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Athletics
still has to work for respect So
TCU doesn’t rock. Its athletes are relatively stupid, and they
occasionally win and play with sportsmanship and ethics. The Sporting News published in its Feb. 26 edition that TCU ranks as the 54th best (or worst, depending on your perspective) athletics department among the 115 schools that participate in Division I basketball and Division I-A football. The rankings were formulated by grading the department and the university in four categories: winning, fan attendance and environment, playing fairly (sportsmanship, whether the school broke any NCAA rules and gender equity) and graduation rates. The Sporting News took the numerical average of the four grade and put them on the traditional 4.0 “GPA” scale. Before addressing why TCU ranks just above the midpoint of mediocrity, I’ll end the suspense. Stanford was deemed the nation’s best athletic department. Why? Stanford was given a B+ for winning. Apparently having a basketball team seeded No. 1 in the NCAA Tournament cancels out a relatively mediocre football team that finished the 2000 season at 5-6 in the Pacific-10 and didn’t receive a bowl bid. The Cardinal was given an A for having the highest graduation rates in the country, a B- for fan attendance coupled with the combination of winning the Sears Director’s Cup for the sixth straight year. Stanford received an A for its ethics, sportsmanship and the fact that it not only complies well under Title IX, but has several of the nation’s top teams in women’s athletics (six ranked in the Top 5). All told, that adds up to a 3.5 on the scale. Stanford tied with Michigan State and North Carolina with the nation’s highest TSN “GPA” among its student athletes, but picked up extra points for things like six consecutive Sears Cups. So, TCU finished 54th, up from 84th a year ago. Do you hear the party bells ringing in celebration? Me neither. Passing programs like Boise State (84), Hawaii (72) and Toledo (66) doesn’t deserve celebration. Horned Frog football and basketball players came in at 2.33 on the “GPA” scale. That doesn’t have the luster of a 3.50. In the other categories TCU wasn’t much better. The Frogs were given a B in winning. Thanks Coach Fran. TCU was given a C in graduation rates. That makes the low “GPA” make a little more sense. The B- in ethics, sportsmanship and Title IX compliance was a boost. And to put the exclamation point on what we’ve all known for some time, TCU got a C- in fan attendance and support. Surprise. As a community, TCU is the antithesis of fan attendance and support. The Sporting News called this category “do we rock?” The magazine evaluated support from fans and administration and gave points for attendance. Extra points were given for sellouts. We got no extra points, obviously. Not to be redundant, but we don’t rock. Finally someone else is saying what I’ve been saying all along. This university needs to wake up and support its student athletes. It should be seen as embarrassing to finish this low. To be fair, the rest of the Western Athletic Conference came in quite low as well. The highest WAC school, Tulsa, ranked 45th. I’m not impressed. Southern Methodist? Fifty-eighth, and there’s a good chance the Mustangs would finish above TCU if it weren’t for that pesky probation for the football program. It’s a sickening pattern. The WAC just doesn’t stack up. As a comparison, the Big Ten had 10 teams in the top 34. The WAC had one in the top 50. As for Conference USA — the future home of TCU athletics? The highest ranking program in C-USA was Tulane at 53. It would appear, based on these numbers, TCU is moving from mediocrity to mediocrity. I
recognize that this isn’t what anyone wants to read, and this
study should by no means be taken as biblical in weight or meaning. ‘E’ for effort, though.
Associate Editor Danny Horne is a senior broadcast journalism
major from Carrollton. |