Heather Tracy: Two schools of thought

I have just finished reading the Carolina’s Blind Side series regarding the UNC academic/athletic situation. Unbelievable. I applaud the reporter for his information gathering and in-depth reporting.

For the professors, the coaches, the administrators not to notice (or ignore the fact) that some athletes could not maintain a C average, could not read at grade school level and could not write a simple term paper is inexcusable.

The coaches have a limited number of students that they interact with every single day, and if they turned a blind eye to this, they carry as much blame as the other people involved. If they use the defense “I’m only the coach,” they are doing the students a grave disservice; it’s called going above and beyond in your job and encompassing more than one aspect.

Only a minute number of these athletes will go on to hit the “big time.” The rest will go back out into the community undereducated and ill-prepared to face the job market. I would have liked to have seen interviews with the coaches and with some of the students. Maybe it is time to divide the university into two schools – the school of athletics and the school of academics.

This story was originally published September 26, 2016 at 5:14 PM with the headline "Heather Tracy: Two schools of thought."