Footballs decline is correlated to the decline of UM Academics

[miamiphd]

I TA-ed at UM in the late 1990s before geting my doctorate. There were some rich students who thought they had purchased good grades with the high tuition. But, there were also students from humble backgrounds who received a chance for a better life. I remember a Haitian American who did well in my section. She invited my wife and me to her graduation party in Liberty City. She introduced us to her entire family. We were honored to be there. It made me realize how much UM meant to some local students and their families. I had other students who were similar to her. I hope that UM still gives students like her an opportunity for a better life.

I also had some athletes in my sections. They did not always get the best grades. But, they didn’t have rich alumni parents to complain about it. The were not **** coeds who tried to exchange favors for grades. They did not cry and beg for better grades. I realized that the athletes followed a merit system more so than some of the “academic” students. If Santana Moss or Reggie Wayne didn’t perform, they didn’t play. Simple as that. They were not spoiled rich kids.

 

[305_separatist]

I don't think that's true. Too many "gains" have been made over the decades for something as extreme as that to occur. OTOH, the talk about our becoming the "Harvard of the South" probably was/is a pipe dream.

Missed this.

I think this is actually the exact kind of complacency that is getting the school in trouble. It’s the definition of riding on the laurels of past administrations.

No, we will never *literally* regress to where we were at that point. Facilities have exploded, and so have revenue streams chiefly through medicine. That’s all great ofc. But that doesn’t mean the *culture* of the student body and institution as a whole can’t regress. And if that continues to occur, it’ll hamstring everything else. Athletics and academics are just two respective areas where the symptoms are evident imo.

 

[pianojib]

My opinion, the declined stopped when Coker did not allow the freshman hazing anymore (Freshman Bald head), and when we began to throw up the U!!! Don't believe me: Leon Williams and show me any national champions throwing up the U.

 

[SmokeyRone]

And it’s not a coincidence. Now one doesn’t cause the other, not directly anyway. A successful football team is the best marketing for a school money can buy, which leads to more applications, greater selectivity etc.

But I think there’s a more direct hidden variable that connects the two in the specific case of this University. It’s an attitude of exclusivity and separation from the Miami-Dade community. Ivory tower syndrome if you will. A lack of inclusion.

On the football side, there’s tons of stories of how the relationship between the program and the various local high schools imploded over time. Golden wasn’t allowed to even visit some schools with his holier than thou attitude. Manny reversed any moderate gains Richt made in his first couple years with **** poor effort. The result has been other programs, especially out of state ones, setting up shop in SFL and filling the vacuum.

This has been almost perfectly mirrored on the academic side, which has been sliding for years. I am no expert in this area but in the 90s in particular, heading into the early 2000s, the school offered very generous financial aid packages for those who qualified academically. That attracted many top notch students (many of whom had their first impression via the football program) who in turn would help boost academics. In the last 10 years or so that has steeply declined, with a much larger percentage of the student population just being rich kids who want to go to school in Miami.

They might seem unrelated, but I think both are signs of the rot coming from the very top, the president and BOT, and their worldviews.

This school and everyone in it sees official affiliation as a status symbol, and as a result sees themselves as better than anyone else and too good to actually put in the work. And it leads to a vicious cycle where the perceived value of that status symbol has been plummeting as a result across the board as a function of the caliber of people you’re bringing in, and the cultural attitude they immediately get infected with and then help reinforce across the institution.

MTSU? Who? We’re way better than them **** that. USA rankings? That thing is a gimmick who even really cares or thinks X should be ranked ahead of us. Everyone is content to continue riding on the laurels of 20 years ago instead of putting in the work.

The longer that is kept up, the more we fall behind, because we refuse to look in the mirror and accept we totally suck right now.

TLDR: The culture problem is *deep* and goes way beyond just the football program. The university admin and BOT has been way too comfortable in their ivory tower and it’s infected every corner of the school. The University, from the top down, needs to take a long hard look in the mirror and get aggressive about rebuilding its relationships, image, it’s entire operations philosophy.

The athletic decline is Shalala's greatest achievement.