AJC > Sports > Tech > Blog > Archives > 2007 > October > 04
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Of grad rates, and kids’ games
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I don’t have a lot of depth to add to the story about Tech’s student-athlete graduation rates, as I’ve never written a story about them. Mike Knobler handles that material on a regular basis, as he has knowledge in how it works. My knowledge on the topic is limited.
I have, however, received a few e-mails suggesting that the ranking system is unfair to Tech because it doesn’t take into account how difficult it is to get a degree there whether you’re an athlete or not.
I’m not going to argue that the system doesn’t take such things into account (how could it?), but I will say that the idea of creating a sliding scale to evaluate something like graduation rates, and base it on the difficulty of earning degrees at different schools is preposterous. Little in life is uniform in application from case to case, and so it is here. That’s the way, period.
I do like that the current system does not penalize athletes who leave school in good academic standing (either to turn pro, transfer, or, I presume, drop out). That seems fair, but again my knowledge of the system is limited.
Bottom line, Tech has to improve. No way around that. Mr. Radakovich and others at Tech say as much. That’s not lip service, I don’t think, but I wonder about Radakovich’s feeling — and the feelings of several coaches — on the system. It does allow a six-year period for student-athletes to graduate for purposes of this evaluation, and that seems fair to me as well. Again, if a player goes pro early, or transfers, that doesn’t hurt that school’s rating.
Moving on, it’s impossible not to notice how Tech’s doing so well in virtually every special teams category. No. 1 in the nation in both net punting and kickoff return yardage allowed, and No. 7 in kickoff return average. Travis Bell’s missed just one FG, and Tech’s blocked a punt. The list goes on.
To some degree, it goes to show how much a coach, Charles Kelly, can improve in his second year on the job. Last season was his first as a full-time special teams coach. Of course, it helps to have Durant Brooks punting, a kickoff guy (Scott Blair) who does a nice job and then, as everywhere, you need to have the right kind of players to plug in. Tech has a good group there.
Last year, Maryland returned a kickoff for a touchdown against Tech. This year? I bet not.
Big game tomorrow night for my son’s team. We’re 2-2, having allowed one offensive touchdown in each game. The first time, the opponent returned an interception to make the difference. The other loss, we fell 6-0. Offense is struggling. The team we play Friday, the Browns, passes more than any other team by far. They’re also 2-2.
My little man is splitting time now at QB, since the original QB returned last week. He seems OK with that, even said last night that Matt Andersen is a better QB than him. In truth, Matt’s definitely quicker, and runs better. He’s a bit smaller, throws about like my Patrick, perhaps a little more accurately on short passes. Their arm strength is the same, although that doesn’t matter in our passing game much.
Wife’s trying very hard to get me to let Patrick skip next Saturday morning’s game so she can take him with our daughters and my mother-in-law to a reunion in Virginia. We’re already going to be missing one player, though, leaving us with just 14 if Patrick is there, 13 if he’s not. It’s more difficult for me to make a case because I have to get on a plane that morning shortly before Patrick’s team is to kick off so that I can get to Miami for that NOON game. I’m trying to make arrangements for the little man (grandpa’s going out of town for a wedding, uncle has to go to a different wedding late that day, and his other grandmother works until 3). His game will be over about 10:15. What a pickle; ain’t life grand?
Enough babbling.
Later,
Matt
