| More institutions are dipping into their endowments — and alienating donors at the worst possible moment. |
Higher Education taping Endowments to “survive”?
A LINKEDIN article today sites this as a real problem.
Is money being siphoned off to pay new Athletics demands?
As the world turns !
(From—ESPN Wimbledon broadcast of the Ben Shelton–Otto Virtanen first-round match yesterday, the commentators had a brief discussion about the changing path from college tennis to the ATP Tour.
The main points they made were:
This wasn’t presented as a formal statistic but rather as commentary on how the landscape has changed, with Shelton serving as an example of a player who successfully used college tennis as a springboard to the top of the professional game.
From today’s THE ATHLETIC (by Austin Meek), a comment on the current state of college athletics:
” By now, it should be obvious that “equitable reform” and “competitive advantage” don’t fit neatly in the same box. In trying to have it both ways, leaders in college sports sound a lot like St. Augustine: God, grant me chastity, but just not yet.”
Salvation for College sports?
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTLESS
I chose the history of football for my first term paper topic. Early 1950’s.
FOOTBALL by Chuck Klosterman (2026 ) is available. He adds a lot to “kicking the head of the Dane.”
Mr. Klosterman’s work is unique, well written, thorough, and entertaining. And frightening.
He covers sports history, great players and coaches, teams, and fans.
He covers controversial topics (CTE and injury, Gambling, NIL and PORTAL dangers, Salary, owners, TV limits. Plus others. )
Here are some samples:
HIS GOAL ( page 11 )
*“This is an expository obituary, published before the subject has died, delivered by someone who wants to explain why the victim mattered so much to so many, despite so much evidence to the contrary.”
On the future of football: People will always need to watch football.
*“This, I must concede is true—if the scenario I described were happening today. But it is not happening today. It is something that will happen in the future, to different people, and those future people will not be like you. They will live in a version of society where football stops and no one cares. And that is inevitably why I wrote this book.”
NOTE–Klosterman describes this “future scenario” in detail, later in the chapter entitled NUCLEAR FOOTBALL.
CHILDHOOD ( page 57)
*“ In the summer after fifth grade, I spent a lot of time imagining me and my friends playing football and winning championships. These daydreams were not just mental visions”
Deja Vu. *My small high school played 6 man football. Mr. Klosterman comments on this
wide open variation of a game that was fun. ( Page 77 )
“But 6-man is its own animal, too arcane to be seen as the bastardized version of anything else. It’s structured bedlam with jankier rules….
EDUCATION/TEACHERS (page 120 )
**Here’s what I mean;Let’s say the salary of every public school teacher was tripled over night. A third grade teacher making $45,000.00 a year on Monday is now making $135,000.00 on Tuesday. In the short term, that change would make little difference in how well third graders are educated. A teacher doesn’t become a different person just because their paycheck changes. But the long-term impact this would have on education would be seismic. The realization that becoming a public school teacher was now a six-figure profession would change the type of person who decides to pursue teaching as a vocation.
*Every member of society would live a life conditioned to believe that becoming a public school teacher was a rarefied human experience, reserved for the elite and worth whatever sacrifice was necessary in exchange.”
*Triple the average U.S. teaching salary and the public education system is reinvented within ten or twenty years.”
CANADIAN FOOTBALL (page 208,209 )
*“ I Love the people of Canada. They are self-deprecating, well informed, and open to drinking in the afternoon.” See Joke by Donald Sutherland.
2040 -THE FUTURE (page 246-249)
*So this is how the future will go….
For the next 5-15 years, football becomes eleven more dominant than it is right now. This, incongruously, results from the mismanagement of college football. ( i.e. the Portal /NIL impact).
*Football is now an exclusively professional pursuit, watched and supported by millions of fans who have no personal relationship to the game itself.The sport has progressed to its social and economic end point. This is where the plane hits the mountain.
Economic escalation has made pro sports fragile.
The NFL’s total revenue hit one billion dollars for the first time in 1988. By 2065 the number will be two hundred billion, and the face value for a ticket will exceed $3000.00 .
*For more than a hundred years the NFL only got bigger and richer. It was designed only for imperial expansion, which is the only thing it did. But now it has to somehow get smaller, and that is something it cannot do..
This is a timely book.
The round of 16 in Men’s NCAA Division I tennis, play today. A quick survey of the team’s starting lineups, excepting Ohio State, feature about 90% international players. Assuming the ones who are starters get the scholarsips, they also get 90% of the grants. And NIL/Portal cash.
This is the link to the ITA Statement
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MWiaejUXfubelwdH2JQD4bzwSrVJ3_MxWhQq8Qa-OWM/edit?tab=t.0
Author’s comments on specific points are in RED
One topic that has received increased attention is the role of international student-athletes in college tennis. This is a complex matter and requires more nuanced public discourse.
This is not a new problem, nor is it limited to tennis.
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There are presently approximately 20,000 college tennis student-athletes. It should be noted that without international student-athletes, many programs would struggle to field full rosters. Efforts to limit their participation risk undermining competitiveness, reducing institutional revenue, and ultimately threatening the viability of programs themselves. This is not a hypothetical concern; this is playing out in real time. Recent developments in Idaho, for example, underscore these broader concerns. Athletic directors and coaches across the state strongly opposed proposed legislation (ID S1357) that would have capped international student-athlete scholarships at 10%. Ultimately, the legislation did not pass, but it highlighted how policy decisions can directly threaten the viability of college tennis programs. Efforts to cap international student athlete participation in any U.S. college sport may also run afoul of existing federal and state laws and regulations, risking increased litigation and costs.
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THE HEART OF THE MATTER: SCHOLARSHIPS FOR AMERICANS
Is it illegal or unreasonable to award a percentage of scholarships to our youngsters first?
The issue has never been litigated: ( “…may run afoul” and “…risking litigation” )
For 50 plus years any allotment or quota that saved scholarships was dismissed by a lawsuit feared; a threat based on “ discrimination based on national origin. “
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Age disparities, particularly cases involving significantly older incoming international student-athletes, have drawn understandable review. The NCAA is expected to address eligibility rules in the near future, and moving forward, there must be a fair and consistent framework in which all student-athletes, both domestic and international, compete on equal footing.
The age issue is another variable that hampers our kids in no small way. It will soon dawn on other global sports, most significantly Basketball, they are also in the crosshairs.
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For those who care about the future of college tennis, there is also a role to play. Supporting local programs through attendance, advocacy, and financial contributions helps ensure these opportunities remain available for future generations. Sustained visibility and investment are critical to the long-term health of our sport.
These variables are directly related to American children., parents and taxpayers–the very people excluded.
Isn’t it about time some of our organizations screw up their courage and use their time, money and efforts to make these facts available to American
parents and players. CHANGE THE TERMS AND RE-TRY THE ISSUE!
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Mr. Rudy Washington, Editor-in-Chief The BCA Journal (BLACK COACHES ASSOCIATION)
P. O. Box 4040
Culver City, CA 90231-4040
Dear M.r Washington:
I’ve coached college tennis for 30-plus years and I have been dismayed by the preponderance of international players who have usurped many tennis scholarships from American youngsters.
There seems to be a trend toward this in basketball. Has the BCA addressed the danger to American student athletes this poses, in particular college basketball. Should there be a limit to this?
If your Journal has addressed this issue, please let me know. It seems basketball is a game that this should concern.
ETP:1h
Sincerely,
Tom Parham
Men’s Tennis Coach
March 9, 1998
Last week more colleges and universities announced dropping varsity tennis teams than anytime in memory. Several reasons were:
Years back I realized this–
“I wonder how many Athletic Directors silently came to a conclusion similar to this? 1. All sports are counted in the standings for our ‘Conference Cup’? 2. We are in a conference with mostly good tennis teams with all foreign players. And we give the 8 girls and 4 and 1/2 boys grants to internationals. 3. I can find a better place for that size of budget.
Like a lot of sports, many tennis teams dominate winning to the DYNASTY level. Those programs become the model.
Many conference members have followed this path to the point that almost all the members of most conferences feature 90% of scholarships going to international players.
Some hard facts emerge:
This may be OK for bragging rights and egos of the oil barons and tech billionaires, but last week several “folded”.
FINALLY
The link below recognizes the issue International player’s dominance of American college tennis:
https://www.ncaascholarshipguide.com/blog/ncaa-tennis-scholarships-for-international-vs-u-s-recruits
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This week also featured similar observations issued from the John McEnroe Tennis Academy.
( 90% of players are international, i.e. scholarship recipients’)
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EARLIER
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2024
Earlier I have described how fast international tennis players thoroughly dominated American college tennis rosters .
” My involvement in this tsunami was as a small college Men’s tennis coach. It was tricky in 1970 and it is in 2024.
The NAIA was the first to eliminate quotas. The coaches repealed the One International eligible for NAIA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP play rule.
Coach Jim Verdick of Redlands University warned “…soon some Texas school, with all Mexican pros, will win every year.” He was wrong. The next year Mercyhurst College (Pennsylvania ) won featuring six of six players from Finland won. The paste was out of the tube. ” (See NEXT PLEASE -www.tomparham.wordpress.com )
Subsequently I tried to make the American basketball world aware of this scenario being repeated in our other sports that had international players. Men and women. That began 55 years ago.
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Once I questioned my own persistence to a respected professional. His adamant response was “… worth the effort? You’re damn right it is worth it. It’s our children. Child advocacy !”
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THERE ARE ONLY TWO MAJOR WAYS TO RECOUP PARENTAL/FAMILY INVESTMENT: 1. PRO TENNIS (IN NC ONLY ISNER, WILKISON, AND SADRI MADE ANY LIFETIME $) AND 2. COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS. THE RISING COST OF HIGHER EDUCATION MAKES SCHOLARSHIPS MORE VALUABLE AND MORE APT TO AFFECT THE CHOICE OF SCHOOL AND SPORT TO PURSUE.
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Technology makes research easier. Embedded below is a “jackleg “ effort I made —studying the top college teams in 2025. Bottom line: All divisions (NCAA 1, 11, NAIA, JUCOS, men and women averaged about 90% of starters. And most probably “scholarshipped “ players. Only NCAA 111 (non- scholarship ) and NCAA 1 women were less than 90%.
!!!!! This has not been properly emphasized–What matters is scholarships. The starters get the money and they are 90% international.
The Little Green Book of Tennis 