SCANDALOUS: Bigtime College Athletics Bribery Scheme Nabs Hollywood Stars

Been off this forum for some time and this scandal brought me back to see the rhetoric.

IMO, this scandal isn't about the soccer programs, or any other programs, the schools still want to put on the field the best that they can, the thing is admission to the "elite" universities. The minimum requirements are very low for the NCAA, something like a 2.3 gpa and about 950 on SAT's to be eligible. Coaches will give a list of names to admissions of the athletes that they are recruiting and that is all that they need. They don't use their scholarship money or give up roster spots to the individuals involved in the scandal, they pay their own tuition, which they can afford, they just can't make it through the admissions process because these elite schools want elite academic students, 4.4 gpa, 1500 on the SAT, so the individuals bribe the coaches to include their names, that is it, (or have someone take the SAT's for them, pay off teachers for grades in HS).

You have all probably seen a similar issue with all club sports for youth; coaches will be spoiled by well off families such as an actual bribe, paying for gear, paying for other players, paying for meals, etc.. just so their kid can say that they are on the team, maybe get some playing time in meaningless games. I have seen it in a variety of sports. Parents feel that money is the cure-all and they can buy playing time, and now, they can buy admission for their sub-par kids to get into the elite schools. If parents are willing to spend the money, there are sharks that are willing to provide the service.

In the words of the old CSL days, we have bronze level players whose parents are convinced (because they have the money), that their little Susie is a premier level player and ready and willing to sign a blank check.

Shame on the College Board for allowing the testing to be tainted.
Shame on the Coaches for being willing to accept bribes to write in names for their sports.
But mostly, shame on the parents that are willing to write checks so that their entitled, below standard kids, can be counted among those that have the skills and work ethic to actually meet the admission requirements and taking spots away from the kids that should be there.
 
How does that work exactly? The coach approaches you and asks whether you are willing to go to the school without any scholarship? That somewhat gives away the fact that you are being recruited as a bench player and may not see much playing time. On the other hand, if this helps get you into the dream school you wanted, then it's all good I guess.
A whole class of schools don't have scholarships at all - including all division 3 schools and the Ivys - so the players at those schools play because they love the sport. These kids are still recruited heavily, though, because these teams still want to win.

Even in division I, no school is allowed more than 9.5 soccer scholarships per team (for men, its more for women) so there are either starters not getting a scholarship or even fewer kids getting full rides. If you look at the stats here: http://www.scholarshipstats.com/soccer.html the average scholarship is often way lower than the tuition. Compare this to football where the top 130 schools can give out 85 scholarships and next 130 can give 65.

Soccer in the US is not an easy path to free college. The only kids getting full scholarships to prestigious programs are at the level where they have to make a serious decision about whether or not to turn pro.
 
A whole class of schools don't have scholarships at all - including all division 3 schools and the Ivys - so the players at those schools play because they love the sport. These kids are still recruited heavily, though, because these teams still want to win.

Even in division I, no school is allowed more than 9.5 soccer scholarships per team (for men, its more for women) so there are either starters not getting a scholarship or even fewer kids getting full rides. If you look at the stats here: http://www.scholarshipstats.com/soccer.html the average scholarship is often way lower than the tuition. Compare this to football where the top 130 schools can give out 85 scholarships and next 130 can give 65.

Soccer in the US is not an easy path to free college. The only kids getting full scholarships to prestigious programs are at the level where they have to make a serious decision about whether or not to turn pro.

There are ways for Div III schools to give scholarships to athletes. They just don't use "athletic scholarships" term as it's not allowed.
 
How does that work exactly? The coach approaches you and asks whether you are willing to go to the school without any scholarship? That somewhat gives away the fact that you are being recruited as a bench player and may not see much playing time. On the other hand, if this helps get you into the dream school you wanted, then it's all good I guess.

A friend of ours got into a very prestige school with volleyball but without scholarship. She left the team after just one year. It never occurred to me to ask her if she ever intended to actually play college ball.
we know someone who went to UCLA sat the bench for one year and quit. Her whole angle was to use soccer to get in because she wouldn't have otherwise
 
There are ways for Div III schools to give scholarships to athletes. They just don't use "athletic scholarships" term as it's not allowed.

Even Ivy League schools figure out how to get scholarships for athletes, or some money disguised as something else. Serious ocean racers used to hire football players as grinders, since the only requirements were strength, endurance, and body mass when shiftable ballast was needed, and would hire them from their alma maters for a few weeks in the summer. Cornell took advantage of the fact that the New York State College of Agriculture shared the Cornell campus (and thus all social and athletic activities). Hockey Coach Ned Harkness in the 60's found that he could get scholarships from NYSCA for big Canadian boys who would play hockey and lacrosse wearing Cornell jerseys.
 
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