This is embarrassing for Florida!

[Yellowhammer]

http://www.ajc.com/services/content/sports/stories/2008/12/28/acadmain_1228_3DOT.html

 

[O-town Gator]

Florida’s freshman football classes of 2002-04 ranked 50th in average score out of 53 schools for which football SAT averages were available, and Oklahoma’s freshman football classes of 2001-03 ranked 42nd. Florida’s football players ranked last in average high school GPA, at 2.54. The average for all football players in the study was 2.93.

And WHO, pray tell, was Florida's head football coach during that period? None other than the Zooker, who didn't give a rat's ass about his players' academics - and it showed.

Since Urban Meyer arrived at UF, the average GPA of the team has increased; it's mentioned in our media guide as well. Had it not been for Coach Meyer, we very well could have been without players like Dallas baker, Ray McDonald, and Steven Harris - they were walking a fine line and on the verge of being declared academically ineligible had he not pushed them to get their grades up. And believe it or not, they made the grade and all graduated.

 

[Leakfan12]

I don't think Zook gave a rat's @$$ about anything outside of the game and even in the game who knows.

 

[Escambia94]

This kinda pisses me off. The engineering department at UF scales its class admissions based on budget, some of which goes to paying for athletes. Some of my classmates did not get seats in the engineering class because of shrinking budgets. Watching winning football is fun, but it became personal and not so much fun when I was basically competing with athletes for my seat at UF. (Granted, I was not directly competing with a football player for a seat in digital signal processing. The way I see it, seats in classes like that one were being eliminated to make room for athletes who normally would not qualify for admission AND who might even leave without a degree if the NFL drafts them!)

 

[inthestands]

Yeah but what they failed to mention was the fact that even though UF's atheletes scored much lower than UF's non atheletes, they are still at the top in testing. They forgot to mention that UF students outscored almost the entire nation by a huge margin. That is why the numbers look so bad. It is just another example of skewed reporting.

 

[O-town Gator]

Yeah but what they failed to mention was the fact that even though UF's atheletes scored much lower than UF's non atheletes, they are still at the top in testing. They forgot to mention that UF students outscored almost the entire nation by a huge margin. That is why the numbers look so bad. It is just another example of skewed reporting.

And look at the source - the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a/k/a the "Urinal-Constipation". They seemed to have given rave reviews to the Georgia schools but rammed it to everybody else.

Even so, UF has placed a heavier emphasis on academics since Urban Meyer arrived and I have no doubt that he'll continue to do just that. Our overall average GPA slipped once Spurrier left, but it has been improving since 2005.

 

[chedgar1]

The engineering department at UF scales its class admissions based on budget, some of which goes to paying for athletes. Some of my classmates did not get seats in the engineering class because of shrinking budgets.

The budget may have been shrinking for some other reason.

Im sorry but i have to disagree. I played for two years at Florida State as an invited walk-on and before we started two-a-days each year (06, 07) T.K. Wethrell the University President came and spoke to the team and handed out accounting records that listed revenue and such in an attempt to show how important public perception of the team is (06 academic problems). Of all revenues tha tFSU brought in, including tuition, research grants, alumni donations, ANY and ALL other sports including Basketball and baseball, football made more than any of them for the school. Profits somewhere around $23.5 Mil
Along with a revenues list he handed out a itemized list of what it cost to put each player through school, tha tnumber is closed to $38,000 a year. so if you crunch the numbers $38k x 85 scholarship athletes... $3,230,000. thats a profit of$20,270,000 million. or $238,470 per player-per year. more than enough to pay for all your classmates to get an engineering degree two or three times if you wanted. And get the degree in the new lab that was paid for by football.

I grew up a Gator and will always be a Gator. and this academic stuff is very embarassing. but theres no reason for off the wall claims like that no offense but there had to be some other reason buddies didnt get into the C.O.Engineering.

 

[shandsgator8]

The budget may have been shrinking for some other reason.

Im sorry but i have to disagree. I played for two years at Florida State as an invited walk-on and before we started two-a-days each year (06, 07) T.K. Wethrell the University President came and spoke to the team and handed out accounting records that listed revenue and such in an attempt to show how important public perception of the team is (06 academic problems). Of all revenues tha tFSU brought in, including tuition, research grants, alumni donations, ANY and ALL other sports including Basketball and baseball, football made more than any of them for the school. Profits somewhere around $23.5 Mil
Along with a revenues list he handed out a itemized list of what it cost to put each player through school, tha tnumber is closed to $38,000 a year. so if you crunch the numbers $38k x 85 scholarship athletes... $3,230,000. thats a profit of$20,270,000 million. or $238,470 per player-per year. more than enough to pay for all your classmates to get an engineering degree two or three times if you wanted. And get the degree in the new lab that was paid for by football.

I grew up a Gator and will always be a Gator. and this academic stuff is very embarassing. but theres no reason for off the wall claims like that no offense but there had to be some other reason buddies didnt get into the C.O.Engineering.

But FSU isn't allowed to use money made from athletics on academics, right?

 

[chedgar1]

not officially. you are correct. BUT the funds are appropriated in a way that they make their way back to academics in one way or another.(i.e.- funds for football players in pre-med programs, which, with the exception of Myron Rolle, not many players are in the pre-med program or in the above case science or tutor labs in order to get their players on the right track.)