Shiny Pants Wants Pocket Passers, Not Class Passers

Shiny Pants is complaining again. No, not complaining about the refs. No, not working to loosen Carolina's drug testing policy. This time he's complaining about South Carolina's tough academic admissions standards. Spurrier is upset that SC's admissions department denied two of his recruits admission to school. Michael Bowman and Arkee Smith, two members of Spurrier's touted recruiting class of last year, were cleared by the NCAA, but denied by SC's admissions department. Andrew Sorensen, South Carolina's president (and former Alabama president) has assured Spurrier that he will see to it that such denials won't happen again. Of course he will. Spurrier has threatened to leave if his recruits don't get in school.

Isn't this super coach, Steve Spurrier? The guy that could win at Duke. I'm guessing Duke didn't let every jock that could run a 4.5 into its hallowed halls. Spurrier would no doubt argue that to win in the SEC he needs lax admissions standards to win. But, he won at UF where admissions standards are higher.

I know UGA has had the same thing happen to them on Michael Grant and Jamar Chaney, both of whom went on to start at other SEC programs. And believe me, UGA's president isn't going to promise Mark Richt to loosen things up for his recruits. So, Spurrier doesn't need a level playing field, he needs the field slanted in his favor.

Spurrier argues that the denials impair his credibility on the recruiting trail. How can he possibly be trusted after two of his guys that he promised admissions didn't get in? I think this argument is simply cover for Spurrier to get some more special treatment from the SC administration. The recruit can always screw up his academics after signing his letter of intent. If you recruit for a school that requires higher standards than the bare minimums required by the NCAA, then you should tell the kid that. If they can't meet those requirements, it's not the coach's fault, it's the kid's fault. Playing for a college program is never guaranteed. Admission to the school of your choice isn't either, no matter what coach says.

I understand that athletes may need some special exemptions for admission to many SEC schools, especially as the admission standards of many schools are drastically rising. But should athletes receive a complete exemption from heightened standards? If so, the university presidents should just let the NCAA set their core curriculum and graduation standards. Why should universities vary their standards when football is involved? After all, we must have a level playing field, right?