Academics and athletics: A comparison of the basketball programs at Harvard University, Northeastern University and Boston College

This study examines the basketball programs at three Division I institutions--Harvard University, Northeastern University and Boston College. Specifically it assesses the degree to which the basketball programs enhance or detract from the academic education of their respective student-athletes.;At Northeastern, the basketball program seemed to dictate the academic pursuits of its athletes. Basketball recruits were not the academic peers of their nonathlete cohorts and therefore required a superior academic support system. The players appeared to be discouraged from participating in academic programs which might have interfered with practice schedules. Some of the players dropped courses which threatened to bring their GPAs below NCAA eligibility requirements. As a result, many student-athletes were forced to attend at least one session of summer school.;As Boston College, the conflict between athletics and academics was most clearly defined. In its desire to earn the funds generated by participating in the Big East basketball league, Boston College strove to recruit highly skilled and competitive basketball players. In its desire to maintain its image as a scholastically superior institution, Boston College did not wish to recruit basketball players who did not meet the same academic admissions criteria as other students. The two goals proved conflicting, yielding Boston College a mediocre basketball team in need of a strong academic support program.;While Harvard's basketball players wished their team had been more competitive, they appreciated that their college education presented them with many other options for the future. Conversely, the majority of players at Northeastern clung to their dreams of playing professional basketball. Unfortunately, few were able to achieve this dream. The rest left Northeastern at a disadvantage to players who graduated from institutions such as Harvard where academics were the priority. Boston College's priorities were unclear; thus, the Boston College basketball team felt somewhat compromised. The players were relatively unsuccessful in the Big East and not as well prepared for the academic rigors of Boston College as their nonathlete classmates.;The Harvard administration was found to have a hands off attitude toward its basketball players. It did not appear to lower its admissions standards to accept higher quality athletes, it did not offer any academic support system specific to athletes, it expected that student-athletes would be as responsible and independent in their pursuit of scholastic excellence as their nonathlete peers. While the occasional person was lost in this system, most student-athletes successfully balanced their academic pursuits with their extracurricular ones.