What is interesting is how no one really discusses this issue in regards to other IC sports and never any female IC sports. It is always in connection to football. I think most IC sports participants should be there. I think that most IC recruited athletes are a good fit for the academy and will make excellent officers along with their non recruited fellow cadets. I think there is such an awareness of recruited IC football players because the USAFA is all about the football. The other sports are a footnote in terms of publicity only if and when a particular athlete accomplishes something noteworthy (mountain west champion, breaking an academy time record, named mountain west athlete of the week etc..). As a result of the USAFA led focus on football, people are far more aware of what goes on with the football team.
Parents seem to buy into this whole culture of football as well. At the last football home game, 200 cadets were selected to watch and cheer on the swim meet. Frankly, I think this is a good thing. However, lets look at the press and football fan reaction. "Oh no, look at how small the cadet section is." "Where are they? They should be here." "Where is the team spirit?" "What do you mean they are watching a swim meet? This is on TV. This is football." "How could anyone choose to watch a swim meet over a football game?" Anyone remember the last time the press covered a water polo match, gymnastics meet, wrestling or shooting competition and waxed on about the lack of audience and team spirit?
The problem with number seven on Christcorp's list
7. NO ONE WAS OFFERED AN APPOINTMENT BEFORE APPLYING OR RECEIVING A NOMINATION.
When taken literally, this is true. No one gets the BFE before applying or receiving a nomination. However, how it works is more like this.
"Hey, you are a good athlete, and I really want you for my team. What are your stats, send them too me. Great, they meet the minimum, so make sure you fill out the forms cause I really want you here and we need you. Fill out the nomination stuff and don't sweat it. There is a lot of out reach that goes on." or "Hmmmm, your are a little deficient in this academic area, don't sweat it. You are too late to apply for a nomination, don't sweat it. We have a prep school that you would be a good fit for. What do you think about that?"
Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily. Some great athletes do sacrifice study time in order to travel around the nation and state to compete, in order to train and develop to the highest level possible, etc. etc. etc.. Thus they are at the academic minimums to enter and have demonstrated the ability to dedicate and develop themselves to their full athletic potential.
As Christcorp points out, it comes down to a question of fairness and how one defines and weighs the "characteristics" necessary for a successful and dynamic Air Force. Is a brainiac worth more than the star athlete? If the brainiac has poor inter personal skills and doesn't work well with groups, then probably not. If the soccer player can set up successful scoring plays every time but can't master complex ideas, then probably not.
I think people can get hung up on the "unfairness" of a recruited athlete because often times "success" in athletics is a matter of genetic heritage and opportunity/money and not a matter of dedication and love for the sport. Though one can also argue that stellar academic performance is also a matter of genetic heritage and opportunity/money. If you don't live in an area with a strong academic public school system and lack the finances to move or send your kids to a strong private school, then your kids ACT and SAT may not be stellar. If your kid didn't inherit the right "IQ" genes, then they won't be able to do well on the ACT and SAT. Then there are kids who are great standardized test takers and those who aren't but do really well in their academics. Does it mean one is of less value than the other? Is one less intelligent than the other, or did one just get the right "gene" which enables them to do better on a standardized test?
Up until the year my son applied, the USAFA did not have an early action/notification process. They did recruit athletes, but one did not hear about recruiting "brainiacs." Though the first implementation was a bit of a mess, it did start to establish the message that the USAFA recruits "brainiacs." In my opinion, I think the USAFA was late to the game in sending this message.
Do I think the envelope has been pushed a time or 2 when recruiting athletes? Yes, I do. It happens. Just as I am sure there are some blinders when it comes to kids of powerful well connected parents. Everyone involved is human, and sometimes the best person for the job with the proper priorities isn't in charge. The problem the academy has is that the "special exceptions" are more obvious when it comes to football because of the USAFA culture and publicity surrounding that sport.