The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, February 06, 1990, Page 8, Image 8

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wm wmm wm m mb mm mm mm mm mm mi ■
The UNL Independent Study program
offers a way to pick up needed
courses at any time during the year. You
can take a course when you need to, not
when the calendar dictates.
■ Take 12 months to complete if
necessary
■ Choose from more than 70
credit courses
■ Learn from UNL faculty
LCall 472-1926 for details NOW!
UNL Independent Study COUFSCS
Division ot Continuing Studies - "
Nebraska Center. Room 269 tflHt lit VOUV
East Campus. 33rd & Holdrege . j ,
Lincoln NE 68583 0900 SCHedUlC
UNI is a nondiscnminatory institution
______________________
Players, school would benefit
if curriculum included athletics
Last week I argued that athletic
scholarships are inconsistent with the
other scholarships given at major
colleges.
I suggested that the scholarships
be eliminated, and a system of minor
leagues replace college football and
Paul
Domeier
basketball to develop players for the
1 National Football League and the
| National Basketball Association.
Well, that’s kind of a bummer,
I isn’t it? Win one for the Gippcr, or
| Sal, or whomever, goes out the win
I dow. Getting an education and play
■ ing sports would be that much harder
J for poor students, and the leagues
I would be almost impossible to start.
| Imagine the discussion at an athletic
| directors’ convention:
“I’ll drop my programs right after
you do.
“No, I’ll drop my programs after
you do.’’
“No... “
That first suggestion won’t get too
far. Even though athletic scholarships
don’t make sense, as long as the pro
grams pay for themselves, the fund
ing will continue.
So here comes the Second Do
mcier Proposal:
MAKE ATHLETICS PART OF
THECURRICULUM, INCLUDING
DEGREES.
Take football as an example of
how the present system could be
I adapted mto the curriculum. This could
be a class bulletin of the future.
Football 101 — four hours, fall
semester: Open to all incoming fresh
men after passing an entrance test (a
physical). Different sections of the
class will play each other during the
semester. FB 101 will present basic
football techniques and strategies. High
school experience is recommended.
FB 102 - two hours, spring semes
ter: Spring football and winter condi
tioning.
FB 101H and 102H -- by permis
sion only: Students will practice and
play with upper-level classes.
FB 151 and 152 — the redshirt
years; by permission only: Students
will practice but cannot play in games.
FB 201, 202, 301, 302, 401 and
402 - by permission only: The stu
dents will practice and play under
•m ^ A
Professor Tom Osborne. Games will
be played against varsity teams (or
upper-level classes) of other univer
sities.
Professor Osborne and his staff
will decided who gets the 95 avail
able scholarships. All students in the
College of Athletics must have a
double-major outside of the college.
Athletic courses are offered pass/
no pass only.
In addition to the courses in one
department (24-30 hours), athletics
majors must take core courses. These
would include sufficient levels of math,
English 150, Political Science 100,
History 100 and 101 and a new class,
Speech 116 -- The Interview.
“In this course future athletes,
public officials and anyone else who
may need to sound intelligent to a
reporter will learn to speak freely and
without putting the student in a com
promising position. The student will
learn to eliminate cliches, ‘uhs,’ ‘ya
knows,’ ‘likes,’ and 15-minutc sen
tences with too many ‘ands.’”
Other students, if they do well
enough in FB 101 and 102, could
minor in the sport.
That’s the proposal. The easiest
way locxplain and defend it will be to
attack it, playing devil’s advocate.
ATTACK: This degrades all aca
demics since the world began. A
Bachelor of Arts in football?
DEFENSE: Spectator sports arc a
billion-dollar entertainment industry,
so athletic degrees have as much basis
as music performance or theater majors.
A: But a tiny percentage of college
athletes play professional sports. You’ll
be exploiting the athletes.
D: Yeah, and a tiny percentage of
percussion majors play drums in heavy
metal bands; a tiny percentage of
English majors become world-famous
authors; a tiny percentage of history
majors become professors at Harvard.
Why arc students given the chance to
go for a dream and possibly fail, while
athletes have to be warned?
Besides, the double-major degrees
will have worth in the world.
A: Like what?
D: Like the benefits athletes draw
from playing collcgiatcly now. Ex
Huskers arc held in high regard as
people who can thrive individually
within a group structure.
A: Anything else?
D. Secondary education majors with
football minors would be belter quali
fied to coach than grads arc now.
Incoming freshmen who take a 1 (X)
levcl sport might slay in shape, a
college rarity.
A: Schools will become known tor
their sports programs, not their tradi
tional academic disciplines.
D: What do you think schools are
known for now?
A: Fine, the present system could
be absorbed into the curriculum. But
except for solving the logic problems
with the scholarships, what good will
this do? Why bother?
D: I’m glad I asked that. In addi
tion to solving the logic problem with
the grants, students will have an eas
ier time with school. The best stu
dents in the student-athlete group,
like Jake Young, Virginia Stahr and
Renita Tyrance, could still double
major. ... .
The extra hours will be paid for by
the scholarships. No problem, no
change. Yet even for them, their ath
letic participation will be right on the
resume.
For those great athletes who aren t
good enough to go to college, except
to play sports, the athletic major will
be a great savior. Instead of having to
take four three-hour classes to pass
the 12 hours needed each semester to
stay eligible, the athlete could take
three courses and devote more time to
each class.
A: This would delay graduation.
D: Double-majors usually do de
lay graduation.
A; What about those athletes who
use this to take school easy until their
eligibility is up? They drop out with
about 75 “real” hours?
D: Fine. Stop babysitting the ath
letes. He or she didn T want an educa
tion then, anyway. And for those stu
dents who struggle to get the 75 “real”
hours, they drop out because they
aren’t cut out for college and only
went for the sport; they arc still better
off for their effort
Maybe those liberal arts courses
will help the athlete be a bank guard
instead of a bank robber, or work on
the government side of a welfare desk.
Maybe they can do the work and get
something out of the nine hours, and
not have to ghost through 12 hours of
basket-weaving while trying to play a
sport.
And one more point makes this
proposal far more attractive to colle
giate powers. One college could en
act this proposal by itself, and the first
college that docs will have a huge
advantage in recruiting. In college
sports, that’s reason enough to do
anything.
Domeier is a junior news-editorial major
and a Daily Nebraskan senior reporter and
columnist.
rieces come together tor men s team;
NU women reach for Big Eight win
By Jeff Apel
Senior Editor
The pieces arc beginning to fall
into place for the Nebraska men’s
swimming team.
Nebraska men’s swimming coach
Cal Bent/ said the Comhuskcrs look
another step toward their llth-con
sccuuvc Big Eight title by defeating
Arkansas 83*50 Saturday at the Bob
Dcvaney Sports Center. He said the
meet was critical because Nebraska
won despite having several swim
mers compete in their second and
third events.
The Nebraska women’s swimming
team did not have that luxury, as
Coach Ray Huppcrt said the team
needed everything it had to post a 73
67 win against the Razorbacks.
Bcntz said the Nebraska men need
to continue to develop their depth. He
said depth will play a key role when
the Huskers compete in the Big Eight
championships on March 1-3.
Bcntz said Nebraska is making
good progress towards the Big Eight
championships.
“We feel we’re coming right
along,” he said. “We’re starling to
get our lineup set.”
Bcntz said that lineup will include
Jan Bidrman, Scan Frampton and
Ryan Bell, all of whom stood out
against the Razorbacks. Bell won the
50-yard freestyle in 21.32 seconds.
while Frampton won the 1 (X)
breaststroke in 57.40.
Bidrman won the 100 backstroke
in 52.41, the 200 backstroke in 1:54.34
minutes, and the 200 breaststroke in
2:05.33.
Bent/, said he was not surprised by
Bidrman’s performance. The sopho
more from Sweden was recently named
the Big Eight’s swimmer of the month
for the second-consecutive lime.
“I don’t know why anyone would
be surprised by his performance,’’
Bent/, said. “You know he’s going to
swim fast.’’
Huppert said anyone who plans on
competing against Nebraska’s Mich
elle Butcher also must swim fast.
Butcher proved she is a legitimate
title threat by claiming the 500 and
1,000 freestyle and 400 individual
vidual medley titles against Arkan
sas.
Huppert said Butcher’s perform
ance in the 1,000 freestyle was im
pressive. Her time of 10:01.32 set a
school record and a Sports Center
pool record.
In addition to Butcher, Huppert
said Nebraska also received lop per
formances from Mindy Matheny and
Jencll Garcia. Garcia won the 200
butterfly in 2:04.81, while Matheny
captured the 100 freestyle crown in
52.53.
Huppert said those performances
were critical because the meet was an
emotionally draining one.
“It was a tight meet,” he said. “It
was close the whole way through.”
Huppert said he was pleased with
his team’s performance.
“We rose to the level where we
needed to be at,” Huppert said.
Huppert said that level has not
brought a lot of national recognition.
He said Nebraska has not received a
lot of attention nauonally even though
it has compiled an 11-3 dual-meet
record this season while competing
against seven top-20 teams.
Huppert said Nebraska is not both
ered by its lack of national recogni
tion.
“That doesn’t bother us at all,” he
said. “Let everyone else get all the
attention. We know what type of team
we arc.”
Huppert said Nebraska will now
spend the next three weeks resting
and tapering in preparation for the
•~*8 Eight championships. The con
ference championships will be held
Feb. 22-23 in Ames, Iowa.
Huppert said his team will be ready
lor the Big Eight competition. They
will really be ready if they hit their
taper, which is a process in which
swimmers try to reduce their times by
resting and shaving.
“These girls are ready to com
pete, Huppert said. “They know
what they re capable of doing.”