December 6, 2005Hokie football gets some good news for a changeSo you're a Virginia Tech football fan. The past week hasn't been kind to you. On the field, your heavily-favored team blew the chance to win a second-straight ACC Championship Saturday. Instead of a trip to sunny Florida, you have to make plans for a trip to, well, sunny Florida. But who wants to find gators in their Christmas stocking when they were hoping for oranges? Um...well maybe that's not the best way to put it. But you're a Hokie fan, so maybe that comparison isn't so far off. Gators in your stocking. A Gator Bowl in your future. The two were probably equally horrifying prospects Saturday. And not only did your team lose, but it looked bad doing it. Penalties galore. Broadcasters bemoaning the team's behavior on national television. Your star quarterback pouting after the game instead of facing the music. But wait, it gets worse. Off the field you had to endure story after story after story in The Roanoke Times last week and on ESPN Nov. 27 about how some players on your team are living in Section 8 housing despite receiving housing stipends. But a story in The Chronicle of Higher Education offers some good news. And no, you didn't just save a bunch of money on car insurance by switching to Geico. Twenty-three of 56 schools playing in bowl games this year didn't meet new academic standards set by the NCAA. Virginia Tech did meet the standards. That means nothing this year. But the new regulations will have teeth next year, when the NCAA can take away scholarships based on Academic Progress Rates set by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics of Sport at the University of Central Florida. The new academic standards will give schools points based on how well their athletes do in the classroom and their progress toward degrees. The current standards only measure graduation rates. Every ACC and Big East school playing in a bowl game meets the new standards, the article says. The No. 1-ranked USC Trojans do not. Would you mind if Tech was one of the 23 teams that didn't meet the standards if it meant a trip to the Orange Bowl for your Hokies? Probably not. But hey, I thought I'd give you whatever good news I could find. I mean, you look so sad sitting there wearing your ACC Champions hat from last year, clutching plane tickets to Miami. In case you're wondering, it's only 350 miles from Miami to Jacksonville. About a five hour car ride. Happy Holidays. |
About this blog
Rhode Island native and Virginia Tech reporter Greg Esposito posts on everyday college life, trends and issues affecting the 35,000-plus students in the New River Valley and beyond.
Tim Thornton, who is old enough to have children attending college, is still taking classes and is still fascinated by colleges, the students who populate them and the bureaucrats who operate them. His reporting beat is Radford University.
West Virginia native Anna Mallory blogs on student life topics at Virginia Tech, Radford University, New River Valley Community College -- and beyond.
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