This study seeks to determine the effectiveness of the Challenging Athletes Minds for Personal Success (CHAMPS)/Life Skills program at the University of North Texas, as perceived by the student athletes who participate or participated in this program. The study attempts to measure the extent to which the student athletes feel that the program had value; if they received helpful information to support them through their college career to career transition; if the student athletes felt that the program provided them with skills to encourage better self-esteem; and if they believed that the CHAMPS/Life Skills program provided them with leadership and character education. The study, conducted in the Fall of 2003, had 163 respondents. An instrument was developed to determine student athletes' perceptions of the effectiveness of the CHAMPS/Life Skills program at UNT. The instrument consisted of 30 questions using a Likert-type scale. A Mann-Whitney U, a non-parametric t-Test, was utilized to analyze the data. This type of t-Test was used because it is specifically designed to compare the means of the same variable with two different groups and account for non-homogeneous groups. The lack of homogeneity was very likely influenced by the unequal group sizes. Generally, all aspects of the CHAMPS/Life Skills program at UNT were found to be positive by each subgroup. Student athletes found value in the CHAMPS/Life Skills program at UNT. In three of the four components studied, males had a statistically stronger feeling than females. Minority status had no statistically significant impact on the results in any of the four components studied. For the variable measuring the number of years in the program, a significant difference existed in three of the four components studied. The study shows that if a student athlete was involved in the program for more than two years, the CHAMPS/Life Skills program at UNT was more valuable for them than those enrolled for a shorter period of time.

The purposes of the study were (a) to examine selected areas of knowledge perceived by collegiate basketball coaches as essential for inclusion within a masters degree curriculum for collegiate basketball coaches, then (b) based upon these findings, to construct a model curriculum for the masters degree preparation of collegiate basketball coaches. A survey instrument, Questionnaire on the Areas of Knowledge Essential to Collegiate Basketball Coaches, was constructed and mailed for the purpose of collecting data from NCAA coaches. There were 252 instruments returned (58%). The coaches were asked to respond to topics which they perceived to belong within a graduate curriculum for intercollegiate coaches. The areas of knowledge were extrapolated from the 1995 National Association for Sport and Physical Education National Standards for Athletic Coaches. Chi-square goodness-of-fit tests and paired t-tests were performed on the data. Major findings of the study led to the conclusion that the areas of knowledge (a) training, conditioning, and nutrition; (b) skills, tactics, and strategies; and (c) teaching and administration mean rankings were not significantly different from one another but were significantly different from mean rankings from all other areas of knowledge. The areas of knowledge (d) social/psychological aspects of coaching; and (e) professional preparation and development mean rankings were not significantly different from one another but were significantly different from mean rankings of the other areas of knowledge. The areas of knowledge (f) injuries: prevention, care, and management; and (g) growth, development, and learning mean rankings were significantly different from all other areas of knowledge mean rankings. Additional conclusions were that perceptions of collegiate coaches concerning the seven areas of knowledge were independent of coaching experience, division of NCAA affiliation, academic degree, gender, or the gender of the team they coach. A model curriculum was proposed for the masters degree preparation of collegiate basketball coaches. This curriculum, if implemented, could provide students with the academic preparation needed for a successful career in collegiate basketball coaching.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) recently passed new legislation highlighting the critical role coaches play in student-athlete success called the Head Coach’s Academic Progress Rate (APR). The APR measure does not calculate the actions of the head coach and is therefore an inadequate measure of coaches’ influence. There are numerous verbal accounts of the influence of the coach on student-athlete success, but there is little quantitative data to support this claim. As a result, this correlational study explored the relationship between head coaches’ influence and student engagement among a sample of 135 women basketball players at National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I (DI) institutions. The Student-Athlete Perception of Coaches’ Influence, Student Engagement and Student Athlete Success Survey (SAPCISESASS), an instrument developed by the researcher, was used to measure coaches’ influence and engagement. Results revealed that overall student-athletes perceived an overall positive relationship with their head coach, were satisfied with their relationship, and would choose to return to attend the same institution if the same coach were employed with the institution. Student-athletes reported being heavily engaged in community service and engaged in 16 or more hours per week in athletic-related activities. Student-athletes perceived the overall campus climate to be supportive and relationships with various campus constituencies were positive. Student-athletes reported a strong belief in their head coaches’ influence on their personal and social development. A strong relationship was found between coaches’ influence and personal and social development (adjusted R2 = .62, p

This thesis directly approaches intercollegiate football from a cultural perspective. The football’s popularity exploded during the Twentieth-Century. Television, merchandizing, and a national sporting culture are associated with this development. However, controversies often muddied the waters of that popularity. Football’s brutality, athletic scholarships, and controversies within athletics departments overshadowed the immense popularity of intercollegiate football. During the Twenty-First Century, several universities started new football programs. Two of which being Georgia State University and Southeastern Louisiana University. Given the context balancing popularity and controversy, the administrators demonstrated how the image of intercollegiate football has changed over the course of the past century. This thesis analyzes how the administrators sold the new football programs to their respective institutions and concludes that both universities emphasized the sport’s popularity, avoided controversy, recognized the large potential for financial loss, and concentrated the new programs benefit being increased indirect and intrinsic values.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is the nonprofit governing body of college athletics. They oversee three distinct divisions of competition containing over 430,000 student athletes and over 1,000 member institutions.[1] Their primary task is to ensure all student-athletes and the universities they attend adhere to the extensive rules and regulations outlined in the Associations manual, namely, to abide by principles of amateurism, defined by the Association as agents that do not receive any payment above travel expenses or a grant-in-aid scholarship for competing in sports endeavors. The problem is the NCAA is currently financially and academically exploiting college athletes. The Association possesses an inordinate amount of control over young men and women, and they exercise this power to exploit their unrecognized labor force and generate billions of dollars in revenues, while restricting the amount of compensation the athletes receive to a number well below what the free market will bear. College athletes are not receiving any of the money they produce, and most will not benefit in any real way from the educational product they are provided. The system must be reformed. The first step will be to eliminate financially defined amateurism along with the NCAA’s expansive rulebook. Second, student athletes should be allowed to set their own course load. This includes not taking any classes if they choose, thus ending the charade that athletes are recruited to campus as students first, even when it is clear many have no interest in academics. Third, courses should be tailored to pique the interest of athletes, namely offering majors in sports. Finally, university athletic departments need to be scaled down to truly comply with Title IX requirements and stop wasting exorbitant sums of money. The hypocrisy and deception must end. [1] “About the NCAA,” National Collegiate Athletic Association, 2013, http://www.ncaa.org/.

Aim The aim of this study was to examine current factors regarding strength and conditioning coaches at the collegiate level, furthermore to examine factors dependent on the level of sports. 1. What was the educational background of strength and conditioning coaches at the collegiate level? 2. What was the salary of strength and conditioning coaches at the collegiate level? 3. How much relevant work experience did strength and conditioning coaches have at the collegiate level? 4. What were the differences and similarities of strength and conditioning coaches’ factors dependent on collegiate division? Method The method was a cross-sectional study applying a survey to examine the study’s four previously mentioned issues. Coaches encompassing the inclusion criteria (e.g. seniority and professionalism) of the study were contacted for possible participation. The survey was sent to collegiate strength and conditioning coaches (n=225) whom were randomly chosen with equal amounts of potential samples from each division. The results were then analyzed using mode, mean, range and frequency. Results 82 surveys were completed and returned (36 %). Three surveys were ineligible, therefore 79 surveys were used to produce the results. A Master’s degree (67.09 %) and CSCS certification (81.01 %) were recognized as common attributes among collegiate strength and conditioning coaches. Salary and relevant experience answers were fairly spread throughout all divisions. Differences in certifications were found as the SCCC was cited in higher frequency among Division I coaches (52.63 %) than the two lower divisions (≤26.67 %). Conclusions Both a master’s degree within a relevant field and a CSCS certification can be regarded as fundamental attributes of collegiate strength and conditioning coaches. Work experience and CSCCa certifications may be efficient predictors for salary and involvement in elite versus non-elite environments. The study’s results will aid aspiring collegiate strength and conditioning coaches in career development as well as employers in hiring processes.

The primary purpose of this investigation was to examine the perceived development of life-long learning skills of Division I student-athletes and their non-athlete general student peers. Using grade point averages and graduation rates, athletics administrators are constantly evaluating the academic performance and growth of student-athletes by comparing their results with those of non-athlete general students. Though these traditional metrics are useful in many ways, there is little research on the self-reported development of life-long learning skills. Due to a changing global economy, employers are less concerned with the knowledge students possess at graduation and are more interested in a student’s ability to adapt to changes, think critically, and acquire information on their own and apply this new knowledge in an effort to create solutions to existing problems in a team based environment repeatedly over time. Collectively, these skills can be described as life-long learning skills. The Capacity for Life-Long Learning Index (CLLI), which is comprised of fourteen items from the College Student Experiences Questionnaire (CSEQ), purport to measure students’ perceived gains on academic skills relevant to life-long learning. This study compares scores on the CLLI for several different variables, including student-athletes, non-athlete general students, gender, class, and ethnicity to determine whether there were differences in the perceived gains in life-long learning skills. On the basis of the results of this study, the following conclusions seem warranted: 1. There were no significant differences in the CLLI score for student-athletes and non-athlete general students. viii 2. There were significant differences between the CLLI scores for female students, both student-athletes and non-athlete general students, and their male counterparts. 3. There were significant differences between the CLLI scores for senior students, both student-athletes and non-athlete general students, and their freshman student counterparts. 4. There were no significant differences between the CLLI scores among students of different ethnic groups. "

The focus of this case study was a study abroad program for student-athletes at a high academically achieving, small liberal arts college in the mid-west region of the United States. The program is designed to maintain a culture of internationalism and multiculturalism by exposing as many student-athletes as possible to study abroad. I reviewed literature to extract an appropriate theoretical framework along with variables that aligned with the purpose of the study; structural and organizational characteristics of the institution, student's background and pre-college traits, interaction with agents of socialization and institutional environment, and quality of effort. I used the semi-structured interview process to interview 9 senior student-athletes (3 female, 6 male; 7 White, 1 African American/White, 1 Chilean/White) who participated in study abroad during the 2015-2016 academic school year at the researched institution and to interview 5 administrators who facilitate the athletic department at the institution. I found that certain critical elements emerged as necessary to create and maintain a study abroad program geared specifically to the needs of the student-athlete population. I also found strong implications for adaptable elements that could generate opportunities for student-athletes to study abroad at a higher rate. These elements serve as a recommended framework and set of initial guidelines for student-athletes and athletic departments nationwide.

This descriptive study examines whether high school counselors are equipped to advise potential recruits on new NCAA academic eligibility regulations. It highlights the NCAA’s new Division I academic eligibility regulations in effect for current seniors in high school (entering collegiate class of 2016) and gives an overview of academic rule changes within the national governing body. The enhanced academic eligibility rules increase minimum GPA and test score as well as mandates strict core course requirements, prioritizing the role of a high school counselor in the entire process. The study will seek to examine the knowledge of high school counselors on new NCAA academic eligibility rules, the resources available to them and those needed to better assist potential recruits from underserved backgrounds. This study will focus on high school counselors employed in California at underserved schools characterized by those receiving Title I wide funding from the federal government. The majority of students at Title I wide institutions are minorities and first generation students and these populations rely heavily on their high school counselors for college knowledge. In many cases, athletic scholarships are these student’s only means of obtaining a collegiate degree; highlighting the need to examine the knowledge and resources high school counselors have and need to properly advise potential NCAA student-athletes. High school counselors need information and resources specific to NCAA academic eligibility regulations to help student-athletes from underserved backgrounds keep their collegiate dreams alive.

The purpose of this exploratory qualitative study was to examine student-athlete perceptions of the role of summer pre-enrollment in their adjustment and transition to college. The study focused on student-athletes who received athletically-related financial aid at a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I-AAA institution. The Academic Progress Rate (APR), which measures academic eligibility and retention while incorporating a penalty structure for underperforming teams and athletic departments, has emerged as the fundamental measure of academic success for intercollegiate athletics programs. Educators have responded with a broad spectrum of support programs for student-athletes in order to meet APR benchmarks and avoid costly penalties. The NCAA first permitted the awarding of athletic aid to incoming student-athletes for summer pre-enrollment during the early part of the last decade. However, relatively little research has examined the concept of summer pre-enrollment and the role it may play in a student-athlete's adjustment and transition to college. The researcher conducted retrospective in-depth interviews with seven men's and women's basketball student-athletes who had completed one year of full-time enrollment at the selected institution and who received athletic aid for their summer pre-enrollment. Data was analyzed in a manner consistent with Boeije's Constant Comparative Analysis. This study drew upon Schlossberg's Transition Theory, and the participants described their experience in relation to their situation, self, support, and strategies. Collectively, the findings suggested that the participants perceived at least some benefit to their academic adjustment and social integration to college from the summer pre-enrollment. Though the summer pre-enrollment may not have provided identical academic, athletic, and social demands as the academic year, most of the participants indicated they were able to gain a better understanding of what college classes and college life were like as a result of their summer pre-enrollment participation. The findings further suggested that the participants were well prepared and well equipped for the demands of college prior to their summer pre-enrollment experience. Future research is needed to examine the role of summer pre-enrollment in the college adjustment and transition of student-athletes who are less prepared for the demands of college.