Athletic Scholarships

OF THE MAKING of reforms," Confucius is said to have said, "there is no end." With regard to college sports, he might have added: Especially when the reforms are half-hearted.If the National Collegiate Athletic Association is serious about making reforms in college sports, there's one sweeping measure that is simple, fair and economically advantageous: Do away with athletic scholarships.Scarcely a week goes by without news of some fresh scandal involving the football programs at our major schools.

Mount St. Mary's will discontinue three of its Division I athletics teams in 2013 in an effort to reduce its athletics budget while expanding its existing programs. Men's soccer, along with men's and women's golf, will cease after the 2012-13 academic year. As many as 30 Mount student-athletes will be affected by the elimination of the three sports, as well as one full-time and three part-time coaching positions. The decision will save the university more than $400,000 annually. "This is a decision we didn't want to make, but the budget realities require it to protect and reinvest in our remaining Division I programs," university President Thomas H. Powell said.

Athletic scholarships are "extremely limited, and should not be the focus of athletic participation in high school," concluded a report given last week to the Howard County Board of Education by county Coordinator of Athletics Don Disney. Disney's report was requested by the Board of Education to "compare and contrast the athletic scholarships to academic and service scholarships." Disney used figures from the 1999 and 2000 school years. The bottom line is this: There is more money available in academic and service scholarships than athletic scholarships.

He earned it, take it Chris Dufresne Los Angeles Times This ranks as one of the dumbest concocted "controversies" in the history of concocted controversies in new-world media. Of course rich man mogul "Diddy" Combs could pay for son Justin's education at UCLA, but the fact is athletic scholarships are not give-aways ... they are to be earned. If my Daddy was as rich as Diddy, I'd want very much to make my own way in the world. That should be the story.

Mount St. Mary's will discontinue three of its Division I athletics teams in 2013 in an effort to reduce its athletics budget while expanding its existing programs. Men's soccer, along with men's and women's golf, will cease after the 2012-13 academic year. As many as 30 Mount student-athletes will be affected by the elimination of the three sports, as well as one full-time and three part-time coaching positions. The decision will save the university more than $400,000 annually. "This is a decision we didn't want to make, but the budget realities require it to protect and reinvest in our remaining Division I programs," university President Thomas H. Powell said.

The Black Coaches Association met the other day with the Congressional Black Caucus to discuss ways of changing some of the regulations and practices of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The coaches feel that blacks have been excluded from leadership roles in the NCAA, and that decisions regarding such things as the size of staffs and the number of scholarships have been harmful to black youths.Many of the items on the black coaches' bill of particulars are right on target, but one is not. That is their opposition to raising admissions standards for athletes.

University presidents appear to be in charge of football and basketball on their campuses. They should be, and it's about time. For years it has been clear that on some campuses, at least, many athletes were students in name only. Entrance requirements were laughably low or non-existent, as was required scholastic progress after matriculation. The presidents began to reassert themselves in the early 1980s, and gradually they have made real progress against those athletic directors and alumni groups who oppose any reform that might weaken a team's won-loss record.

WASHINGTON - The NCAA decision allowing a 12th Division I-A football game will do little to ease the growing fiscal woes of college athletics, members of a watchdog group said yesterday. The Knight Commission, which met yesterday, expressed concern that college sports spending is far outpacing spending of other campus programs. "It's clear that all those interested in the future of intercollegiate athletics must find a way to bridle escalating expenses," said Wake Forest president Thomas Hearn, who presided over his first meeting as chairman of the reform-minded group.

I have a Florida vacation coming up with a new boyfriend, and I don't know how to swim. Where is a good place to take private lessons and learn quickly? I have three weeks. While you may not be able to wow your new beau with swan dives and a flawless backstroke in three weeks, you should have enough time to cover the basics - assuming you aren't afraid of the water. Cathy Lears, director of the North Baltimore Swim School at Meadowbrook, says fear of the water is the most common obstacle for beginners.

Johns Hopkins enjoys the prominence of a seven-time NCAA Division I champion lacrosse program and the comfort of a Division III athletic program that is immune to many of the ills of the NCAA's highest echelon. It is a rare dichotomy that has suited the school well for 30 years, but it could be coming to an end. The Division III Presidents Council approved a reform package on Thursday that might force Hopkins to choose one division once and for all. One proposal would eliminate an exception that allows Hopkins and seven other Division III schools to offer athletic scholarships to athletes playing on their Division I teams.

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader is calling for the elimination of college athletic scholarships, saying the move is necessary to "de-professionalize" college athletes. "As we near the exciting conclusion of 'March Madness' — which would more accurately be described as the 2011 NCAA Professional Basketball Championships — it's time we step back and finally address the myth of amateurism surrounding big-time college football and basketball in this country," said Nader, whose League of Fans is proposing that the scholarships be replaced with need-based financial aid. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the proposal Thursday, ahead of its official release.

It wasn't Valerie Cooper's dream to become a school administrator when she was a three-sport athlete in the 1970s. But here she is today, sitting behind a desk at Aberdeen High, an assistant principal who enjoys her job and draws constantly on the lessons she learned from her experiences as a student-athlete at Bel Air. "Sports teaches real-life skills," she said. "It teaches how to cooperate with people and be respectful. It teaches you things you need in the work place, in college: to be on time, to be dependable.

Straight Shooters answers your youth lacrosse questions with the help of US Lacrosse experts. This week's "Straight Shooter" is Matt Zash. Zash was a two-time All-America midfielder at Duke, graduating in 2006. He plays professional lacrosse for Major League Lacrosse's Philadelphia Barrage and the National Lacrosse League's New York Titans. Zash was a member of the 2003 United States under-19 men's world championship team and played for Team USA in the 2007 Indoor World Lacrosse Championships in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Joanna Strickland never doubted that her three children would go to college. But sending them could have been a burden for the Mount Airy family. Four years at Maryland for oldest daughter Marche, four at Indiana for son Marshall and another four for youngest daughter Marah could have amounted to some $250,000 in tuition, room and board. That might have required a second loan against the house and almost certainly would have consigned the children to student loan debt. Instead, when Marah Strickland, a senior at Towson Catholic, confirms her plans to attend school in College Park today, she will be the third Strickland child to accept a full basketball scholarship.

Slowly but surely, a collective look of confusion came down upon a group of local high school athletes during a college fair last week, as Samuel Walker peppered them with questions on how to get a college scholarship. The kids weren't necessarily obtuse and Walker's questions weren't extraordinarily difficult, but the topic of getting cleared to play at an NCAA school has become so complicated that you practically need, well, a college degree to know how to get one. "If someone tells me the process or talks to me about the process, I'm intrigued about how they know it," said Walker, a counselor with the CollegeBound Foundation.

WASHINGTON - The NCAA decision allowing a 12th Division I-A football game will do little to ease the growing fiscal woes of college athletics, members of a watchdog group said yesterday. The Knight Commission, which met yesterday, expressed concern that college sports spending is far outpacing spending of other campus programs. "It's clear that all those interested in the future of intercollegiate athletics must find a way to bridle escalating expenses," said Wake Forest president Thomas Hearn, who presided over his first meeting as chairman of the reform-minded group.

Soccer, lacrosse and other sports would receive more athletic scholarships, and track and field's allocation would be cut by more than two-thirds under a plan being considered by Mount St. Mary's.According to athletic director Tom Balistrere, the Mountaineers have 51 athletic scholarships. Twenty-four go to men's and women's basketball, and 13 of the remaining 27 go to men's and women's track and field teams. Under a proposal that will be considered by the Board of Trustees June 6, track and field would be cut to four scholarships.

One day after the NCAA's Division III Presidents Council took another step toward eliminating scholarships for eight schools that compete in Division I in a limited number of sports, Johns Hopkins athletic director Tom Calder remained confident his school can retain its combination of Division III membership and scholarships for lacrosse. Calder said Hopkins had hoped that the council would withdraw the proposal that would require Division III schools to phase out athletic scholarships after 2008, but that request was rejected by a vote of 9-3 Thursday.

I have a Florida vacation coming up with a new boyfriend, and I don't know how to swim. Where is a good place to take private lessons and learn quickly? I have three weeks. While you may not be able to wow your new beau with swan dives and a flawless backstroke in three weeks, you should have enough time to cover the basics - assuming you aren't afraid of the water. Cathy Lears, director of the North Baltimore Swim School at Meadowbrook, says fear of the water is the most common obstacle for beginners.

Delgado should simply play ball, not politics Neither John Eisenberg nor Jim Beattie is persuasive that the Orioles should pursue Carlos Delgado ["O's don't see Delgado as political baseball," Wednesday]. Delgado expresses his disapproval of the war in Iraq by refusing to join his teammates on the field when "God Bless America" is played in tribute to our country and our servicemen and servicewomen. Delgado is on record as saying, "This is the stupidest war ever." Eisenberg feels that a player's political leanings shouldn't matter and declares, "This is a player you would want under any circumstances."