The Avenue to Opportunity Advantages

7/29/2019 The Avenue to Opportunity Advantages

1/4

[email protected]

@PAULDSWANSON

FACEBOOK.COM/AVENUETOOPPORTUNITY

LINKEDIN.COM/PAULDSWANSON

AVENUE TO

OPPORTUNITY


2/4

1

AVENUE TO OPPORTUNITY

The Avenue to Opportunity model offers a template with structural components that create

advantageous design pathways to educational opportunity for non-qualifying high school student-athletes

on the road to a four-year degree. This model has been presented to the NCAA Committee, the NABC

Board of Directors, the NJCAA Basketball Coaches Association, The California Community College Athletic

Association, The Black Coaches Association, The American Football Coaches Association, The Women s

National Basketball Coaches Association, The Council of Great City Schools, The National High SchoolAthletic Association, as well as other academic organizations, coaches, administrators and media personnel

for their review. Listed below are specific advantages of this model for each special interest group

regarding the issue of two-year college transfers to four-year institutions.

TEN ADVANTAGES OF THIS MODEL1. THE STUDENT-ATHLETEThis model will offer non-qualifying high school student-athletes

many of whom are minorities facing significant social and educational disadvantagesan

opportunity to remedy academic deficiencies in order to successfully complete their degrees at

a four-year institution. Additionally, the model offers academic incentives, provides realistic

timetables for introduction to more rigorous core classes, and includes a safety net for those

student-athletes who need more intensive remediation.

2. THE FOUR-YEAR COLLEGEWith regard to both athletics and academics, this model willhelp two-year colleges offer a larger, better-prepared talent pool from which four-year schools

may draw. Two-year colleges are structured to provide non-qualifying high school student-

athletes with fundamental academic remediation programs that four-year colleges are not

designed to offer. This model will provide a structured liberal arts core curriculum that will help

prepare each transfer student-athlete to be successful at the four-year level. The student-

athletes will arrive at the four-year institutions with transferable college credit and a time frame

that will allow them the opportunity to graduate and help the four-year college meet their APR

requirements. (Note:The curriculum suggested in the Avenue to Opportunity model is at least

as strong as that of most of the current freshman division one mens basketball and football

players in the country and in many cases stronger.)

3. THE TWO-YEAR COLLEGEThis model will allow two-year colleges to remediate andeducate non-qualifying high school student-athletes in a reasonable time frame and help more

of the student-athletes move on to four-year institutions better prepared for success. The core

curriculum suggested in this model for two-year college student-athletes will be stronger and

more consistent across the country and will help change the negative stigma unfairly

surrounding two-year college student-athletes. This will make the two-year college student-

athlete more attractive to four-year colleges and universities. It will even allow four-year

colleges, who currently do not recruit two-year college transfers because of academics, access

to this expanded talent pool. Moreover, this model would allow two-year colleges to continue to

graduate student-athletes with AA degrees and receive state funding.

4. FOUR-YEAR ATHLETIC PROGRAMSThis model will expand the recruiting talent poolfor four-year colleges. It will encourage four-year college coaches to promote two-year colleges

as the first option for non-qualifying high school student-athletes, rather than prep schools or

academies. In turn, student-athletes would enter four-year athletic programs better prepared to

graduate, thus helping athletic programs meet the NCAAs APR requirements. The transfer

student-athletes will come with transfer hours and have more eligibility remaining, making them

more valuable as recruits.

5. TWO-YEAR ATHLETIC PROGRAMSThis model will help two-year college coaches motivatenon-qualifying student/athletes to remediate and work hard academically by providing


3/4

2

incentives for early entry to four-year schools. The Avenue to Opportunity model also

provides a realistic time frame to complete the increased core academic course requirements.

Two-year college coaches will not be forced to scramble late in the spring and summer

sessions to find ways to graduate the student-athlete on schedule. Four-year colleges will not

be forced to stop recruiting a prospective two-year college student-athlete due to uncertainties

regarding that student-athletes ability to graduate. In turn, this will encourage more of the top

non-qualifying student-athletes to select two-year colleges, thereby raising the level of play at

the two-year college level.

6. THE NCAA This model will allow the NCAA to utilize the two-year college system as thepremiere developmental level for non-qualifying high school student-athletes. The structured

core curriculum will make evaluating the eligibility of each student-athlete quicker and easier.

The two-year colleges are under state control and many times are under the same Board of

Regents as the four-year colleges, so there is institutional control. Many of the questions

regarding illegal funding will be solved and there will be another professional barrier between

the student-athletes and the many questionable outside parties that are currently involved in the

recruiting process. This model will also offer the NCAA a politically correct and structured

avenue to deal with the increased number of high school student-athletes who may not

immediately meet the newly increased 2016 academic standards or qualify to transfer to a

division-two four-year college as a transfer student.

7. THE NJCAA & CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATIONThismodel will increase the overall talent level at two-year colleges. It will make these organizations

more relevant to the overall development process for non-qualifying high school student-

athletes nationally. By representing and overseeing two-year colleges who are producing more

student-athletes who are able to move on to four-year institutions and be successful both

athletically and academically, both organizations will receive more national attention and

interest from the media, college sports fans, and the general public. This will increase the

importance and value of these organizations and the intercollegiate sports programs they

oversee as an integral part of the overall educational process.

8. HIGH SCHOOL COACHES, GUIDANCE COUNSELORS, AND ADMINISTRATORSByproviding specific information about two-year college options, this model will allow high school

coaches, guidance counselors, and administrators to better help and advise non-qualifyingstudent-athletes and their parents with regard to the next step in their educational development.

This model will serve as a road map to academic recovery for the student-athlete and his or her

family in dealing with the disappointment of not meeting the initial academic requirements

necessary for accepting an athletic scholarship from a four-year institution. It will provide a

second chance and an avenue to opportunity for non-qualifying student-athletes to compete at

the four-year level and receive a four-year degree.

9. THE GAMEThis model will help ensure the continued improvement in the many differentintercollegiate team sports by providing more qualified individual fundamental skill development

and instruction to the student-athletes. Over the last decade, basic skill development and

fundamental instruction has taken a back seat to AAU game competition in the spring and

summer. Many of the adults involved in coaching these teams have limited backgrounds in thegame and lack the experience necessary to be effective teachers of fundamental skills and

techniques. They play a lot of games with little or no consequence and spend very little time in

structured practices. Moreover, many non-qualifying student-athletes who are non-qualifiers

began their education in elementary schools at the earliest possible age due to their parents

inability to afford child-care. This, along with the lack of fundamental skills, is one of the key

factors affecting the increasingly high transfer rate at four-year colleges, as well as many of the

social issues that all coaches must deal with. The athleticism displayed on the fields of

competition has increased dramatically, but the fundamental skill levels, in almost every team

sport, have deteriorated significantly. Economics have forced school districts to cut middle


4/4

3

school and high school athletic programs and coaches. As a result, many student-athletes are

graduating from high school at 16 or 17 years of age. When combined with stressful

socioeconomic backgrounds, this immaturity and fundamental weakness, athletically and

educationally, leads many student-athletes to feel frustrated at the four-year level, which may

lead to transfers or other institutional problems. Spending time attending a two-year college

would benefit many young student-athletes by giving them time to mature while receiving

qualified fundamental skill instruction in his or her sport in a real college environment.

10.COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGEThe Avenue to Opportunity model will not give any one groupan increased advantage that doesnt already exist. Student-athletes who do not qualify out of

high school can already attend a prep school. These student-athletes are going to be older just

as if they chose a two-year college under the Avenue to Opportunity model. The Avenue to

Opportunity model provides the rules and structure necessary for preventing the stockpiling of

athletes at any one institution. With the increased academic core requirements and

remediation designed into the model, more four-year colleges should be able to recruit from

two-year colleges. If every four-year college has equal opportunity to recruit from two-year

colleges, no single institution should reap a competitive advantage. There also should not be a

concern about competitive advantage for the two-year colleges. Most of the best players

currently participating in two-year colleges are division-one transfers with only one year of

eligibility, or are prep school transfers who did not qualify. This model again provides protection

from stockpiling players.

Documents

The Avenue to Opportunity Advantages