[NU Sports] Men's vs. Women's sports

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

> In women's sports, athletes almost universally cite
> the combination of academics and athletic

Good points about the lack of pro opportunities
leading to more of a focus on athletics as a way to
improve academic opportunities.

Another factor that can't be overlooked is how
relatively new the women's sports are on the NCAA
landscape. There's no grand tradition to fight when
you're a losing team and feed off of when you're a
winning team. The recruiting pipelines are fresh with
most HS programs new as well ... and the names of the
schools are being defined now, not decades ago.

So it's comparing apples and oranges when people
wonder why the football or basketball programs can't
be turned around as quickly as these womens' programs
have been built from nothing.

At the same time, it's great to see our womens' sports
programs enjoying national success -- getting the NU
name on the national scene, representing our school
well as true student athletes and building their
respective programs into national powerhouses in
lacrosse, softball, tennis and more. It was certainly
a fun run this spring and great to see the Cats do
well!

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

* * * * * * * * *
STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!!

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