Commentary: ND???s Challenge: Not Lowered Standards, but Patience
Date: Friday, April 02, 2004
By: WAYNE DAWKINS, BlackAmericaWeb Staff
NFL Hall of Famer and Notre Dame alum Paul Hornung got hammered this week for saying that his alma mater needs to lower its academic standards to "get the black athlete." The sports announcer got bombarded with calls, many from friends and members of the media.
Hornung also received this rebuke from Notre Dame: "We strongly disagree with the thesis of his remarks," said a statement from spokesman Matthew Storin. "They are generally insensitive and specifically insulting to our past and current African-American student athletes."
Forget about sensitivities in the bone-crushing world of high-stakes, big-money college sport. Hornung did not pull a "Jimmy-the-Greek" -- spouting off-the-wall notions about black athletic prowess. Hornung was concerned about Notre Dame???s 5-7 record last season and the prospect of another bruising and bowl-less season.
Hornung is off base on the facts. Notre Dame has plenty of quality black players, student-athletes who graduate in high numbers.
The challenge is what kind of university Notre Dame wants to be, a football legend that affirms that academics come first, or a school that will ease standards in order to quickly regain their winning tradition, become bowl-eligible and cash in?
Check out the numbers: Of the 68 players on the roster for spring practice more than half -- 35 -- are black, reports the Associated Press. Among the incoming freshmen, 12 student-athletes are black and five are white. These numbers are amazing considering that a generation or two ago, blacks were not welcome in South Bend, Ind.
Oh, and did I note that Notre Dame has a black coach, one of only a handful in Division 1-A, which is heavyweight football? Tyrone Willingham came from Stanford, an elite school where competitive athletics and academic excellence is not viewed as a contradiction in terms.
Aren???t Willingham???s marching orders to continue a scholar-athlete tradition at Notre Dame?
Notre Dame likes to brag that they have the highest athlete graduation rate among big-time schools. For example in 2001, its official athletic site reported that 74 percent of their football players graduated, and 73 percent of all black Notre Dame student-athletes were graduates.
A peer was Stanford, which graduated 83 of all football players, coached by Willingham at that time, and 81 percent of all black jocks on campus.
Now consider the graduation rates of this year???s co-national football champions, University of Southern California and Louisiana State. The Bowl-bound Report Card, courtesy of the University of Central Florida Center for the Study of Sport in Society, reported that 40 percent of all LSU football players graduated. Among the black players, the rate was 34 percent. The graduation rate for all LSU students: 54 percent.
And the USC Trojans? Sixty-one percent of all football players graduated. The rate was identical for the black players on the team, and 73 percent of the total student body graduated.
Overall, the annual graduation rate for big-time college football is 51 percent, Richard Lapchick of Center for the Study of Sport in Society told BlackAmericaWeb.com, The rate for basketball is 42 percent.
Willingham had to know what he was getting into. The pressure to win and bring home bucks, bowl trophies and TV time is unrelenting. Hornung represented the views of many alumni and boosters who don???t want to see the Fighting Irish's football glory days fade.
But don???t place blame on a lack of black athletes. Notre Dame should be commended for recruiting lots of them, who are authentic students too.
Hey, and remember it???s tough for many white boys to get into Notre Dame too, which Hornung acknowledged a day later, after facts began to clear up his muddled thinking.
Now, will Notre Dame be patient enough to ride out a few more competitive but brutal seasons before they return to championship form? Only time will tell. In the meantime they can continue to polish their enviable academic credentials.
Date: Friday, April 02, 2004
By: WAYNE DAWKINS, BlackAmericaWeb Staff
NFL Hall of Famer and Notre Dame alum Paul Hornung got hammered this week for saying that his alma mater needs to lower its academic standards to "get the black athlete." The sports announcer got bombarded with calls, many from friends and members of the media.
Hornung also received this rebuke from Notre Dame: "We strongly disagree with the thesis of his remarks," said a statement from spokesman Matthew Storin. "They are generally insensitive and specifically insulting to our past and current African-American student athletes."
Forget about sensitivities in the bone-crushing world of high-stakes, big-money college sport. Hornung did not pull a "Jimmy-the-Greek" -- spouting off-the-wall notions about black athletic prowess. Hornung was concerned about Notre Dame???s 5-7 record last season and the prospect of another bruising and bowl-less season.
Hornung is off base on the facts. Notre Dame has plenty of quality black players, student-athletes who graduate in high numbers.
The challenge is what kind of university Notre Dame wants to be, a football legend that affirms that academics come first, or a school that will ease standards in order to quickly regain their winning tradition, become bowl-eligible and cash in?
Check out the numbers: Of the 68 players on the roster for spring practice more than half -- 35 -- are black, reports the Associated Press. Among the incoming freshmen, 12 student-athletes are black and five are white. These numbers are amazing considering that a generation or two ago, blacks were not welcome in South Bend, Ind.
Oh, and did I note that Notre Dame has a black coach, one of only a handful in Division 1-A, which is heavyweight football? Tyrone Willingham came from Stanford, an elite school where competitive athletics and academic excellence is not viewed as a contradiction in terms.
Aren???t Willingham???s marching orders to continue a scholar-athlete tradition at Notre Dame?
Notre Dame likes to brag that they have the highest athlete graduation rate among big-time schools. For example in 2001, its official athletic site reported that 74 percent of their football players graduated, and 73 percent of all black Notre Dame student-athletes were graduates.
A peer was Stanford, which graduated 83 of all football players, coached by Willingham at that time, and 81 percent of all black jocks on campus.
Now consider the graduation rates of this year???s co-national football champions, University of Southern California and Louisiana State. The Bowl-bound Report Card, courtesy of the University of Central Florida Center for the Study of Sport in Society, reported that 40 percent of all LSU football players graduated. Among the black players, the rate was 34 percent. The graduation rate for all LSU students: 54 percent.
And the USC Trojans? Sixty-one percent of all football players graduated. The rate was identical for the black players on the team, and 73 percent of the total student body graduated.
Overall, the annual graduation rate for big-time college football is 51 percent, Richard Lapchick of Center for the Study of Sport in Society told BlackAmericaWeb.com, The rate for basketball is 42 percent.
Willingham had to know what he was getting into. The pressure to win and bring home bucks, bowl trophies and TV time is unrelenting. Hornung represented the views of many alumni and boosters who don???t want to see the Fighting Irish's football glory days fade.
But don???t place blame on a lack of black athletes. Notre Dame should be commended for recruiting lots of them, who are authentic students too.
Hey, and remember it???s tough for many white boys to get into Notre Dame too, which Hornung acknowledged a day later, after facts began to clear up his muddled thinking.
Now, will Notre Dame be patient enough to ride out a few more competitive but brutal seasons before they return to championship form? Only time will tell. In the meantime they can continue to polish their enviable academic credentials.
