A Longitudinal Study of Academic Clustering at a BCS

Football Program

Clustering is operationally defined as occurring when 25% of the players on a team are in

one academic major.

Case, Greer and Brown (1987)

Major Football Players Undergraduates

Sociology 10 of 38 (26.3%)

62 of 19,603 (0.3%)

Sociology 14 of 43 (32.6%)

123 of 3,821 (3.2%)

Economics 35 of 75 (46.7%)

666 of 5,019 (13.3%)

Sports Management 11 of 33 (33.3%)

176 of 22,971 (0.8%)

Sports Management 11 of 50 (22%)

248 of 24,517 (1%)

Sport Administration 29 of 66 (43.9%)

843 of 14,058 (6%)

Residential Property Management

10 of 54 (18.5%)

75 of 19,218 (0.4%)

Communication 23 of 52 (44.2%)

241 of 2,000 (12.1%)

Business Management

Social Science

Liberal Arts

Apparel, Housing & Resource. Mgt.

Sport Management

Sociology

Communications

Arts and Science

Criminology

Sociology

Sociology

“You need to get your priorities right; you need to change your major”

Engineering to Child and Family

Development

"These kids are getting steered into less rigorous

majors, or majors with friendly faculty."

"I do admit I did it myself, and I'm ashamed of it, and I

wish I'd never done it."

"To be honest with you, I think I got more of an

education in high school."-Antoine Wright

“…every school has majors the majority of the athletes are in. . . . To a certain extent, I feel I was

taken a little advantage of because I wasn't briefed on what was going to happen.”

2005 2006 2007 2008

“UNLV athletes question degrees in University Studies”– 5% of all UNLV Juniors and Seniors• 60% of the Juniors and Seniors on the football team• 58% of those on the baseball team• 83% of those on the men's basketball team

– 2.0 vs. 2.5 GPA Requirement– “Cheating on tests”– “Degree reaps no rewards”– “Hesitant to cite their degree on job applications”

"I think it's a meaningless

degree. ... To tell you the truth, I think it's lower

than an associate degree.”

2007 SR University Studies

2006 JR University Studies

2005 SO Economics

Business Management Business Management

Finance & Real Estate Social Science

Business Management Liberal Arts

Sociology Apparel, Housing & Resource. Mgt.

Academic Cluster 2005 2006 2007 2008Business Management

Social Science

Liberal Arts

Apparel, Housing & Resource. Mgt.

Year Liberal Arts

2007 5 of 7 Early in L.A.

2006 6 changed into L.A.3 of 3 Early in L.A.

2005

Business Management

Liberal Arts

2005 2006 2007 2008

Year 2004 2005 2006 2007

Football Revenue $32,349,795 $33,940,686 $49,898,477 $41,468,428

Athletic Department Profit $8,265,356 $3,346,502 $9,538,210 $6,139,158

2008 Academic Participation

Men's Football Participants 127 Participants Reporting a Major 88 19 20 24 25Changed Major 1 or more times 8 4 3 1

Academic Majors Team Total Football - White Football - Minority

All Upperclass Lowerclass Upperclass LowerclassAccounting and IS 2 0 2 0 0

Apparel, Housing, & Resource Mgt 21 4 0 13 4Biology 3 1 1 0 1

Building Contruction 1 1 0 0 0Business Info Technology 1 1 0 0 0

Business/Management 7 1 3 1 2Communication 4 0 1 0 3

Crop & Soil Environmental Science 1 1 0 0 0Electrical Engineering 1 0 1 0 0

Engineering Science & Mechanics 1 1 0 0 0Finance 4 3 1 0 0

2008 Academic Participation

Men's Football Participants 127

Participants Reporting a Major 88 19 20 24 25Changed Major 1 or more times 8 4 3 1

Academic Majors Team Total Football - White Football - Minority

AllUpperclas

s Lowerclass Upperclass LowerclassAccounting and IS 2 0 0.0% 2 10.0% 0 0.0% 0 0.0%

Apparel, Housing, & Resource Mgt 21 4 21.1% 0 0.0% 13 54.2% 4 16.0%Biology 3 1 5.3% 1 5.0% 0 0.0% 1 4.0%

Building Contruction 1 1 5.3% 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 0 0.0%Business Info Technology 1 1 5.3% 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 0 0.0%

Business/Management 7 1 5.3% 3 15.0% 1 4.2% 2 8.0%Communication 4 0 0.0% 1 5.0% 0 0.0% 3 12.0%

Crop & Soil Environmental Science 1 1 5.3% 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 0 0.0%Electrical Engineering 1 0 0.0% 1 5.0% 0 0.0% 0 0.0%

Engineering Science & Mechanics 1 1 5.3% 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 0 0.0%Finance 4 3 15.8% 1 5.0% 0 0.0% 0 0.0%

Major A# of Football Participants

ever enrolled in a class

# of Football Participants

ever enrolled in more then

one class

Live Lecture Format

On-line Format

Independent/ Directed

Study

Avg. Football

Participant GPA

Dr. Sally Anderson 5 0 5 0 0 2.32.3

Dr. Allen Bowser 21 10 21 0 0 2.82.8

Prof. James Franklin 42 12 20 22 0 3.13.1

Dr. Todd Jones 80 55 5 0 75 3.93.9

Dr. Zack Lewis 2 0 0 2 0 1.81.8

Prof. Ben Peterson 10 0 10 0 0 2.22.2

Dr. John Smith 1 0 1 0 0 N/AN/A