Michael Finke transferring to Grand Canyon

Second and Chalmers · Apr 26, 2018

sacraig said:
I feel like this was the obvious and also wrong decision for him. But hey, it's not my life.

People have been dramatically overstating the impact on Finke's future that one year of graduate school in a program that would accept a Communications major from U of I would have.

Stanford is a terrific brand name, and a nice thing to have on a resume in any circumstance, but you don't just walk into a job at Google with a half-finished Master's in Sociology. If that's even what Michael wants to do.

haasi · Apr 26, 2018

Raises an interesting question about fifth year transfers- would Stanford accept finke into their mba program if that’s what he wanted to do? I know for undergrad admissions are heavily weighted in favor of athletes, but what about grad admissions?

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Second and Chalmers · Apr 26, 2018

haasi said:
would Stanford accept finke into their mba program if that’s what he wanted to do?

Not unless he was worthy on his own merits, which coming out of a non-business program at a school like U of I with no work experience would basically mean a perfect GMAT score plus being engaged to the Dean's daughter or something.

And it's the same for undergrad, it's not like some football recruit who sneaks past the clearinghouse can just choose engineering at U of I. They might give a bit of a break for the novelty of having a revenue sport athlete in the college, but only if their qualifications convinced them they could hack it.

haasi · Apr 26, 2018

Stanford and Duke undergrad 100% relax admissions criteria for athletes.

Is the point that athletes can get admitted to universities more easily, but if a university has more selective schools/programs, athletes won’t get much favorable treatment there?

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Second and Chalmers · Apr 26, 2018

haasi said:
Stanford and Duke undergrad 100% relax admissions criteria for athletes.

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As does every school, but not into their best programs. Corey Maggette didn't actually major in architecture or whatever.

Players are guided into the majors and classes that will keep them eligible and free to spend many, many hours over the NCAA mandated limitations on practice time doing "voluntary" "individual" workouts.

This system is actively hostile to athletes getting full value from their "free" education. The hypocrisy goes both directions.

There are the occasional exceptions but only in the presence of open-minded coaches, stubborn, single-minded players willing to make sacrifices to their athletic futures, and qualifications that go miles beyond what virtually all revenue sport athletes have.

Ryan McDonald was an example like that at U of I. A rare bird. Wouldn't have happened if he'd entered under Zook rather than Turner either.

ILL in IA · Apr 26, 2018

Even if some athletes can get into the selective school/program, they have to clear that by the coach first. Most head coaches do everything they can to stear guys away from a program that will have class taking up a lot of time. It may not be talked about much, but definitly frowned upon behind the scenes to have a student athlete a little to interested in the student part.

EDIT: S&C beat me to the main point on this.

haasi · Apr 26, 2018

Ya that all makes sense. Big time sports are a big commitment. Academics come second (or in some cases not at all)

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TCTORNADO · Apr 27, 2018

Speaking of Stanford, Lukas Kisunas, UCONN de-commit, is taking an OV there this weekend.

Illinimobile · Apr 30, 2018

Second and Chalmers said:
As does every school, but not into their best programs. Corey Maggette didn't actually major in architecture or whatever.

Players are guided into the majors and classes that will keep them eligible and free to spend many, many hours over the NCAA mandated limitations on practice time doing "voluntary" "individual" workouts.

This system is actively hostile to athletes getting full value from their "free" education. The hypocrisy goes both directions.

There are the occasional exceptions but only in the presence of open-minded coaches, stubborn, single-minded players willing to make sacrifices to their athletic futures, and qualifications that go miles beyond what virtually all revenue sport athletes have.

Ryan McDonald was an example like that at U of I. A rare bird. Wouldn't have happened if he'd entered under Zook rather than Turner either.

Mike Hopkins too https://illinoisalumni.org/2014/12/19/astro-illini/

illini80 · Apr 30, 2018

Class guy. Wish him nothing but success.

NeaforThree · Apr 30, 2018

Second and Chalmers said:
As does every school, but not into their best programs. Corey Maggette didn't actually major in architecture or whatever.

Players are guided into the majors and classes that will keep them eligible and free to spend many, many hours over the NCAA mandated limitations on practice time doing "voluntary" "individual" workouts.

This system is actively hostile to athletes getting full value from their "free" education. The hypocrisy goes both directions.

There are the occasional exceptions but only in the presence of open-minded coaches, stubborn, single-minded players willing to make sacrifices to their athletic futures, and qualifications that go miles beyond what virtually all revenue sport athletes have.

Ryan McDonald was an example like that at U of I. A rare bird. Wouldn't have happened if he'd entered under Zook rather than Turner either.

Jack Ingram comes to mind too. Electrical Engineer. My dad (Engineering prof) tells me stories about Ingram going to the library with his jersey under his clothes so he could go straight to practice after. As a (recent) UI Engineering grad I honestly can't even imagine being a solid contributor and player like Ingram was while also going through engineering.