2016 Academic Standards (applies to this yr's HS freshmen)

Below is a fairly long read on the new academic standards for 2016 that apply to this year's high school freshmen:

Eligibility vs. academic preparedness
New NCAA standards rooted in good intentions but plagued by practical challenges

The standards are a significant increase:

o GPA - 2.0 to 2.3 in core
o Core - 10 of 16 must be completed and passed going into your sr year. No more srs taking freshmen courses during their last year.

An NCAA review noted that while about 15% of all student athletes failed to make this standard, the numbers are 35% for football and 43% for basketball. Note this is the avg, so it includes academic leagues like the Ivy in it. BCS conf on the whole are probably worse.

Now this isn't the complete disaster as it might seem. They've created a smarter version of the old partial qualifier--the academic redshirt that can be on scholarship and can practice with the team, but cannot play until he can demonstrate he can do the academic work. Probably means a lot more redshirts by play ready freshman.

The biggest issue that seems to be out there is getting the word out. How do you get 8th graders to take this shite seriously?

Here is an informative podcast (30 min) with Ivan Maisel and the author. It also gives an overview of the high workload of the eligibility center that will probably be even greater in the years to come:

Maisel and O'Neil on new academic standards