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Trying to Balance Student and Athlete
A team tutor travels with Magnum Rolle and LSU so they can keep up with their class work. "We've got way too much going on up in here," Rolle said.
(By Andy Lyons -- Getty Images)
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A recent survey of 114 colleges conducted by the National Association of Academic Advisors for Athletics found that the average major-conference school has seven full-time employees, seven part-time employees and 42 additional tutors.
"There was a time when athletes could come to school, and class would kind of be the side job," said Roger Grooters, the executive director of LSU's academic center for athletes. "Now we're dealing with a much, much more demanding situation."
Admitting freshman athletes to college now is easier thanks to the Initial Eligibility Index, a sliding scale that approves a student who scored a 400 on the SAT if his high school grade-point average was 3.55 or better; maintaining eligibility while in college now is harder because athletes must complete 40 percent of their credits toward graduation in a major by the end of sophomore year.
"They've got too much at stake now for us to not be accountable," LSU basketball coach John Brady said. "With the APR, I'm sure academics are something more coaches have to be concerned about. In this day and age, if a head coach is not involved or supportive with academics, your whole operation is not going to work."
Said Florida Coach Billy Donovan: "There are no excuses anymore. You absolutely have to keep up with your class work."
Under that directive, Davis, the 308-pound LSU center and the SEC player of the year, carried his backpack into the conference room of the Hyatt Regency at about 8:30 p.m. Friday.
The Tigers used the same room for all team gatherings, so pots of leftover food sat on tables and a makeshift three-point and foul line had been taped to the carpet. Davis settled at a table with Timmer and pulled out a 23-question, take-home math quiz. "This is nothing," he said.
During the next five minutes, Davis's cellphone rang three times: his girlfriend once, then a high school buddy impressed by Davis's 22 points and 13 rebounds the night before against Iona and finally a friend relaying the score of a game between Connecticut and Albany.
"The kids are there to win and play basketball, so academics are going to take a back seat," said David Ridpatch, executive director of the Drake Group, which advocates academic integrity in college athletics. "We might put up a facade of real academics at the NCAA tournament. But at that level, I'm not sure it's really happening."
Four of Davis's teammates filtered into study hall during the next hour, and each brought another distraction. Rolle showed off a picture of an attractive female student who messaged him on Facebook.com. A team manager passed around a basketball sitting in the room. Johnson, a freshman center, opened a bag of Doritos.
"Hey man, give me one of them Doritos," Davis said.
"No way," Johnson said. "You called me bi-otch earlier today."
