NYTimes article regarding sports, NAPS and prep schools

Two things I've discovered this fall. Although USMA & USNA both have height/weight expectations, they are different in that USMA expects them to maintain those throughout their time there, whereas USNA allows them to go over so long as they are under before they commission. That looked obvious to me as I was watching yesterday. Navy had the size mismatch, and I would assume has for years. The other advantage I have learned is the standardized testing that Navy uses to qualify candidates. Under normal circumstances when schools superscore they stay within the same testing platform. However, USNA converts every test and subject to a scaled score and will pick and chose the subtests from whichever platform they need to qualify the candidate. For example they may take a candidate's best ACT math and pair it with the same candidate's best SAT English. None of the other academies do this, and frankly USNA is the only school I've ever heard that operates this way. Granted, they also report the average score, and the number of times a test was taken. However, it was clear to me as I spoke to admissions reps from USAFA, USMA, and USNA...as well as folks from CollegeBoard...that Navy is willing to go to great lengths to find a reason to declare some of their candidates academically qualified.

As a long time Navy supporter turned Army supporter (thanks to DD), I was happy to see the streak end. However, I'm afraid it'll start up again. Some key players being out, and a grueling schedule was too much for Navy to overcome, but they'll find a way soon enough.
 
The article talks about NAPS and the use of the Naval Academy Foundation scholarships to give athletes an extra year to prepare prior to entering the Naval Academy. The author then writes:

"Let’s dwell on this for a second. Imagine if some Ohio State boosters paid to send recruited athletes to a private prep school for a year before they went to the university. It would be an out-and-out scandal — exactly the kind of booster bribery the N.C.A.A. wants to stamp out. Yet, once again, the military academies have been given a waiver by the association."

This is a little deceptive, though. A school like Ohio State can offer a full scholarship to an incoming athlete, and then red-shirt the athlete so he or she still retains four years of eligibility. In effect, they are also getting an extra year to get ready. The Service Academies don't have that option.
 
He hasn't brought up anything at all that hasn't been addressed before by someone else. Whether one agrees with his assessment or not or sees it as an "obvious bias", some are indeed very valid.
 
The point that was not made was that athletes are displacing enlisted sailors and Marines.
Which might not even be the case. Would each class be 35% smaller if athletes were not there?
That point was not explored. If that is the case then there is a problem. If not then no problem.
 
It's a horrible article. It was published almost word for word 2-3 years ago. He has also been reprimanded for articles like this that do not have valid stats. It's like when Fleming dusts off his same article, changes a sentence and republished it. He focuses on NAPS but barely mentions the other two. Big difference in the other two... they are on campus! Since he focuses on athletes that does give a huge advantage. I have no issue with NAPS being where it is. Leave it there. His stats are also off in the entire article (yes us former athletes had long Facebook chains this weekend pulling actual stats and he is off on all of them and way off on several of them).
 
NavyHoops said:
It's a horrible article. It was published almost word for word 2-3 years ago. He has also been reprimanded for articles like this that do not have valid stats. It's like when Fleming dusts off his same article, changes a sentence and republished it. He focuses on NAPS but barely mentions the other two. Big difference in
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I said "I think" ... you said "It's a horrible article." That's your opinion. No more right or wrong than any. There is a lot of truth in that article. Perhaps you have different insights, but that doesn't make it horrible.
 
You are right, we are entitled to our opinions. Never said you or anyone else isn't. There are so many facts that are blatantly wrong in the article. Putting false information out there, even after he published this nearly same piece years ago, is horrible reporting. He has been reprimanded several times for pieces like this.
 
Interesting article looking from the outside-in. It didn't make any mention of needing a NOM. To be blunt, football programs for any college is a money maker program. It attracts all spectrum of students, players and non-players, who want to be part of "the club." Its a tool to keep alumni remembering their fun college days and support (send us money) to the kids now attending.

So I ask. So what? Enjoy the entertainment, scream for your team. How else are we going to attract the brightest, strongest and wanting to serve?

Push Hard, Press Forward
 
Sleeplessnights said:
The article talks about NAPS and the use of the Naval Academy Foundation scholarships to give athletes an extra year to prepare prior to entering the Naval Academy. The author then writes:

"Let’s dwell on this for a second. Imagine if some Ohio State boosters paid to send recruited athletes to a private prep school for a year before they went to the university. It would be an out-and-out scandal — exactly the kind of booster bribery the N.C.A.A. wants to stamp out. Yet, once again, the military academies have been given a waiver by the association."

This is a little deceptive, though. A school like Ohio State can offer a full scholarship to an incoming athlete, and then red-shirt the athlete so he or she still retains four years of eligibility. In effect, they are also getting an extra year to get ready. The Service Academies don't have that option.
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If Ohio State was then able to have their services for a 5 year minimum after school?
 
This seems to be more regurgitated drivel of previously written articles. Some people don't think State universities should have sports as well.
 
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NavyHoops said:
... His stats are also off in the entire article (yes us former athletes had long Facebook chains this weekend pulling actual stats and he is off on all of them and way off on several of them).
Click to expand...

Would you be willing to share some information as to the consensus on more accurate statistics? Just curious.
 
Upfront: I didn't read the NYT article. Why? Because every 2-3 years some publication (Baltimore Sun, WaPo, Capital-Gazette, etc) writes a similar article besmirching the service academy prep school system. Is there an air of truth in any of these articles? Probably. However, NAPS is a great place for a lot of different types of Midshipman Candidates to become eligible for the Naval Academy - enlisted Sailors/Marines/Soldiers/Coast Guardsman, athletes, students w/suboptimal SAT scores, students with suboptimal academic scores, etc. Personally, I trust first-hand testimony over some beat reporter rehashing a perpetual non-story.
 
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AJC said:
The point that was not made was that athletes are displacing enlisted sailors and Marines.
Which might not even be the case. Would each class be 35% smaller if athletes were not there?
That point was not explored. If that is the case then there is a problem. If not then no problem.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say that enlisted are being replaced. In my Naps class there seems to have been a problem getting ENOUGH enlisted. Once you narrow down everyone from the fleet that has to
1. want to commission
2. spend 4+ years getting there
3. Is academically able to
4. Meet the higher physical standards
5. gets through the laborious application while still doing their job
6. get their CO and supervisors to approve

You're down to a very small pool of applicants, not to mention when you talk to people in the Fleet, most don't even know enlisted CAN go to the academy. I know I didn't have a clue what Naps was. I thought I either got into USNA or not. Even then, many of the priors through Naps and the Academy tire of playing Midshipman and want to go be adults, and throw in the towel along the way.

NAPS may have drifted away from its original purpose as an Enlisted accession point, but certainly not because of football.
 
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