RE: A-Sun Looking at Non Scholly Football for the Conference
Around here (or at least on the predecessor to this board), we (or at least some of us) don't capitalize stanton's and andrew's names, out of deserved disrespect. I don't know what sort of 'religious' conversion andrews had when he crossed over the TN/KY line, but that's the second such report I've heard. I can only applaud it, assuming it's true. Nobody here has made him the total scapegoat. stanton is the chief culprit, but andrews had his ear, and from all accounts, andrews kept telling him what (he thought) he wanted to hear......
You may be right about more schools needing to look at non-scholarship football, but it shouldn't solely be because 1-AA football mostly (look at Appy St.) loses money. Does the Geography Dept. make money? The Physics Dept.? Does the Academic Affairs arm of a university make money? The library?
The point being, of course, that many things enhance a university experience, and while it's not healthy to hemorrhage money, "value" received is more than dollars and cents.
Scholarship football vs. non-scholarship is really a philosophical debate, and a worthy one, but there is a world of difference in perception. Added to that, significantly, is the further component of campus diversity and otherwise unrealized opportunity for financially disadvantaged (often minority) students. Johnson City, and the world in general, have been enhanced by the attendance of students to this university to play football (and other sports) - who otherwise would not have had that chance. Was the price of their scholarships worth it? I, and others, would argue "yes". One study I've quoted before (years ago) showed that the return on investment of a scholarship was about 11-fold. Not all, or even most, of course, directly to the university, but to society in general. Yes, that involves a lot of assumptions, and subjective evaluations, but there's no doubt that the world is better off with more college graduates in it. Athletic schlorships, in addition to the 'entertainment value', produce other benefits that will only be known years and decades and generations in the future......
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