Is There Life After Football?

by James A. Holstein

  36. 2012–2013 NCAA Division I Manual. 2012. Section 15.02.01, p. 200. http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/D113.pdf, retrieved 3/27/13.

  37. A few currently retired NFL players went to college prior to the advent of NCAA athletic scholarships in 1956. The one-year scholarship was adopted by the NCAA in 1973. Both of these measures changed the landscape of college football, transforming players’ experience and altering the backdrop from which the NFL experience might emerge. See Oriard 2009. By 2015, some universities will begin to grant four-year scholarships.

  38. “Financial Aid.” 2013. USC.edu. http://www.usc.edu/admission/fa/applying_receiving/undergraduates2/costs.html; Sullivan, Kathleen. February 12, 2013. “Stanford Report: Stanford Raises Undergraduate Tuition 3.5 Percent, Continues Financial Aid Commitment for 2013–14 School Year.” New.Stanford.edu. http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/february/stanford-undergrad-tuition-021213.html; “Tuition and Fee Rates.” 2013. Miami.edu. http://www.miami.edu/gs/index.php/graduate_school/costs_and_financial_aid/tuition_and_fee_rates/; Tuchler, Margot. February 22, 2013. “Duke Board Approves Tuition Increase for 2013. Dukechronicle.com. http://www.dukechronicle.com/articles/2013/02/22/duke-board-approves-tuition-increase-2013-2014; “Undergraduate Tuition.” 2013. Utexas.edu. http://www.utexas.edu/business/accounting/pubs/tf_undergrad_fall13.pdf; “Undergraduate Campus Student Tuition.” 2012. Cost.UA.edu. http://cost.ua.edu/undergraduate-12-13.html; all retrieved 4/23/13.

  39. Hill, Jemele. October 10, 2012. “Tweet Shows Truth about Academics.” ESPN.com. http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8484038/tweet-revealed-truth-student-athletes, retrieved 10/6/13. Apparently Ohio State coach Urban Myer didn’t appreciate this attitude. He didn’t allow Jones to suit up for a game and took away his Twitter account.

  40. Bryant, Paul W., and John Underwood. 1974. Bear: The Hard Life and Good Times of Alabama’s Coach Bryant. Boston: Little, Brown, p. 325.

  41. See Eitzen 2009, Oriard 2009.

  42. These comparisons are based on Federal Graduation Rate (FGR) statistics for student cohorts entering college in 2005. The FGR is considered a relatively crude measure of the percentage of students who graduate from their original institution of enrollment within a six-year period. The NCAA and others prefer to use a more nuanced measure known as Graduation Success Rate (GSR), which takes into account transfer students, mid-year enrollees, and other factors that affect academic progress. Using GSRs, roughly 70 percent of football players graduate within six years, and more closely approximate the general student body GSR, especially if GSRs for male students only are compared. See NCAA Research Staff. October 2012. “Trends in Graduation-Success Rates and Federal Graduation Rates at NCAA Division I Institutions.” NCAA.org. http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/pdfs/2012/D1GsrFgrTrendsPdf, retrieved 4/17/13. Also see Oriard 2009.

  43. Research interview #06.

  44. Research interview #304.

  45. Research interview #03. Siegel is being modest. He made the National Honor Society in his senior year, calling this his only academic “glory.”

  46. Research interview #20.

  47. Bacon 2011, p. 350.

  48. Oriard 2009, pp. 183–85.

  49. Ibid., p. 184.

  50. “The Center for Student Success and Academic Counseling.” 2010. Center for Student Success and Academic Counseling. http://cssac.unc.edu/athletic-counseling-program, retrieved 4/18/13.

  51. “Clara Bell Smith Center.” 2010. Student-Athlete Support Services. http://www.sass.msu.edu/facilities/SmithCenter.html, retrieved 4/18/13.

  52. Research interview #40. At that point, the NCAA was very vague about limits on a player’s “practice time,” but it has since tightened restrictions on the number of hours a player may devote to football each week.

  53. Ibid.

  54. Hill, October 10, 2012.

  55. Oriard 2009. On our own Marquette University campus (where there is no football program), well over half of men’s basketball players are enrolled in the College of Communication, where core curriculum requirements are somewhat less demanding than in, say, the College of Arts and Sciences.

  56. See Adler, Patricia A., and Peter Adler. 1991. Backboards and Blackboards. New York: Columbia University Press; Ridpath, David. 2012. Tainted Glory: Marshall University, the NCAA and One Man’s Fight for Justice. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse.

  57. Wolff, Alexander. October 14, 1991. “Upstairs, Downstairs.” SIVault.com. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1140491/1/index.htm, retrieved 4/15/14.

  58. Sisney, Steve. May 6, 2012. “Housing Facility Seen as Boon for OU Athletics.” TulsaWorld.com. http://www.tulsaworld.com/article.aspx/Housing_facility_seen_as_boon_for_OU_athletics/20120506_92_b1_ulnsok83242, retrieved 4/19/13.

  59. Oriard 2009.

  60. Wolff, October 14, 1991. Also see Oriard 2009, pp. 214–15. There are a notable number of parallel cases of athletic dorm culture contributing to campus troubles, including incidents at Oklahoma, Colorado, USC, and Missouri.

  61. See Adler and Adler 1991.

  62. Research interview #40.

  63. Rosenberg, Michael. January 7, 2011. “Nike’s Phil Knight Has Branded Oregon into National Power.” SI.com. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/michael_rosenberg/01/06/oregon.knight/index.html; Zimmerman, Ann, and Leslie Scism. July 6, 2012. “Boone Calls the Plays as Largess Complicates Life at Alma Mater.” WSJ.com. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304782404577488592793245510.html; both retrieved 8/16/13.

  64. National Collegiate Athletic Association. N.d. “Student-Athlete Benefits.” NCAAStudent.org. http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/NCAA/Finances/Finances+Student+Athlete+Benefits, retrieved 4/23/13.

  65. Roberts, Selena. April 3, 2013. “Auburn’s Tainted Title.” Roopstigo.com. http://www.roopstigo.com/reader/auburns_vainted_title_victims_violations_and_vendettas_for_glory/, retrieved 4/23/13. Many of the allegations have been disputed. See “Report: Auburn Bribed Players.” April 4, 2013. ESPN.com. http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/9131624/auburn-tigers-coaches-bribed-players-altered-grades-broke-recruiting-rules-gene-chizik-according-report, retrieved 4/23/13.

  66. Thamel, Pete. August 16, 2011. “Hurricane Players and Recruits Accused of NCAA Violation.” NYTimes.com. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/17/sports/ncaafootball/miami-hurricanes-accused-of-ncaa-violations.html?_r=0; “How the NCAA’s Mishandling of the Miami Case Exposed an Enforcement Department Seemingly Powerless to Do Its Job.” June 12, 2013. InsideSpotsIllustrated.com. http://insidesport-sillustrated.com/2013/06/12/si-special-report-ncaa-miami/; both retrieved 4/15/14.

  67. Dolan, Jack, Ruben Vives, and Gary Klein. September 1, 2012. “Figure in Assessor’s Scandal Says He Gave Gifts to 2 USC Athletes.” LATimes.com. http://articles.latimes.com/2012/sep/01/local/la-me-assessor-usc-20120902, retrieved 4/25/13.

  68. Cash, Rana. December 23, 2010. “Pryor, Four Other OSU Players Suspended First Five Games in 2011 for Accepting Improper Benefits.” SportingNews.com. http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/feed/2010-12/osu-suspensions/story/reports-osu-investigating-tattoo-allegations, retrieved 4/25/13.

  69. Oriard 2009, p. 211.

  70. Ibid.

  71. Thompson, Wright. N.d. “Outside the Lines: The Redemption of Billy Cannon.” ESPN.com. http://espn.go.com/espn/print?id=4603346&type=story, retrieved 3/4/13. Some would argue that these instances of turning illicit profits are better characterized as efforts to capitalize financially on well-earned personal notoriety rather than simply letting colleges reap the financial rewards of the work and reputations of their players.

  72. Research interview #41. Critics of the NCAA argue that such petty violations would decrease if players were provided with modest stipends to cover incidental expenses.

  73. SportsCenter. April 25, 2013. ESPN-TV.

  74. Of course, the special attention sometimes becomes a burden. Johnny Manziel, the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner, became such a campus sensation after his ste
rling freshman season at Texas A&M that he was mobbed everywhere he went on campus. This led him to enroll in only online courses in the spring semester of 2013. See Swerneman, Brent. February 19, 2013. “Johnny Football Taking Online Classes This Semester.” MYSA.com. http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Heisman-winner-too-cool-for-school-4288712.php, retrieved 6/17/13.

  75. See Brooks 2009, for example.

  76. See Cooley, Charles H. 1902. Human Nature and Social Order. New York: Scribners; Mead, G.H. 1934. Mind, Self, and Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

  77. See Woods, Ronald B. 2011. Social Issues in Sport. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

  78. Ibid.

  79. See, for example, Fisher, Bonnie S., Leah E. Daigel, and Francis T. Cullen. 2010. Unsafe in the Ivory Tower. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage; Bernstein, Nina. November 11, 2011. “On Campus, a Law Enforcement System to Itself.” NYTimes.com. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/12/us/on-college-campuses-athletes-often-get-off-easy.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0, retrieved 4/23/13.

  80. “Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).” N.d. ED.gov. https://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html, retrieved 4/23/13. FERPA is generally interpreted to cover records relating to grades and other academic information, but also extends to disciplinary records.

  81. See Benedict, Jeffrey, and Alan M. Klein. 1997. “Arrest and Conviction Rates for Athletes Convicted of Sexual Assault.” Sociology of Sport Journal 14: 86–93. In recent cases at Marquette University, for example, Gerald Boyle, defense attorney for mass murderer Jeffrey Dahmer, represented high-profile student athletes at criminal proceedings and university administrative hearings. See Haggerty, Ryan, Todd Lightly, and Stacy St. Clair. October 28, 2011. “One Woman’s Stand against College Athletes.” ChicagoTribune.com. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-10-28/sports/ct-met-marquette-sex-cases-20111028_1_athletes-campus-security-sexual-assault-policies/3, retrieved 4/23/13.

  82. A rash of incidents involving high-profile players and programs in the past few years has apparently prompted the NCAA, universities, and coaches to more aggressively deal with lawless behavior, but typically, even serious violations are handled within teams’ disciplinary framework, with players less frequently answering to the criminal justice system. See, for example, Axson, Scooby. July 31, 2013. “Ohio State Suspends RB Carlos Hyde for at Least Three Games.” SIWire.com. http://tracking.si.com/2013/07/30/ohio-state-carlos-hyde-suspended-three-games/, retrieved 7/31/13.

  83. Again, Rhoden is writing most pointedly about young, black athletes, but his argument pertains across racial lines as well.

  84. Rhoden 2006, pp. 176–77.

  85. Ibid., pp. 176, 180, 194.

  86. See Adler and Adler 1991.

  87. Oriard 2009, p. 271.

  88. Adler and Adler 1991.

  89. Ibid.

  90. Chadiha, Jeffri. May 31, 2012. “Life after NFL a Challenge for Many.” ESPN.com. http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/7983790/life-nfl-struggle-many-former-players, retrieved 1/12/13.

  91. See Oriard 1982.

  92. Ibid., p. 76.

  93. Underwood, John. January 10, 1983. “Casting a Special Light.” SIVault.com. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1120418/1/index.htm, retrieved 2/12/13.

  94. Bateman, Oliver Lee. May 3, 2012. “Michael Oriard: Ordinary NFL Player, Extraordinary Man.” GoodMenProject.com. http://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/michael-oriard-ordinary-nfl-player-extraordinary-man/, retrieved 1/21/13.

  95. Oriard 1982, p. 155.

  CHAPTER 2. INSIDE “THE BUBBLE”

  1. Research interview #40. Others also refer to “the bubble” in various contexts, implying isolation, special treatment, and heightened scrutiny. See, for example, Dawidoff, Nicholas. 2013. Collision Low Crossers; A Year inside the Turbulent World of NFL Football. New York: Little, Brown.

  2. Research interview #03.

  3. Telander, Rick. 1986. “Football and Violence,” pp. 173–82, in Eitzen, Stanley (ed.). 1996. Sport in Contemporary Society, 5th ed. New York: St. Martin’s.

  4. Oriard, Michael. 2007. Brand NFL: Making and Selling America’s Favorite Sport. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, p. 199.

  5. Billick, Brian. 2009. More than a Game. New York: Scribners, pp. 122–23.

  6. Let’s not exaggerate. Football isn’t rocket science. Prospective NFL players score roughly the same as any other group of job applicants, averaging about 21 out of 50, the equivalent of an IQ slightly over 100. Rocket scientists (electrical engineers, to be precise) average about 30—around the range of NFL quarterbacks. See Merron, Jeff. N.d. “Taking Your Wonderlics.” ESPN.com. http://espn.go.com/page2/s/closer/020228.html, retrieved 6/28/13.

  7. Richardson, Peter. 2010. Badasses. New York: Harper, p. 350.

  8. Ozanian, Mike. August 14, 2013. “The Most Valuable NFL Teams.” Forbes.com. http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2013/08/14/the-most-valuable-nfl-teams/, retrieved 8/21/13.

  9. Cunha, Darlena. N.d. “How Much Money Does an NFL Player Make?” Chron.com. http://work.chron.com/much-money-nfl-player-make-year-2377.html, retrieved 5/29/13. The league salary cap was $123 million per team, up a little over one percent from 2011. That means that owners paid players only about ten percent of an average franchise’s worth. See Wesseling, Chris. February 28, 2013. “NFL Sets 2013 Salary Cap at $123M, Up from $120.6 Million.” NFL.com. http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000146046/article/nfl-sets-2013-salary-cap-at-123m-up-from-1206m, retrieved 6/25/13.

  10. Silverstein, Tom. April 26, 2013. “Packers Sign Aaron Rodgers to a Record-Setting, Five-Year, $100 Million Extension.” JSOnline.com. http://www.jsonline.com/sports/packers/rodgers27-pc9no4i-204948841.html, retrieved 5/29/13.

  11. Roberts, Daniel. N.d. “Fortunate 50.” SI.com. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/specials/fortunate50-2013/; Smith, Michael David. July 18, 2012. “In Salary and Endorsements, Peyton Remains the NFL’s Richest.” NBCSports.com. http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/07/18/in-salary-and-endorsements-peyton-remains-the-nfls-richest/; “Highest Paid NFL Players on Forbes List.” June 19, 2012. NFL.com. http://www.nfl.com/photoessays/09000d5d829f6793#photo=4; all retrieved 6/2/13.

  12. Bryan, Dave. July 23, 2011. “2011–2014 NFL Minimum Base Salaries.” SteelersDepot.com. http://www.steelersdepot.com/2011/07/2011-2014-nfl-minimum-base-salaries/, retrieved 5/29/13. In addition, the CBA established a framework for rookie salaries that limits both the amount and length of rookie contracts. The effect has been to drastically reduce the contracts of high draft picks, thus freeing up money to devote to veteran players. The long-range effect is to suppress wages for newer players, keeping their salaries in check until they earn the right to enter the free agent market. This salary scale is not carved in stone; there are several ways that salaries may be adjusted, based on time on the roster, performance bonuses, and similar factors.

  13. Dorish, Joe. November 12, 2011. “Average Salaries in the NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL.” Yahoo.com. http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ycn-10423863, retrieved 5/29/14. There are three principle reasons for the NFL’s third-place status. First, each NFL team has a 53-player roster, but they also pay several additional players each season as partial season replacements for injured and/or suspended players. There are 32 NFL teams, for a total of 1,696 players (not counting replacements). That’s about four times the number of players in the NBA and over twice as many players as in MLB. The players’ share of revenue is thus diluted over a larger membership. Second, NFL teams play only 16 games in the regular season, just a small fraction of the number of games played in each of the other major sports leagues. Fewer games mean less opportunity to generate income. Third, NFL CBAs have not been as favorable to NFL players as are CBAs in the other leagues, especially with respect to guaranteed contracts. So, even though the NFL generates more income than do the other leagues, the individual players’ earnings are considerably less.

  14. “NFL Average Salaries by Position.” N.d. SI.com.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nfl/photos/1301/nfl-average-salaries-by-position/, retrieved 5/29/13.

  15. It’s also difficult to determine exactly how much a player is making each year, given the structuring of contracts, bonuses, guaranteed, and non-guaranteed money. Nevertheless, the $2.3 million average is in the ballpark with what 2011 salary figures project.

  16. Cunha, n.d. Calculation of the median also suffers from the same vagaries that plague the calculation of the mean—the actual number of players to bring into the calculation.

  17. Calculating the average length of a career is also problematic. See “What Is the Average NFL Player’s Career Length?” April 18, 2011. NFLcommunications.com. http://nflcommunications.com/2011/04/18/what-is-average-nfl-player%E2%80%99s-career-length-longer-than-you-might-think-commissioner-goodell-says/; Bennett, Dashiell. April 18, 2011. “The NFL’s Official Spin on Average Career Length Is a Joke.” Businessinsider.com. http://www.businessinsider.com/nfls-spin-average-career-length-2011-4; both retrieved 6/25/13.

  18. See Oriard 2007.

  19. Others have done similar speculative calculations based on slightly different assumptions that place the earnings figure at about $2.75 million for an “average” career. See Koebler, Hank. July 21, 2011. “Debunking the ‘Greedy Players’ Myth.” Huffingtonpost.com. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hank-koebler/debunking-the-greedy-play_b_906400.html?view=print&comm_ref=false, retrieved 6/23/13.

  20. O’Toole, Shannon. 2006. Wedded to the Game. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, p. 135.