College athletes should be students too

When former Penn student and men's basketball player Ryan Pettinella decided to transfer to Cincinnati last summer, he did so for one reason: to play for legendary coach Bob Huggins.

Now, six months later, Pettinella -- currently attending Monroe Community College --probably regrets his decision. He lost his scholarship spot at Cincinnati after Huggins was fired over the summer.

For many in the sports community, Huggins' dismissal was appalling. Current NBA star Kenyon Martin, a Cincy graduate, asked that his retired jersey be taken down from the Cincinnati arena rafters. His loyalties were to Huggins, not to the school.

With such widespread support in the athletic world and such a successful coaching resume, how could Huggins get fired? Why would Cincinnati President Nancy Zimpher get rid of her program's all-time winningest coach?

Simple: To re-emphasize the student in student-athlete.

Indeed, after growing up in an era in which more and more college athletes have opted to "leave early" and pursue their professional careers before they complete their degrees, Huggins' firing over the summer was quite refreshing.

It was a victory for academics over athletics. It was a defense and reinforcement of the true purpose for universities; that is, intellectual and academic pursuits.

Don't get me wrong: I am a huge college basketball fan, and I have deep respect for Huggins as a coach.

After all, he guided the Bearcats to 14 consecutive NCAA Tournament berths in his 16-year tenure. It is difficult to argue with such numbers.

But Huggins' career at Cincinnati was blemished by a series of player arrests and NCAA rule violations that landed the school on probation. In 1998, the NCAA placed Cincinnati on two years' probation after it determined that there was a "lack of institutional control." In addition, Huggins was arrested in 2004 for drunken driving.

Yet beyond his personal battles with the law, ultimately Zimpher decided to fire the long-time coach because of a negative perception of Cincy's basketball program since she arrived in 2003.

Since 2004, Bearcats player Roy Bright admitted to bringing a firearm on campus, and recruit Tyree Evans was accused of statutory rape in Massachusetts.

In an article defending Huggins, ESPN columnist Dick Vitale writes that recently, "Huggins saw his Bearcats turn the corner academically, as 11 players graduated over the past four seasons."

That statement needs to be read with a grain of salt. True, Cincy's program seemed to be improving academically. But 11 players graduating in four years? How can such an atrocious academic legacy be associated with higher education?

I have covered sports for The Daily Pennsylvanian for the past three years. Often I have been frustrated by the stringent recruiting policies that Ivy League coaches are subjected to, and I have written a number of editorials stressing the need for more lenient recruiting policies in order for the Ancient Eight to be able to compete outside of its conference.

Not until I read and contemplated Huggins' firing (or forced resignation, I should say), did I truly understand the beauty and purity of the Ivy League system.

Sure, the Ivy system has its flaws. As Chris Lincoln revealed in his fascinating and well-researched book, Playing the Game: Inside Athletic Recruiting in the Ivy League, there are many loopholes that coaches can exploit to recruit athletes with less than stellar academic credentials.

But generally speaking, the Ivy League should be proud of its product. It boasts a 100% graduation rate for its athletes. There is simply no comparison between that and Cincinnati's "improved" status of graduating 11 students in 4 years.

And the fact is, despite Cincinnati's 14 straight NCAA appearances and trip to the Final Four in 1992, the program has only produced five first-round NBA draft picks with Huggins at the helm.

When you consider how many kids opted to leave Cincinnati without a degree over the past sixteen years, having five first-round draft picks -- albeit an achievement for Huggins as a coach -- is not very impressive for the Bearcats program, nor is it a proud statistic for Cincinnati professors and administration.

At some point, college presidents nationwide need to sit down and have a serious discussion about how they envision the future of college athletics. From my perspective, the professionalization of college sports has become distasteful. Graduating 11 student-athletes in four years should not be a commendable statistic.

We should all thank Ms. Zimpher for recognizing the need to turn a new page in Cincinnati's athletic program. Firing Huggins is a major step in the effort to re-emphasize the student in student-athlete.

It's time other programs follow suit.

Josh Pollick is a senior political science major from Los Angeles. On Point appears on Mondays.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.