An interesting article entitled "University of Michigan Athletes Steered to Professor" just popped up in The Ann Arbor News. My initial reaction: duh. When the vast majority of the football team is funneled into something called "General Studies," a major that less than 1% of the general student body even knows exists, it's not a giant leap of logic to assume that some of the professors are, shall we say, fans of the football program.

"At least 48 athletes have taken two or more independent study courses with Hagen; nine of those 48 have taken three or more… Michigan athletes described being steered to Hagen's courses by their athletic department academic counselors and, in some cases, earning three or four credits for meeting with Hagen for as little as 15 minutes every two weeks… When asked what they learned in Hagen's courses, some athletes described being taught how to take notes, use a day planner, make a calendar and manage their time."

It would appear that the article's author, Jim Carty, is trying to drum up some sort of scandal. However, after reading the article in its entirety, there's really no scandal to be found. Yeah, there's a professor who is basically giving out credits for free to the football team, but you can say that about 99% of colleges with Division I football programs. Besides, even if this was somehow out of the ordinary, the limp-wristed NCAA would never go after one of the most influential programs in the country.

This isn't to say that the article is totally devoid of interesting points. The following section, for instance, illustrates just how uneven the playing field is for Notre Dame.

"Last June, six weeks before football practice began, Perry Dorrestein, an offensive tackle, was below the 1.8 cumulative grade point average required by the Big Ten Conference to be eligible to participate in college athletics. Dorrestein, at the time about to enter his sophomore year, said the football team's academic counselor encouraged him to request an independent study over the summer term with Hagen. By mid-August, Dorrestein had received an A in the four-credit course, raising his grade point average to 1.91, above the 1.8 that permitted him to successfully appeal to be allowed to play football. Eligible to play this fall, Dorrestein moved into a backup role and appeared in four games."

Maybe our starting nose tackle wouldn't be enrolled at Ivy Tech right now if we had thrown some credits at him for learning how to use a day planner.

Another point that I found to be interesting was the fact that nine players have taken three or more of Hagen's "independent study" classes. At three to four credits per course, some Michigan football players are being given AN ENTIRE SEMESTER'S worth of guaranteed A's in Hagen's courses. A whole semester. That's one eighth of their entire college career. An entire semester's credit for learning how to "use a day planner" and "make a calendar." Three courses requiring 15 Minutes of work every two weeks over the course of a 20 week semester equals a net output of 7.5 hours. That's 1.6 college credits for every hour of work done. Now I've taken a few easy classes in my time. I think I showed up to freshman year astronomy a total of four times and still received an A… but to receive somewhere between 9 and 16 credits for learning to use a day calendar is an outright mockery of the term "student athlete" and smacks of academic fraud.

Am I surprised? Not in the least. Such is the craptastic, big-money world of college football. Michigan is no different than pretty much everyone else. Only a handful of teams (ND included) do things the right way, and they all suck at football (ND included) thanks in part to this competitive disadvantage. I guess I'm particularly disappointed in Michigan because they are an otherwise solid academic institution. They should be setting an example, not lowering the bar.

Oh well… I guess it is what it is. I'm still damn proud that we're sticking to our guns and maintaining our academic integrity, but I'm growing increasingly pessimistic that the playing field will ever be level again. When situations like the one described in this article are par for the course, and not even a blip on the NCAA's radar, what hope is there for any real change?

UPDATE: As it turns out, this article was only part one of a four part series. Part two came out today, and was pretty much a waste of ink. The gist of today's segment:

"[A] disproportionate fraction of students admitted at rock-bottom level are scholarship athletes in certain sports."

Stop the freaking presses! Reduced admissions standards exist for football players?! Someone give this man a Pulitzer! I'm starting to think this guy is Michigan's Eric Hansen, a local writer with the crazy idea that a published vendetta against the home team will somehow get him noticed by a larger paper.

So yeah, part two sucked, but it did contain the following money quote:

"Asked if Michigan could offer its student-athletes an academic experience similar to that of a typical student and still compete at the highest levels athletically, Basten [a UM professor] didn't hesitate. 'No,' he said."

No comment necessary.

There was also a pretty funny anecdote about one of the football players not knowing what "bureaucracy" meant. Good stuff, but I know of an ex-ND football player who didn't know what "prophylactic" meant, so glass houses and so forth. He wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but we gave him the academic support he needed and he walked away with a meaningful degree and a future outside of football.