by Jared Quillen
So I was on a panel yesterday to interview candidates for the dean of the MBA program at UK. Turns out that one of the guys we interviewed is good friends with DeMarcus Cousins and John Wall. Naturally we got to talking about sports. In the course of the conversation he mentioned to me that DeMarcus Cousins doesn’t have a driver’s license. Seriously though. No license to drive. Then the discussion turned to what responsibility does a university and a college coach have to “raise” these kids and turn them into men ready for the world.
I would contend that they have no responsibility whatsoever. Let me make my case. When a student athlete comes to school, he should really be no different from any other student. Let me tell you, there was no one there to walk me through signing up for my classes, getting a driver’s license, or becoming a man. I had to count on the ladies to make me a man.
I’m kidding though really. The ladies had no more interest in making a man than-well anyway. Point is that so often in the media they talk about student athlete’s grades (see University of Kentucky Basketball’s 2.05 GPA for fall 2009) or their inability to graduate if they don’t finish school in four years and don’t go to the NBA. The complaint then becomes. “These universities aren’t preparing these players for the real world.”
Are you kidding me? What is the university supposed to be doing any different for athletes from what they do for other students? Literally hundreds of thousands of kids graduate from college every year with no help from a coach or mentor. They just do the work.
So many people say it’s a coach’s job to prepare these kids. Why? I know Bobby Knight was an ass but he graduated players, but so what. His job is to coach. It’s the kid’s job to do his homework and be a man. I’m not saying that players should be allowed to fail all their classes and still play. But if you don’t get kicked out of school for a 2.05 and in a lot of schools you don’t, then the media should just shut up about it and let these kids grow up. It’s good if a coach wants to encourage DeMarcus Cousins to get a license, but that’s not his job.
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