Reviewing Rice Athletics

The Rice University Athletics Department is currently under review by the Board of Trustees. Apparently such reviews occur every ten years and are not limited to Athletics but to all aspects of the University. I don’t know if that is true, but I do know that this review is getting a lot of attention, not just at Rice, but also in the media. McKinsley Co. was commissioned to review both the state of Rice Athletics and the state of the NCAA, and this review is being used to determine the future of Rice Athletics. The options being considered are A) Keep Rice at Division I-A. B) Drop Football and move down to Division I-AAA. C) Drop down to Division III D) Completely get rid of intercollegiate athletics. If you are at all interested in Rice Athletics or the state of the NCAA, I encourage you to check out the report at Rice Owls. After reading the report (or parts of it, since it is quite long), it would be great if you’d fill out the survey form to send your comments to the Rice Board. I honestly don’t believe that Rice Athletics are in serious danger, but it can’t hurt to let the Board know that Rice Athletics are important to you. You don’t have to be a Rice student, alumni or parent; you can simply designate yourself as a “friend of Rice.” Here’s my opinion on why I believe it is important that Rice retain membership in Division I-A.

The combination of athletics and academics is uniquely American. If you travel or study abroad, you will see that universities elsewhere are strictly limited to academic pursuits. There is no foreign equivalent to Homecoming Tailgates, March Madness, the Bowl Series, or the College World Series. As such, there are no real traces of school spirit. You don’t see students wearing sweatshirts with their university’s name blazoned across the front. You don’t find alumni getting together years after they graduate to celebrate their common allegiance to their school. Students go to school for their classes and then return home. There is no reason to be at the university in the evenings or on the weekends. Students in these countries don’t miss it, because they’ve never had it, but I couldn’t imagine going to a school that was without athletics or competed at such a low level that it made little difference if there was competition or not. Athletics encourages school spirit. It unites people who may not have many other common interests. For those alumni of a university who may not live near the school after graduation, athletics is a way of keeping in touch with your alma mater. It’s unlikely that you’ll make an effort to return to the campus for concerts at the music school, lectures, or other such academic events, but there is a good chance you might return for Homecoming Weekend. And even if you don’t return, it’s highly likely that you’ll gather with fellow alumni whenever your team is playing on TV. Athletics unites. Take last year’s College World Series for example. Rice may be an “academic school”, but the largest ever gathering of Rice alumni occurred at a sporting event in Omaha, Nebraska. It’s obvious where our interests and allegiances lie. I can’t tell you who spoke on Rice’s campus this year, what professors won prizes, or what issues student government addressed, but I can tell you how the Rice athletic teams did or are doing. Athletics keeps me connected, even eight time zones away.

Athletes bring diversity to universities. At some big schools with athletic programs that churn out pro athletes at ridiculous rates, athletes may live in a separate universe from the rest of the students. At a small school like Rice, however, athletes are, for the most part, integrated into regular university life. There are some athletes who choose to exclude themselves from campus life, but there are also some music majors, some drama kids, some science geeks, and some “regular” students who choose to do the same. You can’t regulate a student’s involvement in the school once they are admitted. Those who say that Rice athletes were impossible to get to know or had no interest in regular Rice life, obviously had no interest in meeting or being friends with Rice athletes. I wasn’t an athlete, but I knew many – basketball players, football players, tennis players, baseball players, track and field athletes, soccer players, etc, and I often ran into them at parties or Rice events. Most classes I took at Rice had an athlete in them; it just wasn’t always obvious that they were. That to me is a good sign that the athletes are pretty well integrated into regular university life. At a school like Rice, athletes brought much needed diversity. Rice has students of varying races, religions, cultures, and backgrounds, but as far as interests and abilities go Rice is pretty homogenous. It’s a “smart” school. As it is, too many students are already way too steeped in books and academic pursuits. But athletes have to divide their time between demanding classes and demanding sports schedules, and thus already have a broader perspective than the average student. And success in the “real world” really has very little to do with what your GPA was or what honor societies you belonged to. Success hinges on your ability to interact with and relate to people of wildly diverse backgrounds. Success depends on being able to look at issues from a multitude of perspectives. Success requires that you be open-minded and both interested and interesting. I am certainly not arguing that Rice relax its standards for admission or performance. Like all other students, Rice athletes need to be able to meet the challenges presented to them in the classroom. I feel, however, that athletes are often judged in ways that the regular student isn’t. While we all know that SAT scores are just one indicator of a student’s ability to perform college level work, they are often the sole criteria flung around when discussing athletes. Admission to a school like Rice is based on the sum of a person’s talents, abilities, and characteristics. Outstanding talent in one area can often compensate for lesser ability in another area. When someone with lower SAT scores is admitted into the Shepherd School of Music because they have an amazing ability to sing, compose, or play an instrument, no one blinks twice. It would be completely un-PC to even mention such a thing. That same standard does not apply to athletes. Yes, it is a disservice to both the university and the student to admit someone who can’t perform at the level demanded by the school. It is important, however, to remember that all students, student-athletes included, should be judged not by a single number or characteristic (either in a good or bad way), but instead should be judged on what he or she as a complete person can offer to the university.

Finally, what kind of statement would Rice be making by throwing in the towel now? Rice Athletics is on the rise. Last year, the baseball team brought home Rice’s first ever National Championship, and is again this year one of the top programs in the country. Men’s tennis is highly ranked and has the best men’s doubles’ players in the country. The women and men’s basketball teams both had good seasons with invitations to the NIT. They’re recruiting better players every year, and I don’t think it will be long until the invitation is to the NCAA tournament. (The women already made it two years ago.) Our three-year-old soccer program is doing well, and our swimmers are highly competitive. Athletes on the track and field teams are setting world records. And at the same time, Rice had the highest graduation rate for Division I-A athletes in the country. In fact, Rice athletes graduate at a higher rate than the average Rice student. I do believe that the NCAA, in general, is in a sad state. At many universities, athletics can hardly be considered amateur. Athletes are treated to special privileges, excused from regular requirements, and given superstar status. For many athletes, universities are simply holding grounds until they are eligible to go pro. This isn’t true at Rice. Sure some baseball players will leave after their junior year, but the majority of them still end up earning their degrees as witnessed by the high graduation rate. While some athletes are allowed by their universities to go ungrounded in their beliefs that they will make millions in the pros, Rice athletes are realistic in knowing that very few people ever make it as pro athletes. If Rice throws in the towel now, they will be admitting that NCAA athletics are a hopeless joke. That doesn’t have to be. What Rice needs to do is not only stay in the game, but take their game to the next level. Rice needs to make sure its athletes have the best facilities, best coaches, and best opportunities available. At the same time, Rice needs to continue to accept only the best student-athletes and demand excellence from them in the classroom. With the move to Conference USA, a better and more visible conference, Rice has the opportunity to be an example to other universities and to the NCAA in general. By improving on what we’ve been doing for years, Rice can prove to the rest of the country that academics and athletics can go hand in hand, without one having to be compromised. Rice can be the catalyst for reform.

If you feel at all similarly to how I feel, please fill out the survey that goes with the McKinley report. You can access it through Rice Owls.