White Rock Kitchens

I used to work in higher education. I was in admissions at Directional U (we’re going to ignore that wasted nine months running a business school in Mauritius). I also used to write and post more on the problems of higher education, particularly the problems with borrowing money to attend college. There are a lot of people that do  that better than me. I’m mostly going to leave it to them.

I am going to shift the focus a little.

I’m going to start posting about college and university athletic departments. When you look at a place like the University of Texas’ Athletic Department, it is sort of easy to see and understand how it came to be in its current state. If you had no knowledge of college athletic departments (such as is the case in Europe), you would look at this arrangement and wonder how it is allowed to exist. There is no good reason for the UT athletic department to exist. The State of Texas’ premier tax supported institution of higher education and research should not have attached to it such a large organization that adds nothing, or even subtracts from, it’s core purpose. I do understand that UT’s athletic department kicks money over to the general fund every year, but it is a rare exception among university athletic departments. UT is an exception, the vast majority of university athletic departments operate at a loss.

Most of the scholarship athletes do not belong in these universities. They just don’t have the academic chops.

A significant number of these athletes are criminals.

I am not alone in my thinking. Victor Davis Hanson: End College Football.

Disclosure: The Ace spent two years at Arkansas. The Deuce attends Ole Miss. I do watch college football, but really remain puzzled as to why it exists.