Grades Are In

Sporting News, The, Sept 13, 1999 by Steve Gietschier

RELATED ARTICLE: WINNING ISN'T EVERYTHING

So what if Kent comes in at 98th in our ranking of 112 athletic departments? That doesn't necessarily make the college experience any less valuable for many of its athletes.

"This is absolutely the right place for me," says senior Jose Davis, the starting quarterback at Kent.

Davis says athletics had nothing to do with his decision to attend Kent. He wanted a good academic program (he carries a 2.3 GPA into his senior season) and friendly surroundings.

But the Golden Flashes don't receive much support from their fans. During last season's 0-11 season, the Golden Flashes averaged 7,703 fans in a stadium with a capacity of 30,520.

But Davis remains optimistic. Two seasons ago in only his first year as the starter, he set a school career record for touchdown passes with 32; he is on pace to break all other school career records for quarterbacks this season.

"We put on an offensive show, and hopefully the people will come," Davis says. "I think the home opener (Navy, Saturday) is the key. If we win, we'll get the fans. Our defense has been the dragging point the last few seasons, but I think they'll be drastically improved this year."

Winning doesn't guarantee a jump in attendance. Last season, the Kent basketball team went 23-6, won the MAC conference tournament and was in the NCAA Tournament, but the average attendance was 2,689 in a 6,327-seat arena.

Still, Davis is exactly where he wants to be. "Things are starting to change," Davis says. "We've got great facilities, and we're ready to make a big jump." --Stephen Siegel

RELATED ARTICLE: LAST IN LINE

Louisiana-Monroe says it didn't change its name--it had been Northeast Louisiana since 1970--to change its athletic image. But considering it ranked last among 112 schools on TSN's list, figure it can't hurt.

On the positive side, the graduation rate for the school's student-athletes (37 percent) is higher than that of the student body (29 percent). But the athletic department didn't make the grade in most of the categories that determined our rankings.

Of the men's basketball players who entered school from 1989 through 1992 and were given six years to graduate, none did.

The basketball team, which finished 13-14 last season, averaged 2,000 fans in 8,000-seat Ewing Coliseum. By comparison, Malone Stadium was a madhouse during football Indians finished 5-6.

Louisiana-Monroe's athletic budget is $4 million, compared with $30 million for some Big ten schools. Because a large chunk of the budget is devoted to the football and men's baseball teams, the other sports suffer. Although 61 percent of the students body at Monroe is female, only 31.8 percent of the athletes are women. federal rules mandate a difference of no more than 5 percent to be compliance with Title IX.

Perhaps Warner Alford, the school's new athletic director, can turn things around. There's only one direction the department can go. --Stephen Siegel

Steve Gietschier is archivist of THE SPORTING NEWS. Stacy Clardie did additional research and reporting for this story.3