season play.

Procedures
In the creation of the EPSA, I wanted to identify the type of majors and degrees that the

college football players were pursuing. An academic aptitude assessment (Appendix A) was

conducted in October 2017, to expound on strengths and weaknesses of the eight football

student-athletes academic interest and academic achievement.

The data presented in Table 1 reflects the academic performance of the eight football

student-athletes by semester during their current time at Michigan. Some students will have a

second G.P.A in the table to indicate a second term taken, due to years at Michigan.

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Table 1

Academic Performance by Football Student-Athletes per Semester During Time at Michigan

Student-Athletes G.P.A. Summer G.P.A. Fall G.P.A. Winter G.P.A. Spring

Student A 3.060 3.007 2.890

Student B 3.300 2.2 2.2

Student C 2.2 2.5 2.7 2.5

4.0 0.857 2.8

Student D 3.7 2.2 3.2 3.4

4.0 2.3 3.0

Student E 1.7 3.2 2.8 3.0

4.0 2.2 3.0

Student F 4.0 2.7 3.2 3.0

3.1

Student G 4.0 2.9 3.8 4.0

3.2

Student H 2.06 2.4 3.1 3.0

3.7 2.2 1.5

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 The data in Table 2 represents the average G.P.A. by semester for the eight football

Student-Athletes. Since the group is a mix of Freshmen and Sophomores, not everyone took a

spring semester or took multiple winter and fall semesters. When comparing the G.P.A per

semester, it is important to understand that spring and summer are half terms and the maximum

amount of credits needed is six in each term. For winter and fall terms, the minimum for full time

is 12 credits. Fall Term is considered playing season for football student-athletes. The data

clearly shows that the student-athletes do not perform as well in the fall term during the football

season.

Table 2

Average G.P.A for Eight Football Student-Athletes per Semester

Average G.P.A

3.64
3.15
2.89
2.39

SUMMER TERM FALL TERM WINTER TERM SPRING TERM

Average G.P.A

A key component of my research was the academic aptitude assessment (Appendix A) of

the eight student-athletes. This tool enabled me to collect data on what they perceived to be their

strengths and weakness as well as how they saw themselves as students.

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 One of the questions asked what courses were previously taken and how each student-

athlete performed academically when they were in season or out of season. This provided me

with an idea of how they went about selecting classes, and if they took into consideration the

amount of time each student would be able to allot to academic success during a playing season

(Fall Semester).

The data in Tables 3- 6 represents a summary of results of a survey given to the eight

football student-athletes. The focus of the survey was for the student-athletes to describe how

they saw themselves as students on the University of Michigan campus, how they felt the

University as an institution viewed them, how much did the time dedicated to football effect

academic achievement, and what they assumed was most important to their family between

obtaining a degree and playing professionally.

Table 3 shows the perceptions of how the practice schedule effected their academic

achievement.

Table 3

Perceptions of How Practice Schedules Had an Effect on Classroom Academic Achievement

Effects of Practice Schedules

25%
Yes
No
63% 12% Maybe

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 The data collected shows that only 25% of the eight student-athletes believed that the

practice schedules had an effect on their academic achievement. Yet, 63% were unsure if the

practice schedule had an effect on their academic achievement.

The Data in table 4 shows the eight student-athletes perceptions of how they think the

University of Michigan views the importance of their athletic success and academic success.

Table 4

Perception of How The University of Michigan Views The Importance of their Athletic and

Academic Success.

What Matters to Michigan

25%
Academic Success
Athletic Succes

75%

Table 4 clearly shows that the student-athletes believe that the University of Michigan

sees their value to the university based off of their athletic success to help with revenue of the

Athletic Department.

In Table 5 I asked the question as to what their perceptions are of what they feel most

important to their family, and what would make their family the proudest between obtaining their

degree and playing professionally.

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Table 5

Which Do You Think is More Important to Your Family

What Matters to Family

25%
Obtaining Degree
Professional Career

75%

Table 5 clearly shows that they know their families would rather them have a college

degree than playing professional football. The parents of these student-athletes are trusting the

University to take care of their children academically. The parents realize that the longevity of a

career after football will only be useful if they obtain their degree. In Table 6 it appears that the

student-athletes do not agree with their family as to what is most important. The question

focused on what the student-athlete felt was most important to them; either being eligible to play

or becoming academic all big-ten. Academic All Big-Ten means that the student-athlete has

averaged a 3.0 G.P.A. while playing for that academic semester.

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Table 6

Which Do You Care About The Most

What Matters to You

25%

Being Elgible to Play

Academic All Big-Ten

75%

Some of the data presented may be limited due to the small sample size of student-

athletes; nonetheless, the information discovered will help the eight participants and future

student-athletes in need of an educational plan.

All of the research and individual meetings took place in the Academic Center (AC). The

AC was the designated study and resource center for all student-athletes at the University of

Michigan. It is the central location where student-athletes meet with tutors, mentors, and

academic counselors. At the end of the calendar year, I conducted individual meetings

(Appendix B) in May as well for reflections on the past semester and the vision they have for the

next year, as well as an end of the year Survey (Appendix C). The final collecting of this data

was organized in a spreadsheet in order to create individual EPSA’s. It is the intention that the

individual EPSAs be implemented in the Fall 2018 semester.

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 The data presented in Tables 7 -9 reflects the amount of effort given to sports versus

academics, the semester in which they prefer to take their more difficult courses, and the courses

that felt they performed their worst. The information presented in the tables supports the need for

recommendations on when to take certain classes during in and out of season play. The data in

Tables 7 and 8 were collected using a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest amount of effort

given.

Table 7

Amount of Effort Given to Sports Compared to Academics

Effort
12

10

0
Student A Student B Student C Student D Student E Student F Student G Student H

Academics Sports

The data in Table 7 clearly shows that the football student-athletes give more effort to

their sports, rather than their academic success.

In table 8 the question asked was which semester did the student-athletes believe were

their best academically performing academic year.

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Table 8

Which Semesters Did You Perform Your Best Academically

Best Term

Spring Term

Winter Term

Fall Term

Summer Term

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Series 3

Table 8 shows that student-athletes are better students better students in the terms when

they are not in season. The student-athletes believe they perform much better when there is a less

of a commitment to athletic success.

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Table 9

Which Semester Would You Rather Take Your More Challenging Courses

Term Preference
5

0
Summer Term Fall Term Winter Term Spring Term

Term Preference

Table 9 tells us that student-athletes understand that they should not take too many

challenging courses during the semester in which they play, because they will not have the time

to put forth the amount of effort need in their academics The data clearly shows there is a

significant decrease in the G.P.A. during the Fall term, as well as a significant difference in the

amount of effort dedicated to their athletic success and academic success.

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 SECTION IV
CONCLUSION

This study was conducted in order to give student-athletes more in-depth

recommendations on which semesters the student-athletes should select classes for majors. As a

result of this research, I believe the data clearly demonstrates that student-athletes do not

academically succeed as well during the in-season semester, as they do during the semesters they

are not in season. Related to the literature, the results of the TEAM EXCEL study conducted by

E.L. Gill and K. Farrington, 2014; they discovered that the G.P.A. of the student-athletes

increased from a 2.09 to a 2.38 between the fall and spring semesters. During the program they

were able to have the student-athletes participate in the intensive learning program. A program in

which student-athletes receive specialized help in their academic study with special education

professionals. After fall semester, the student athletes have more time to apply effort to their

academic success when their primary focus is no longer their sport. In the data I collected, the

average G.P.A increased from 2.39 to a 3.15 from fall to spring. The two studies expound on the

correlation between academic achievement improvements in semesters that are not the playing

season for the student-athletes, versus the semester that the student-athletes are in season.

Student-athletes reflected on their perspective of themselves, the University of Michigan

and their families views on how important their academic success is compared to their athletic

success. The results indicated that the student-athletes believed that academic success was a

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priority for the family. Whereas, the student-athletes cared more about athletic success and

believed the University of Michigan felt that their athletic success was much more important

than their academics. As stated in the article by Levine, Etchison, & Oppenhemier, 2014; Culture

surrounding sports can have a contributing factor to the poor academic performance. The culture

and the norm of the student-athletes during the semester in which they are playing is that their

athletic success is the priority and most valuable to the University of Michigan. There is also a

lack of academically successful role models portrayed to student-athletes in the media. What gets

the most attention is the possibility of becoming a professional football player rather than the

completion of a degree and the utilization of that degree. The financial gain of playing

professionally compared to obtaining a degree is so significantly more emphasized, it is no

wonder why student-athletes want to give all of their attention and effort to sports rather than

academics. Data shows that they only have an 8.9% chance to become a professional football

player, and they all believe they can be a part of that 8.9%. So, we have to find more ways to

help students realize the long-term benefits of obtaining a degree that can be used for a

successful career in case their first plan does not happen the way they dreamed.

The project’s purpose was to create a resource for recommendations on schedule

planning for football playing student-athletes. The Educational Plan for Student-Athletes was

created to pair students with classes in which they will perform well academically, in either

playing or non-playing seasons. Research collected for the EPSA indicated that students struggle

academically during the fall semester and would rather take their more challenging classes in

either the spring or winter terms. Understanding that for certain majors, required classes are not

always available every semester. The EPSA should provide a concise and clear recommendation

on how students should go about selecting classes that allows them to take a lighter load in the

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fall semester and take more credits when they are able to give more effort and utilize more

resources in the spring, winter, and summer semesters.

I believe that through this research I was able to help students better prepare for academic

success and really consider the benefit of obtaining a college degree, while still keeping their

professional football career aspirations as plan number one. I have learned to be able to respect

the amount of hard word they must give to their sport that takes away from their school work. As

much as colleges stress the “student” in student-athlete, I believe sports will always come first

and will always matter the most to most students and the university as an institution. Yes,

student-athletes made that decision to play football while trying to maintain academics but that is

the only way they could get to their dream of playing professional football. I believe there is a lot

of exploitation going on in college athletics, and the only ones who will suffer are the student-

athletes. I am sure before my research anyone could have made a great guess as to what

semesters individuals think student-athletes would perform their worst academically. My

assumptions are that 9 out of 10 people will be able to say the semester in which they are playing

would be their most challenging academically. Playing a division one sport is equivalent to

having a full-time job. It is not often recommended that students work full-time while in school

because it will become a distraction to their academic success. The student-athletes are

preforming a full-time job that not only effects their time in the day to study but is very taxing on

the health of the body. The increase risk of serious migraines, concussions, broken bones, and

fatigue can affect their academic success negatively.

Some unexpected limitations that occurred during the research, were the inability to make

a list of classes that former students did well in for future students to take. This effected the

ability to pick classes we already knew were successful for students in the past. In addition, the

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students I monitored were very inconsistent and some even transferred schools, thus limiting the

amount of data that I could collect from them. I wanted to be able to create a master list of

classes students would select that they could potentially excel in much higher during the

semester in which they were playing. I was advised that it is against policy and procedures to

create a list of classes based off of how previous students exceeded. It would have appeared that

we were making a list of “Easy” courses for football student-athletes to take. The issue of

academic integrity was why compliance offices put sanctions on other colleges like the

University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill. When some of my students in the data collection

phase transferred early in 2018 it affected some data outcomes and increased the number of

student-athletes I had to advise from five to eight.

In the creating of the EPSA, I was limited to the amount of data collected with such a

small sample size. I did indeed get some of the results I was expecting but a much larger sample

size would have made a more compelling case. We can speculate that the data collected on a

lower G.P.A during the playing season would not only be consistent with the rest of the football

players on the team; it would be consistent with student-athletes in other sports as well. With

revenue generating sports, we will always see a much significant lower G.P.A. average because

of racial, socio-economic, and sports differences between the different players and sports. I did

not expect to see the majority of the student-athletes not stating that practice affected their ability

to succeed in the classroom. The majority responded “maybe” the practice time affected their

ability to perform in the classroom. I was not able to collect data on the student academic

achievement levels in high school to conclude whether or not their high schools academically

prepared the students for the rigor of University of Michigan. That information Could have

helped determine whether the student-athletics would have been able to succeed at a high level

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academically without sports as a distraction. There was the possibility that the added support or

resources in the Athletic Department helped them succeed even more without it. Then the

question arises; Do these student-athletes belong at the University of Michigan? The issue

becomes are we possibly doing an in-justice to student-athletes by placing them in institutions

where they will not succeed academically because they can help the university win athletically?

I recommend that the university continue to put the academic rigor and the success of the

students as a priority when accepting them, rather than thinking about what they can provide for

the university financially because of their athletic ability. In the event that universities do accept

students who may potentially achieve academically low, perhaps they should be limited in

athletic involvement for one year so they can adjust to the college challenges of coursework. For

further research of this topic, I will encourage the consideration of the academic of the students

participating in college athletics and create intensive learning programing and testing if students

may have a learning disability that was not previously tested. The findings should cause a

change in the policy effecting the ability to list classes that were previously taken by students to

help with academic adjusting. Understanding that some of these students do not have a fighting

chance Academically, would lead the advisors to schedule them in strict programs to be put on

strict programs to help with their academic growth and career advancement. It is recommended

that further study be done to determine if the results are consistent among all sports and do they

have racial and socio-economic effect.

Student-athletes priorities are not strong academicians and the institution’s priorities of

student-athletes are not academics. If they were priority, they would not improperly accept

students because of their athletic ability, rather than connect students that meet their current

academic state. If they are to give students a chance (which I believe they should), then it is the

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job of the university to allocate time, resources, and restrict the student-athlete’s time dedicated

to sports for their first year of adjusting to college life.

REFERENCES

Bimper, A. Y. (2014). “Game Changers: The Role Athletic Identity and Racial Identity Play

Academic Performance.” Journal of College Student Development, p. 795-807

Carter-Francique, Akilah R. (2015). “Examining the Value of Social Capital and Social Support

for Black Student-Athletes’ Academic Success.” Journal of African American Studies, p.

157–177

Caulfield, C. (2010). “Promoting Academic: Student= Athlete Role Models in the Media.” Black

History Bulletin. p. 21-26

Comeaux, E. (2012). “Rethinking Academic Reform and Encouraging Organizational

Innovation: Implications for Stakeholder Management in College Sports.” Innovative

Higher Education, p. 281-293

Gill, E. L., & Farrington, K. (2014). “The Impact of an Intensive Learning Program (ILP) on

Black Male Football Student-Athlete Academic Achievement.” Journal of College

Student Development, p. 413-418

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George, P. & Dimitris, G. (2014). High Performance Athletes’ Education: Value, Challenges,

and Opportunities.” Journal of Physical Education and Sport. p. 293-300

Levine, J., Etchison, S., & Oppenheimer, D. M. (2014). “Pluralistic ignorance among student

athlete populations: a factor in academic underperformance.” Higher Education, p. 525-

540.

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APPENDICES

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 APPENDIX A

ACADEMIC APTITUDE ASSESSMENT

Link to google form for Academic Aptitude Assessment.

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 APPENDIX B

Individual Interviews:

Six participants: University of Michigan student-athletes (Football)

Purpose of Interview: To discuss career and athletic aspirations to better assist future outlook,

and college academic course selections.

Questions:

1. What is your year classification?

2. Have you selected a major? If yes, explain why you chose that major. If no, what are you

interested in?

3. What are you parents educational background? What is it about their academic

experience that has affected yours?

4. Is your high school known more for sports or academic achievement?

5. How much of the academics of the University of Michigan, attracted you to play here? If

nonet, explain what were the determining factors?

6. How do you think student-athletes (especially football players) are perceived

academically by non-athletes and staff?

7. Do you believe the media portrays academic role models or student athletes?

8. What is your greatest accomplishment to date?

9. What are your short term and long-term goals?

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 APPENDIX C

Student Reflection of Fall Semester

Questions:
1. What went well and what didn’t go well with the fall semester?

2. Do you think you picked the right classes for this semester?

3. Were you more focused on the season versus academic achievement this semester? If so,

explain why? If not, what was your focus?

4. What are your goals and focuses for the winter semester?

5. Do you believe that you perform better in the winter semester than the fall semester?

6. Do you feel that there are less time commitments in the winter semester than the fall

semester?

7. What is your thought process while selecting classes for particular semesters?

8. What are some personal challenges you had to overcome to succeed in the semester?

9. After this past semester do you feel you belong at the University?

10. Are you thinking about changing your major?

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