[Farm93]

There are quite a number of D1 schools where a number of players on the football team are academically above the student body.  A player with 3.3 GPA and 1200 (2 part) SATs might decide LSU or Ole Miss will be their best path to the NFL.  Those players would instantly have more accomplished HS academic credentials than many of their peers.  Many schools in FBS outside of the Power 5 have SAT averages darn close to 1000 (2 part) SATs and those same programs often get football players that want to play D1 even though they could get into more selective programs with D2 or D3 sports. 

The implication that Kelly is going for though was not that the kids are below the current academic bar.  That is a given for ND as it is for Duke, Stanford, Northwestern, etc.  He was implying that the trifecta of below academic standard players, expectations to win national championships AND significant media obligations (ie. NBC profiles every week) is too difficult to then survive academically.  And since that trifecta certainly will not change, ND needs to do a lot more to help the kids avoid the temptation to cut-corners ON THEIR OWN.

That was the implication.  He certainly wasn't trying to get the school to become less selective or for the school to raise the standards of the athletes.  So that was not the implication.  That was a given.  He is whining for easier courses and more student hand holding.

If the components are not changing, then Kelly's whining is really for ND to provide a few easier classes for his athletes to take to stay eligible. That's why I could totally imagine a similar conversation taking place at UNC, behind closed doors, once upon a time.

[Farm93]

There are quite a number of D1 schools where a number of players on the football team are academically above the student body.  A player with 3.3 GPA and 1200 (2 part) SATs might decide LSU or Ole Miss will be their best path to the NFL.  Those players would instantly have more accomplished HS academic credentials than many of their peers.  Many schools in FBS outside of the Power 5 have SAT averages darn close to 1000 (2 part) SATs and those same programs often get football players that want to play D1 even though they could get into more selective programs with D2 or D3 sports. 

The implication that Kelly is going for though was not that the kids are below the current academic bar.  That is a given for ND as it is for Duke, Stanford, Northwestern, etc.  He was implying that the trifecta of below academic standard players, expectations to win national championships AND significant media obligations (ie. NBC profiles every week) is too difficult to then survive academically.  And since that trifecta certainly will not change, ND needs to do a lot more to help the kids avoid the temptation to cut-corners ON THEIR OWN.

That was the implication.  He certainly wasn't trying to get the school to become less selective or for the school to raise the standards of the athletes.  So that was not the implication.  That was a given.  He is whining for easier courses and more student hand holding.

If the components are not changing, then Kelly's whining is really for ND to provide a few easier classes for his athletes to take to stay eligible. That's why I could totally imagine a similar conversation taking place at UNC, behind closed doors, once upon a time.