[NU Sports] 4th Quarter

[Dennis W. Brandt]

<NU - graduated 93% of all students, 96% of all athletes, and 91% of all
<football players
<PSU - graduated 83% of all students, 86% of all athletes, and 80% of all
<football players
<As much as you may admire JoePa, Penn State, and their program - they 
clearly
don't have the same commitment.

First, I know several former Penn State football players.  One thing on 
which they all agree, if you wanted to get on Paterno's bad side, 1) be late 
to a practice, and 2) skip classes.  He will NOT tolerate screwing up in 
class, although not all of his players are physics majors.  That Paterno 
gets students of lesser academic ability than Northwestern is obvious, but 
he still managed to graduate 8 out of 10 and he is more likely to lose them 
early to the NFL.  I believe Darnell was our last player to do that. 
Incidentally, Notre Dame, another highly-ranked academic institution, 
graduated 98% of its athletes.

<I'm proud of the fact that NU is top ranked academic institution that still
<manages to compete effectively in the BT

I'm proud of NU, too, but we do NOT compete in the Big 10.  We are perennial 
losers in basketball and in danger of slipping backward in football.  I 
don't care a bit about the other sports, men or women.  You may; most don't.

<NU isn't for everyone.

Now THAT is elitist, nor is my reaction PC.

<This is a school that challenges academically smart people to work hard and
<become world-class citizens.

See previous line.  Are we the only university that does that in the Big 10? 
World class people have graduated in large numbers from every one of them. 
Our biggest difference is that we only take top students while state 
universities have an obligation to taxpayers, which results in a higher 
dropout rate.

<The graduation rates PROVE that the NU admissions counselors know what they
<are doing in selecting students (and athletes).

I never suggested that admissions counselors did not know what they are 
doing.  I am suggesting that if you care about fielding competitive football 
and basketball teams, you are going to have to attract better talent.  We 
might consider a phys ed or sports management degree.  There is no shame in 
those degrees.  You don't have to make them mickey-mouse.  You could also 
matriculate students with native ability who do not have the best background 
and shepherd them through academically.  Or don't such folks from humble 
backgrounds deserve the Northwestern experience?

<The "NU can never win" argument is just loser talk.

We will never win consistently with second-class talent.  We have always 
recruited second-class talent, and there is nothing to indicate next year's 
football recruiting class will be any better overall.  Yes, occasionally a 
gem emerges, but that will not happen enough times.

<I happen to think that we have the right guy for the job.

I think so too in terms of Fitz's committment to Northwestern.  Somehow he 
has to attract better talent.  Of course, he's only had one season to do 
that.


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