Grade Issues

We should all be able to agree, this is a bad look. Nebraska is in a bowl because of their good academic standing. Now, numerous players may be illegitable for said bowl because of poor academic standing. Expect this to get some run during the national broadcast of the game by the announcers.

This is a program-wide failure, and all directly and actively associated with the program share in this humiliation.

 
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Wait. What? Grades are always an issue somewhere. I don't think we have a good sense of the numbers. We've had recruits for forever that fell through or were always borderline because of grades. Every year we have a handful of commits that are on the watchlist through the summer for NCAA qualification, and sometimes they don't make it. Every year, I am sure, a handful of players here and there at various points of the year run into academic issues.

That said, the academic focus and support system at UNL is still very good. So long term, I don't think there's anything to worry about here. Just a few players who've made a mistake. Too bad for them; they won't be the last.

 
zoogs said:
Wait. What? Grades are always an issue somewhere. I don't think we have a good sense of the numbers. We've had recruits for forever that fell through or were always borderline because of grades. Every year we have a handful of commits that are on the watchlist through the summer for NCAA qualification, and sometimes they don't make it. Every year, I am sure, a handful of players here and there at various points of the year run into academic issues.

That said, the academic focus and support system at UNL is still very good. So long term, I don't think there's anything to worry about here. Just a few players who've made a mistake. Too bad for them; they won't be the last.
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Good post. Dennis LeBlanc has done an excellent job with the academic programs. Our ongoing NCAA record of academic all-americans is a great source of pride. He should have a statue on campus at some point.

 
Husker2019 said:
4skers89 said:
I could only eek out a C in a couple of those stupid freshman sociology classes. Lack of interest I suppose.
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dang. I just got a B+ in freshman soc and I was pissed about that grade. I agree though, I had little interest in the class.
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I was in college before grade inflation so that's another excuse:) The "Drugs and Society" class was interesting if they still offer it.
Does anyone know how much control the coaches have over the grade standard? I was wondering if Riley upped the ante.

 
zoogs said:
Wait. What? Grades are always an issue somewhere. I don't think we have a good sense of the numbers. We've had recruits for forever that fell through or were always borderline because of grades. Every year we have a handful of commits that are on the watchlist through the summer for NCAA qualification, and sometimes they don't make it. Every year, I am sure, a handful of players here and there at various points of the year run into academic issues.

That said, the academic focus and support system at UNL is still very good. So long term, I don't think there's anything to worry about here. Just a few players who've made a mistake. Too bad for them; they won't be the last.
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I do not agree with lumping commits into this discussion as they are not in the program. Their academic status does not reflect on the program significantly. I also don't like looking at other programs' academics when it is the good standing of Nebraska's academics that got them into a bowl this year. Still, you have a great point, and one that should not be overlooked, that Nebraskalikely has athletes that are illegible to play during the season every year because of academics. That said, there is something unsettling in the program right now where people 'in the know' are sharing information that use to be kept behind the scenes. We have seen this with comments about coaches or players getting published in the media, audio tapes being leaked, and now academic standings of student-athletes. As a result of the recent information leak, it put Nebraska in an unflattering position as a program that earned a bowl bid through good academic standing concurrently as they have numerous players would will be academically illegible to play in that bowl.
The optics just do not look good.

 
4skers89 said:
Husker2019 said:
4skers89 said:
I could only eek out a C in a couple of those stupid freshman sociology classes. Lack of interest I suppose.
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dang. I just got a B+ in freshman soc and I was pissed about that grade. I agree though, I had little interest in the class.
Click to expand...
I was in college before grade inflation so that's another excuse:) The "Drugs and Society" class was interesting if they still offer it.
Does anyone know how much control the coaches have over the grade standard? I was wondering if Riley upped the ante.
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It's possible but it doesn't make sense to me to have the standard any higher than just not going on academic probation, and making sure there are required tutoring hours and that kind of thing.

 
I can see that maybe the announcers will find some time to talk about this, but they'll talk about anything ... I guess it's a bad look, but they'd be totally remiss if they didn't talk about the team's current academic success stories, either.

I also think grapevine information has flowed since forever. I know it did during the Solich years, throughout the Callahan years, through the Bo years (on both sides -- there were 'insiders' fighting a dogged battle on Bo's behalf on message boards, as the heat turned up), and no different now.

Regarding published academic status, it sounds like this is something Riley himself has been saying -- last I saw, he was saying that they were waiting to hear back results still for everybody, but what they've heard so far has been positive. In this case, I think the HC is just answering questions about his team and being upfront that some players have status questions that need answering.

 
zoogs said:
I can see that maybe the announcers will find some time to talk about this, but they'll talk about anything ... I guess it's a bad look, but they'd be totally remiss if they didn't talk about the team's current academic success stories, either.

I also think grapevine information has flowed since forever. I know it did during the Solich years, throughout the Callahan years, through the Bo years (on both sides -- there were 'insiders' fighting a dogged battle on Bo's behalf on message boards, as the heat turned up), and no different now.

Regarding published academic status, it sounds like this is something Riley himself has been saying -- last I saw, he was saying that they were waiting to hear back results still for everybody, but what they've heard so far has been positive. In this case, I think the HC is just answering questions about his team and being upfront that some players have status questions that need answering.
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I agree with you, for sure. I cannot remember if Riley was the first to discuss the players' grades. It definitely changes the discussion if Riley brought it up first rather than the information getting leaked and Riley going on defense to address the issue.
 
zoogs said:
I can see that maybe the announcers will find some time to talk about this, but they'll talk about anything ... I guess it's a bad look, but they'd be totally remiss if they didn't talk about the team's current academic success stories, either.

I also think grapevine information has flowed since forever. I know it did during the Solich years, throughout the Callahan years, through the Bo years (on both sides -- there were 'insiders' fighting a dogged battle on Bo's behalf on message boards, as the heat turned up), and no different now.

Regarding published academic status, it sounds like this is something Riley himself has been saying -- last I saw, he was saying that they were waiting to hear back results still for everybody, but what they've heard so far has been positive. In this case, I think the HC is just answering questions about his team and being upfront that some players have status questions that need answering.
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Of course the announcers will eventually bring this into light especially if we're missing a couple starters. Its much too obvious not to discuss it. It remains to be seen but, it would be sorely disappointing to lose a couple players due to grade issues at UNL, all things considered.

 
Some things I wonder here.

1. How many people here blame this on the coaches? There are some here that have so many turds on their lips that everything is this new staff's fault.

2. If we do have a large # of students with grade issues, is it bc/ many of them figured we weren't going to be bowl eligible and just started bagging classes?

3. Or maybe it is some of the players that were planning to transfer qand they just said "screw it! I'm leaving anyway."

 
macroboy said:
Some things I wonder here.

1. How many people here blame this on the coaches? There are some here that have so many turds on their lips that everything is this new staff's fault.

2. If we do have a large # of students with grade issues, is it bc/ many of them figured we weren't going to be bowl eligible and just started bagging classes?

3. Or maybe it is some of the players that were planning to transfer qand they just said "screw it! I'm leaving anyway."
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1. The coaches do share some of the blame. Graduating players is part of their job. They have to hold them accountable, on and off the field.

2. That would be silly, but they are still wet behind the ears.

3. That would be extremely stupid. Grade issues would make finding a school to transfer to a lot harder.

There are tangent benefits and penalties for players' grades. We are seeing one of the benefits firsthand by being handed a bowl at 5-7 due to our APR scores. Plus, we have the best resources and tradition in the country when it comes to our scholar athletes. I've seen no definitive proof or source that the OP is true. I hope it's not.

 
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