8 - The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, September 19, 1994
GOURMAN
Continued from page 1.
views are the most important criteria:
Practicality of majors
As Gourman mentions in his re-
port, there is no point in giving an
athlete a degree if it can't promise a
respectful job with earning power
upon graduation. Hence, allowing an
athlete to scrape by with a degree in
fry-cooking technology is a disser-
vice.
"What the Gourman report does is
judge whether athletes at these schools
are taking solid disciplines" Gourman
said. "If you have athletes majoring in
primary education or physical educa-
tion, you have to look at that realisti-
cally as a negative. We recognize
majors like biology, languages, jour-
nalism."
At Michigan, the five most popu-
lar degrees for athletes who enrolled
in 1988 were Liberal Arts and Sci-
ence, Sports Management, Business
Management and Administration,
Engineering and Visual and Perform-
ing Arts.
"For 95% of the student-athlete
population, or even greater, this is it
- they are not going to play pro,"
Doppes said. "The reality is that they
must be here to get a degree, just like
any other student. Sure you can have
a great time, but in four or five years
you better have a degree that means
something."
And most of Michigan's athletes
do.
"Is our biology degree market-
able? Is it competitive on a national
basis? I certainly think so," said Phil
Hughes, the director of Michigan's
Student Athlete Support Program
(S.A.S.P.). "But I also feel that our
kids are marketable because of the
notoriety of the Michigan athlete,
because they have been through a
pressure-cooker, and they have com-
peted in the classroom with all the
other Michigan students with four or
five hours less per day to devote to
academics."
Academic Success of Athletes:
Despite the fact that many of
Michigan's student-athletes devote
over 20 hours a week to their sport,
their overall grade-point averages
show they are as committed to aca-
demics as non-student athletes.
The Big Ten awarded 105 of the
358 Wolverine athletes receiving ath-
letic aid in 1993-94 with Academic
All-Big Ten honors (athletes with a
GPA above 3.00). The Michigan
sports with the most Academic All-
Big Tens were women's track and
field (15), women's swimming and
diving (11), field hockey (10),
women's cross-country (8) and base-
ball (8). Men's and women's basket-
ball were the only sports at Michigan
that had no Academic All-Big Ten
athletes.
"That's the tough part about com-
ing to Michigan - we expect excel-
lence at both ends of the street," field
hockey coach Patti Smith said. "There
is a time when you really focus on
your sport and there is a time to really
buckle down on your academics.
"Balancing academics is an ex-
pectation that you live with day after
day. Sometimes it is more grinding,
(like when) you're on the road. But
everyone seems to do a pretty good
job taking their books on the road, or
taking time out to do that. Obviously
the players need to make those tough
decisions - they can't always find
time to procrastinate and hang out at
coffee shops."
Graduation Rates
Despite the tendency of a few
Michigan athletes to leave school
before graduation to turn pro, the
graduation rate of student-athletes (76
%) enrolling at Michigan in 1988 is
comparable to the graduation rate of
regular students (85%).
"I find the fact that our student-
athletes graduate near the same rate
as other students outstanding,"
Hughes said. "We are doing a pretty
good job given that many of our
kids leave for any number of rea-
sons.
"Jalen Rose will count against our
basketball statistics. If Tyrone
Wheatley left early he would count
against football. There are a number
of schools doing the same job (gradu-
ating student-athletes). It is not about
being number one, it is about being
among a elite group."
Indeed, Michigan's student-ath-
lete graduation rate compares favor-
ably with Stanford (81 %), Duke (94%)
and the top Big Ten schools, North-
western (84%), Penn State (78%) and
Wisconsin (66%). At the bottom end
of the Big Ten picture is Ohio State
(59%) Minnesota (52%) and Michi-
gan State (52%).
"In a number of schools across the
country you may not find any athletes
involved in any (specific) departments
or majors whatsoever," Gourman said.
"They are just sliding through and
their names are on the roster. That is
notorious in the South. They have
more 'D' and 'F' students down there
than you can shake a stick at.
"You've got more people down at
Michigan State that haven't gradu-
ated. What about those athletes? Just
stringing them along and after that
they sell popcorn and peanuts at
ballparks, is that all they are going to
do? Do they sell drugs on the outside?
There is no future for athletes like
them."
Quality of the Student-Athlete
Although the admission stan-
dards for big-time athletes are often
embarrassingly low, Michigan does
attract a quality body of student-
athletes. For instance, the average
high school GPA of men's cross-
country and track athletes enrolling
in 1988 was 3.18, with an average
SAT score of 1126. For football
players, the averages were 2.50 and
838; men's basketball players aver-
aged 2.64 and 803.
"What makes Michigan so at-
tractive to student-athletes across
the world is the fact that they have
the ability to come to one of the
most prestigious academic institu-
tions while still being able to com-
pete in an athletic arena at a very
high level," Bradley-Doppes said.
Most of the student-athletes en-
rolling at Michigan expect the bal-
ance between academics and athlet-
ics to be a challenging experience,
and prepare accordingly.
Whether that means sacrificing
a house party on a Friday night to
catch up in a calculus class, or con-
centrating your class schedule into
four-hour blocks, Michigan student-
athletes do it in order to succeed.
"Athletically and academically,
you have to step it up a level when
you come to college," freshman
women's soccer player Ruth Poulin
said. "In order to do well in both,
you have to balance your time ex-
tremely well, and be able to cut
down on your own social time."
Support Systems
It certainly helps a university
trying to strike a balance between
academics and athletics to have a
strong student body, as Michigan
does. But another part of the equa-
tion is providing the athletes the
academic support they need when
their sport is in season.
The Student Athletic Support
Program serves this purpose to the
benefit and raves of students,
coaches and administration alike.
The S.A.S.P. provides a number of
programs to help student-athletes,
including tutoring programs, sched-
ule-advising, compliance programs
that help athletes with NCAA and
Big Ten regulations and general
problem-solving.
"The Student Athlete Support
Program attempts to support ,and
facilitate the academic side of the
equation," Hughes said. "We have a
support program that is designed
for individual attention to kids. Ev-
ery kid's problems are different,
every kid's schedule is different and
everyone has different needs at dif-
ferent times.
"Do I attribute Michigan's bal-
ance to my program? Hell no. None
of my people are going to class,
none of my people are competing
and none of my people are graduat-
ing. We play a small, humble part,
because the balance is a mosaic of
things."
Despite Hughes's modest assess-
ment of the program's impact on the
balance of academics and athletics,
coaches point to the service as an
invaluable tool in getting the most
out of their kids athletically. After
all, what a student-athlete can con-
tribute athletically is canceled out if
he or she is academically ineligible
to compete.
"They provide so much support
to the athletes here that it justifies
the (Gourman report ranking)," said
first-year women's soccer coach
Debbie Belkin. "They do a good job
of keeping track of athletes and giv-
ing them the opportunities for sup-
port."
Smith thinks the support systems
are getting better. "I've been here
six years, and I've seen it grow
tremendously," she said. "It is a
much more broad-based program to
help all student-athletes. I think it is
a necessary feature of our athletic
department because the student-ath-
letes are under a lot of pressure."
That pressure is why the S.A.S.P.
is so important, as it gives the ath-
letes a sense of security and a valu-
able tool against bottoming-out.
"The support services have been
great. It is great to know that some-
one is out there that really cares and
wants you to succeed in both aca-
demics and athletics," Poulin said.
"It gives you a whole lot of confi-
dence to know that someone is be-
hind you to give help when you
need it."
PITTS
Continued from page 7
that we are at that level," Burns
said. "We just want to keep
working hard and slowly but surely
the athletic department is going to
have to take notice of us."
Despite being a club team,
Michigan can compete with other
varsity programs. Think of what
they could do with support from the
athletic department. With
scholarships, the team would be
able to recruit and not just have to
take its talent from the general
student body. The great players
from around the state of Michigan
would look at coming to Ann Arbor
instead of going down to Indiana or
Ohio State as they do now. With
that kind of support, it would be
only a matter of years before
Michigan would be a national
soccer power.
The new women's varsity soccer
program already has shown how big
the Michigan name can be in
recruiting. Four players transferred
to Michigan from other programs
after the Wolverines gained varsity
status. Coach Debbie Belkin also
recruited the Michigan high school
soccer Player of the Year for her
team. It will only be a matter of
years before the Wolverines will be
near the top nationally.
. . .
The men's club team suffered a
2-0 loss this weekend to NCAA
Division III opponent Kalamazoo
College. Hardy Fuchs, who has
coached at Kalamazoo for 24 years,
still could not believe that the
Wolverines are still just a club
team.
"I still cannot understand why
they don't have a varsity program,"
Fuchs said. "It's a cheap sport, you
have 40,000 students, lots of soccer
people. I just don't understand the
motivation at Michigan."
The main thing stopping men's
soccer right now at this university is
gender equity. It is an issue that has
been debated for some time and will
continue to be contested for years.
However, the University needs to
find some way, even if it needs to
add more women's teams, to fit
men's soccer into the varsity
athletic department. If Michigan
wants to be known as one of the
nation's best athletic programs,
men's soccer has to be a part of the
program.
The time certainly has come.
0
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BIG TEN
Continued from page 7
ing 43 kills and 38 digs in the three
contests. The 38 digs adds to her team-
high total of 133 and improves her
3.39 digs-per-game average, now
fourth-best in the Big Ten.
"I was surprised that I was hon-
ored on the all-tournament team,"
Miniuk said. "But I was happy that
there were two of us honored," she
added.
In the Kansas match, Brownlee
and Jackson led the Wolverines with
14 and 13 kills, respectively. Volstad
contributed 10 digs in the Michigan
victory, while setter Erin McGovern
had five aces.
Against William & Mary (7-3),
Jackson and Brownlee blasted 15 kills
apiece, and Brownlee also chipped in
a team-high 18 digs in a losing effort.
In the final tournament match ver-
sus Virginia Tech, Miniuk added 15
kills, while Brownlee had 14 for the
Wolverines.
Giovanazzi was happy to win two
of the three tournament matches.
"We didn't close it out [in the
William and Mary match]," he said.
"I feel great going into the Big Ten
season."
Michigan opens the Big Ten con-
ference season at Northwestern Fri-
day night at 8:30 before traveling to
Wisconsin to play Saturday night at
8:00.
INTRAMURAL
SPORTS
PROGRAM
"
I-
8:00.
r
EXCITING!!
UPCOMING ACTIVITIES
TEAM
TENNIS
3-on-3
BASKETBALL
TENNIS
(Sgls & Dbls)
GOLF
(Two person
Scramble)
Entry Deadline: Thurs 9/22 4:30pm IMSB Main Office
Entry Fee: $22:00 per team
Team Composition: Singles - A; Singles - B; Doubles
Tournament Dates: Sat & Sun 9/24 & 9/25 (Palmer Courts)
Instant Scheduling: Thurs 9/22 11am - 4:30pm IMSB
Entry Fee: $35.00 per team
Manager's Meeting (Mandatory): Thurs 9/22 6pm IMSB
Play Begins: Monday 9/26 at the IMSB (Hoover Street)
Entry Deadline: Thurs 9/29 4:30pm IMSB Main Office
Entry Fee: $5.00 for Sgls; $9.00 for Dbls
Tournament Format: Double Elimination (dependent on #s)
Tournament Dates: Sat & Sun 10/1 & 10/2 (Palmer Courts)
Entry Deadline: Thurs 10/6 4:30pm IMSB Main Office
Entry Fee: $10.00 per team (excluding Course Fee)
Tee Times: 9:00am - 3:00pm
Tournament Date: Sunday 10/9 at U of M Golf Course
tee
soee
6
0
6
0
I
its.
* 0
The deadline for Pre-Season Flag Football entries is Thursday
October 13 while Track and Field entries are due Monday October 17.
Winners of the Pre-Season Flag Football tournament will be
an.reiha nr thn saf ea ofRfithinan Flan Fnnthall Chamninnshins
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