Panther88
Banned
Look @ this. The bottom line is "win @ all costs." Kids AND parents that settle for BS like this make me sick to my stomach. 
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COLLEGE STATION -- With a former director of the CIA soon to be named president of Texas A&M University, Aggies football lovers probably have a few suggestions regarding where Robert Gates can be most effective.
Who better to lead clandestine operations aimed at Austin's football subculture than Double-O Aggie?
Who better to establish puppet regimes across the Big 12, chip away at commands with inside operatives, and ultimately overthrow the league and return A&M to the top of the heap?
Gates, the sole finalist to replace outgoing A&M president Ray Bowen, has more important things to consider than athletics.
As he outlined in an information-gathering visit here that ended Wednesday, Gates' charge is to "preserve and strengthen ... our academic standing and programs."
Indeed, leading such a powerfully large university requires dealing with faculty issues, growth, diversity, development, entrance standards and the "Vision 2020" plan, the goal of which is to raise other departments' stature to that of Texas A&M's science, engineering and business schools.
But at some point there will come a knock on Gates' door.
It will be the movers and shakers, the donors, the many Aggies athletics fans who collectively believe their voices were not heard by Bowen.
Then, Gates will come face-to-face with a pair of athletics-related issues that might not seem all that significant in the grand scheme but realistically could make or break his tenure as president:
<b>
1) Leveling the playing field in recruiting by adding general studies curriculums, like those at even the most revered academic institutions -- Duke, Notre Dame, Stanford and, yes, rival Texas.
</b>
2) Reviving Bonfire.
The general studies issue is one that has affected A&M football and basketball recruiting for much of the past decade. As A&M's academic standards and competition within colleges has grown tougher, the number of places where many athletes can pursue degrees has shrunk.
For example, with so much competition for business degrees from A&M, any students hoping to enter the school's business program with less than a 3.25 grade-point average probably need not apply.
<b>
At a place where up to 19,000 high schoolers annually apply for maybe 6,500 acceptance letters, athletes and minorities generally make up the highest percentage of students accepted with qualifications closer to minimum standards. As a result, many athletes and minorities have few options in pursuing degrees.
</b>
"It's not on the front end where there's a problem," said one Dallas-area former student hoping Gates understands the Aggies' rub. "The NCAA has pretty standard admission requirements for everyone. It's on the back door, so to speak. Once a kid gets in, where's he going to study?"
All but two Big 12 universities -- A&M and Oklahoma State -- have developed general studies degree programs of some sort. Other major athletics powers with quality academic reputations -- Michigan, North Carolina, Arizona and Virginia -- also have some type of general studies program.
These degree programs might go by names such as "Interdisciplinary Core," "Integrated Studies," "University Studies" or "Community Studies," but all offer basically the same core-curriculum degree. It is a product of skyrocketing university enrollments nationwide and the need for students meeting minimum entrance requirements to have degree plans.
At Texas, the 2002 spring football media guide lists no fewer than 30 players as liberal arts majors, which is not to disparage the degree path. Quite the contrary.
Such degree programs mean athletes can become "student-athletes" instead of fodder for the "dumb jock" reputation.
One recent study estimated that barely 40 percent of Division I-A athletes graduated in the top quarter of their high school classes. But nearly 90 percent of the students accepted into A&M last fall finished in the top quarter. Some 60 percent finished in the top 10 percent.
To their credit, the UT administration and countless others have offered athletes a place to pursue degrees without starting out behind the curve or compromising the integrity of the university.
The A&M football and basketball programs, on the other hand, have been pummeled with negative recruiting, because about the only place students meeting minimum standards currently can pursue degrees is the agricultural college.
One Big 12 football recruiter has a favorite line he tells recruits whenever they commit to the Aggies, according to one A&M athletics department source.
"He goes in there and tells the kid, `Oh, you've decided to go gut chickens? That's where they're going to put you -- gutting chickens,' " the source said. "It's amazing we've done as well recruiting as we have. And it's just amazing how a general studies program could fix several problems on campus, not just for athletes, but minorities and transfers."
It is an issue that might not be on the front burner for the incoming president. But it is one that clearly means as much to Aggies fans as rekindling Bonfire.
Sources interviewed Tuesday said the general studies and Bonfire issues were exactly why Sen. Phil Gramm's candidacy for the job was so heartily supported by the 12th Man Foundation and Association of Former Students.
Gramm is an Aggie, through and through. He understands the importance of academics and athletics. Gramm often can be seen at A&M football games, yet he is a former economics professor at the school.
Many powerful Aggies say Bowen never understood or listened to their concerns. Already, Gates has gone a long way toward impressing those with financial stroke at A&M, mentioning the importance of athletics in his first news conference and joining the 12th Man Foundation his first day on campus.
There might be a lot of issues Gates hopes to tackle, but if he wants to endear himself to the A&M family, only two stand above all others.
Put a general studies program in place. And put a match to Bonfire.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COLLEGE STATION -- With a former director of the CIA soon to be named president of Texas A&M University, Aggies football lovers probably have a few suggestions regarding where Robert Gates can be most effective.
Who better to lead clandestine operations aimed at Austin's football subculture than Double-O Aggie?
Who better to establish puppet regimes across the Big 12, chip away at commands with inside operatives, and ultimately overthrow the league and return A&M to the top of the heap?
Gates, the sole finalist to replace outgoing A&M president Ray Bowen, has more important things to consider than athletics.
As he outlined in an information-gathering visit here that ended Wednesday, Gates' charge is to "preserve and strengthen ... our academic standing and programs."
Indeed, leading such a powerfully large university requires dealing with faculty issues, growth, diversity, development, entrance standards and the "Vision 2020" plan, the goal of which is to raise other departments' stature to that of Texas A&M's science, engineering and business schools.
But at some point there will come a knock on Gates' door.
It will be the movers and shakers, the donors, the many Aggies athletics fans who collectively believe their voices were not heard by Bowen.
Then, Gates will come face-to-face with a pair of athletics-related issues that might not seem all that significant in the grand scheme but realistically could make or break his tenure as president:
<b>
1) Leveling the playing field in recruiting by adding general studies curriculums, like those at even the most revered academic institutions -- Duke, Notre Dame, Stanford and, yes, rival Texas.
</b>
2) Reviving Bonfire.
The general studies issue is one that has affected A&M football and basketball recruiting for much of the past decade. As A&M's academic standards and competition within colleges has grown tougher, the number of places where many athletes can pursue degrees has shrunk.
For example, with so much competition for business degrees from A&M, any students hoping to enter the school's business program with less than a 3.25 grade-point average probably need not apply.
<b>
At a place where up to 19,000 high schoolers annually apply for maybe 6,500 acceptance letters, athletes and minorities generally make up the highest percentage of students accepted with qualifications closer to minimum standards. As a result, many athletes and minorities have few options in pursuing degrees.
</b>
"It's not on the front end where there's a problem," said one Dallas-area former student hoping Gates understands the Aggies' rub. "The NCAA has pretty standard admission requirements for everyone. It's on the back door, so to speak. Once a kid gets in, where's he going to study?"
All but two Big 12 universities -- A&M and Oklahoma State -- have developed general studies degree programs of some sort. Other major athletics powers with quality academic reputations -- Michigan, North Carolina, Arizona and Virginia -- also have some type of general studies program.
These degree programs might go by names such as "Interdisciplinary Core," "Integrated Studies," "University Studies" or "Community Studies," but all offer basically the same core-curriculum degree. It is a product of skyrocketing university enrollments nationwide and the need for students meeting minimum entrance requirements to have degree plans.
At Texas, the 2002 spring football media guide lists no fewer than 30 players as liberal arts majors, which is not to disparage the degree path. Quite the contrary.
Such degree programs mean athletes can become "student-athletes" instead of fodder for the "dumb jock" reputation.
One recent study estimated that barely 40 percent of Division I-A athletes graduated in the top quarter of their high school classes. But nearly 90 percent of the students accepted into A&M last fall finished in the top quarter. Some 60 percent finished in the top 10 percent.
To their credit, the UT administration and countless others have offered athletes a place to pursue degrees without starting out behind the curve or compromising the integrity of the university.
The A&M football and basketball programs, on the other hand, have been pummeled with negative recruiting, because about the only place students meeting minimum standards currently can pursue degrees is the agricultural college.
One Big 12 football recruiter has a favorite line he tells recruits whenever they commit to the Aggies, according to one A&M athletics department source.
"He goes in there and tells the kid, `Oh, you've decided to go gut chickens? That's where they're going to put you -- gutting chickens,' " the source said. "It's amazing we've done as well recruiting as we have. And it's just amazing how a general studies program could fix several problems on campus, not just for athletes, but minorities and transfers."
It is an issue that might not be on the front burner for the incoming president. But it is one that clearly means as much to Aggies fans as rekindling Bonfire.
Sources interviewed Tuesday said the general studies and Bonfire issues were exactly why Sen. Phil Gramm's candidacy for the job was so heartily supported by the 12th Man Foundation and Association of Former Students.
Gramm is an Aggie, through and through. He understands the importance of academics and athletics. Gramm often can be seen at A&M football games, yet he is a former economics professor at the school.
Many powerful Aggies say Bowen never understood or listened to their concerns. Already, Gates has gone a long way toward impressing those with financial stroke at A&M, mentioning the importance of athletics in his first news conference and joining the 12th Man Foundation his first day on campus.
There might be a lot of issues Gates hopes to tackle, but if he wants to endear himself to the A&M family, only two stand above all others.
Put a general studies program in place. And put a match to Bonfire.
