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Column: Scandal shows tensions in Harvard athletics
Published: Thursday, September 20th, 2012
Tommy Amaker didn’t need Harvard. As John Thompson ’88 and Sydney Johnson ’97 had so recently demonstrated for frustrated Princeton fans, young, ambitious head coaches were supposed to leave the Ivy League, not come to it. Amaker was a ...
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Excellent column. The sports department is great!
I guess the columnist never heard of Bill Bradley '65. He was a top 100 who was en route to Duke until he realized that Princeton produced more Rhodes Scholars. Recommended reading: John McPhee's '53 "A Sense of Where You Are" or Frank Deford's '61 new book, "Over Time."
Kyrie Irving didn't spell the end of Duke graduating its basketball players. That bus left the station long ago. The last time I looked, Elton Brand was driving while William Avery and Corey Maggette were in the front row of seats.
Reader "Disappointed" is dissing Bill Bradley in calling him a "top 100 recruit." He was probably the top 1 recruit in 1961 but, at the time, there was no ESPN or Rivals recruiting service to anoint him as such. So Zena E is indeed the first top 100 recruit to choose the Ivy League.
Characterizing Amaker as a winning coach in prior stints at Michigan and Seton Hall is debatable. Overall he was 108-64, but his Big 10 league record was 43-53 with only one winning season (10-6, third place) and he never made the NCAA tournament and twice didn’t even make the NIT, which is hard to do in a power conference like the Big 10. Even at Seton Hall, he had only one winning league record out of 4 and only once went to NCAA. Those wins were mostly against heavily outmanned, non-conference opponents the big conferences always schedule. There's a reason why his coaching (non-recruiting) skills have been questioned.
Best two sentences in this article: "Princeton does not like to lose in basketball. It's bad for us, in more ways than one."
I can only think of one way that it's bad for us but, still, your point is made.
Next best sentence in this article: ". . .young, ambitious coaches are supposed to leave the Ivy League, not come to it."
By the way, I think that the arms race to which you referred has already begun. Sydney Johnson left town precisely because the administration told him that he would have to compete with one arm tied behind his back while, from an admissions standpoint, Amaker is competing with the equivalent of three arms.
According to the September 19th issue of Princeton Alumni Weekly, some alums want Princeton to lower it's admission standards. (See page 25 of that issue for more details.) Eric Dreiband '86 wrote a letter, signed by more than 209 alums, asking President Tilghman to lower admission standards.
Two noteworthy policy changes requested in the letter: "start accepting transfer students" and "ease academic standards for athletes." President Tilghman will address these issues at an upcoming meeting with the Princeton Football Association.
@Will Princeton ... Ummm, I guess someone forgot to tell the PAW advocate of a "policy change" at Princeton, to ease academic standards for athletes, that Princeton grants athletes, on average, a one standard deviation break on the average SAT/GPA required for incoming Princeton students. All ivy league schools are required to adhere to this standard. Any further loosening of standards is unacceptable.
I mostly agree It should be noted that the alums were football alums and that they were refering to football players. Other sports are able to compete with the Ivy League. Because football can't (despite having more spots than any team and the laxest standards already), the standards should be lowered. Don't to it President Tilghman.
Fuck transfer students. We don't need them, and we don't want them. What is this? Cornell. We are Princeton. We stand above this community college transfer BS. Let's stay that way.
"...standards should be lowered." ???
High standards. No transfer students.