Academic, Athletic Success: Twin Goals For Howard’s Next President
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By HOWARD MANN
Stanford gets it. So does Notre Dame and Vanderbilt, Duke and Northwestern. Those schools are known for academics and proud of that fact.
But they also understand it’s not an either/or situation when it comes to athletics. They realize that academics and athletics can go hand-in-hand and live side-by-side, each feeding into the other’s success.
The same should be – and can be – true at Howard.
With the impending departure of President Sidney A. Ribeau, the next president should embrace the idea of Howard being an elite school in every aspect, including its athletics program.
A lot of people think big-time success in college sports comes at the expense of academic achievement, with powerhouse programs lowering the bar – or virtually removing it altogether – for incoming student-athletes. And that certainly happens at some places.
But it doesn’t have to be the case at Howard. Considering the school’s location in the nation’s capital and its legacy as “the Mecca” of black education, the Bison should draw the top scholar-athletes who can appreciate the HBCU experience.
All it takes it is the right level of commitment from the administration, athletic department and alumni.
The first step is realizing there’s nothing inherently wrong or evil with fielding championship-level teams. That can be a difficult concept to grasp, especially at schools known for academic excellence.
“I think there were a cadre of folks who were willing to say, ‘We can be excellent in some things and being mediocre in the others isn’t a problem,’” Vanderbilt vice chancellor David Williams told ESPN.com. Playing in the vaunted Southeastern Conference, the Commodores went 9-4 in football last season and won their final seven games.
“We really had to make sure that people understood being great in sports – winning a ballgame, winning a national championship, winning an SEC championship in ANY sport – does not dilute the academic reputation of the university.”
Last season, Stanford and Notre Dame went 12-1 in football; Duke (a perennial contender in basketball) went to its first bowl game in 18 years. Northwestern went 10-3 and won its first bowl game since 1949.
“Everybody is excited about where we’re at,” Northwestern senior QB Kain Colter told the Zanesville Times Recorder. “But we all believe there’s an even better place without compromising what we’re doing in the classroom and what academics mean at a place like Northwestern. At the heart of it is, we have a world-class academic institution, but we can also be excellent in athletics, just like in arts and science and medicine.”
Making runs at Mideastern Eastern Athletic Conference championships and academic All-America teams should be normal for the Bison. If there’s any doubt about the value of success in sports, just ask Florida Gulf Coast and Norfolk State about the exposure they received from recent triumphs in the NCAA men’s hoops tournament. Recognition, awareness and interest – not to mention applications – skyrocketed as a result.
“It really is about shining an awfully bright light on an institution in a way that’s hard to replicate in any other fashion,” Northwestern athletic director Jim Phillips told the Recorder.
That’s something for all of us to keep in mind, including Howard’s next president.
