2011 Issue

The purpose of this study was to determine which factors most influence the selection of an institution for student-athletes competing on National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II softball teams. Sixty-nine student-athletes from an NCAA Division II Conference in the southwest participated in this study. The Strength of University Selection Factors survey, made up of 24 items, was used to investigate six university selection factors: (a) family and friends, (b) location of the institution, (c) academic characteristics, (d) softball program, (e) financial aid, and (f) coaching staff. The frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation were determined for each survey item. The items in the survey were rank ordered. Composite mean scores and standard deviations were also calculated for the six university selection factors. Four of the six factors were perceived to be influential or very influential. Those four factors in rank order were coaching staff, academic characteristics, softball program, and financial aid.

This exploratory study investigated the relationship of intercollegiate athletic success to the quantity of the freshmen application pool and the quality of first time enrolled freshmen at National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II institutions. Aggregate data from the fourteen member institutions of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) and the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) served as the subjects for this study. All the institutions included in this study are members of the NCAA and classified as Division II universities. A correlation model was used to analyze the relationships between athletic success and the quantity of the freshmen application pool and the quality of the enrolled first time freshmen. The results indicated that there was an impact on the quantity of the freshman application pool and the quality of the first time enrolled freshmen class due to athletic success at all fourteen institutions in the study.

The purpose of the present study was to compare the athletic team performance incentive clauses to the academic team performance clauses of Division I men’s head basketball coaches participating in the 2009 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament. Content analyses were conducted on the 65 coaches’ compensation packages listed in the 2010 USA Today Coaches’ Compensation database. Results indicated these coaches had five times as much incentivized compensation opportunities for athletic team success compared to incentivized compensation opportunities for academic team success. Additional results indicated 93.5% of the contracts included some sort of athletic team performance incentive, while only 67.4% of the contracts contained some sort of academic team performance incentive. The results of this study call into question just how much institutions of higher education incentivize academic success when hiring their head men’s basketball coaches.

This analysis examines faculty satisfaction with academic, financial, and governance aspects of intercollegiate athletics on their campuses and how views might vary according to individual attributes as well as athletics program and general campus characteristics. The data are drawn from a multi-campus study of Football Bowl Subdivision faculty sponsored by the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics (n=2,071). Descriptive results indicated that the highest levels of satisfaction were observed for aspects of academics. Multivariate results suggested that individual characteristics accounted for more of the variance in faculty views than did campus and athletics program characteristics. Especially noteworthy were the consistent positive relationships between satisfaction and involvement in the governance of intercollegiate athletics and experience teaching student-athletes; the more meaningful contact that faculty had with athletes/athletics, the more satisfied they were with different dimensions of the program.

For college student-athletes enduring multiple head coaching changes during their careers, challenges include changes in the level of competition, lifestyle pressures, identity issues, loss of support system, and changes in training environment. Student-athletes are required to build relationships with a new head coach while facing issues with loneliness, frustration, discouragement, self-doubt, and feelings of decreased self-worth. This unique case study examined the transitions of junior student-athletes at the University of Tennessee who played for three different head coaches. Themes that were constructed from challenges the student-athletes faced were: Trust, Individual and Team Strength, and Future. A tremendous amount of effort and resources is poured into coaching searches but there seems to be little for the student-athletes during transitional periods of coaching changes. These findings demonstrate that transition is not something that easily happens and may not happen at all, which leads to student-athletes transferring after any coaching change. Resources and counseling services should be made available to assist student-athletes in this transition and not make the coach the focus of the transition.

Leadership is an important aspect in facilitating an organizational merger. Research indicates that each merger presents a different objective and thus a variety of challenges that require different forms of leadership. Further, the merger type and merger stage influences leadership required to facilitate the merger process. This study examined merger challenges and leadership employed to assist an intercollegiate athletic department merger. Using a single qualitative case study design (i.e., interviews with 57 stakeholders and documents), the findings showed transition leadership challenges included an absence of leadership and stakeholder uncertainty, and the central integration leadership challenge was strategic planning. Transition leadership consisted of creating a transition structure, and a combination of contextual, communicative, supportive, and emotional acknowledgment, while participatory leadership was demonstrated during integration. Implications of these findings suggested that merger facilitation requires recognizing the merger type and its challenges, which informs the leadership required to assist integration.

Despite the recent growth of social media as a communication and marketing tool, very little research has been conducted on college athletics audiences and their usage of online tools such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Data from a survey conducted on an FBS school's football fans were statistically analyzed, with demographic and other data utilized in examination of traditional and online media usage. The study discovered significant differences in traditional and social media use in relation to demographic factors such as age, income, and alumni status. Media such as Twitter and podcasts tended to be generally unpopular among fans, while a negative relationship existed between Facebook usage and age. Analysis of these and other findings focused on the reasons why certain media might be more popular among certain groups than others, including consideration of the application of Ajzen's (1991) Theory of Planned Behavior to future studies of social media in sport.

Traditionally, researchers of sport and physical activity have considered playing video game to be an obstacle toward optimal health and social outcomes for youth. This study, however, posits video game play not as antithetical to health and physical activity, but as a meaningful forum utilized by former intercollegiate athletes to maintain salient aspects of their sport identities. Through a grounded theory analysis of a sample of 13 former intercollegiate athletes, this study takes initial steps toward a nuanced understanding of the manner in which video games can assist intercollegiate athletes who are transitioning out of elite athletic competition. The findings of the study demonstrate the patterns in the social processes underlying video game play for the former athletes in this sample. Ultimately, it is determined that these former athletes play videos games as an outlet for competition, with competition functioning as a channel through which to connect on an interpersonal level with others, and in turn using the opportunity for interpersonal connection as a means through which to reinforce salient aspects of their sport identities.

With the growing emphasis in higher education on developing character and social responsibility, the NCAA CHAMPS/Life Skills program commitment to service is of interest as it encourages the development of well-rounded student athletes. In framing the current study, the researchers focused on how the communication of an athletic department’s mission impacts the community service activities for athletes. Mission statements are used to communicate the central purposes of organizations (Bart, 1996) to various internal and external audiences. Through website content analysis, this investigation reveals the importance placed upon service across athletic departments through the mission, and determines the effect of such goals on opportunities provided and action taken by members of the athletic department. The findings suggest a connection between the mission and action in regard to community service but indicate that the amount of service performed is not always a reflection of the mission statement in regards to community outreach.

The under-representation of women in senior level athletic administration positions continues to attract the attention of scholars in sports studies. The most glaring lack of female representation occurs at the athletic director (A.D.) position, with women holding only 8.4% of those positions at the Division I level. Using the concept of causal attribution and role congruity theory, this project examined perceptions of success and failure of male and female candidates for either an athletic director or life skills director position. One hundred eleven female and 73 male (n = 191) administrators in athletics at the collegiate level participated. Contrary to previous research, which found that male candidates are attributed success because of internal characteristics, findings from this study indicated that both male and female candidates for A.D. were provided internal attributions for success and external attributions for failure. This may be due to the fact that so few women are represented at the A.D. position at the Division I level that an evaluator may attribute her success to internal characteristics because she “must be” outstanding in order to have achieved such a high position in the world of athletics. Results are discussed in light of causal attribution and role congruity theory in the context of such a rare role combination – being female and being an athletic director.

Many American universities continue to invest in expensive intercollegiate football programs, and specifically cite the sport’s ability to foster a sense of community (SOC) as justification for the cost. This study sought to assess the importance of SOC and the influence of football on the cultivation thereof. A pre-post test design utilizing an online survey compared SOC levels for students (N = 886) before and after the implementation of Division I football on a large university campus. No significant differences were found in SOC levels before and after the football season (regardless of attendance). Post-test SOC perceptions differed based on game attendance (i.e., moderate and loyal attendees reported the highest levels). Finally, SOC had a moderate to strong positive influence on four outcome variables: Satisfaction, Retention, Current Support of Athletics, and Future Support for Athletics. This study suggests that while SOC is very important to students, at least in the short term the introduction of a football program does not foster a greater SOC for all students.

This study investigated student-athlete perceptions of wellbeing, delimited to satisfaction regarding Athletic Departmental Policies and Practices, Educational Characteristics, Institutional Facilities and Services, and intent to academically persist. The participants were 99 freshmen and sophomore student-athletes who were enrolled in their second or fourth semesters at an NCAA Division I school in the intermountain West. The response rate was 92.5%. The broader study employed mixed methods, which combined quantitative (questionnaire) and qualitative (interview) data queries. This paper reports findings specific to the quantitative inquiry. Findings revealed that (a) the freshmen and sophomore student-athletes surveyed were generally satisfied with the wellbeing-associated components delimited in this study, valued academics over athletics, and planned to persist through completion of their undergraduate degrees; and (b) significant differences, in terms of student-athlete wellbeing and persistence intentions were associated with gender and sport played.

Researchers suggest that optimistic individuals approach life situations with the belief that outcomes will be favorable, and are more likely to exhibit better coping mechanisms when dealing with adversity and stress (Carver, & Scheier, 1987; Karadeaus, Karvelis, Argyropoulou, 2007). Moreover, the cognitive adaptation theory suggests that optimistic individuals are more likely to make appropriate cognitive adaptations to stressful situations (Lightsey, 1994; Alloy & Clements, 1992). Results concerning collegiate athletic status, gender, optimism, and stress are mixed. The purpose of this study was to compare collegiate athletes and non athletes and gender on optimism and life stress. The present study utilized the Life Orientation Test-Revised to optimism and the Undergraduate Stress Questionnaire to measure life stress. Results from this study support the hypotheses that 1) high-level optimistic athletes would experience significantly lower levels of life stress than low-level optimistic athletes; 2) high-level optimistic athletes would experience significantly lower levels of life stress than high-level optimistic non-athletes; and 3) high-level optimistic men would experience significantly lower levels of life stress than high-level optimistic women within the sample Future research about optimism and stress levels, athletic status, and gender is included within the discussion.

While scholars have previously focused on the external impact of marketing efforts in college athletics (e.g., Gladden, Irwin, & Sutton, 2001), little research has been done on the internal marketing orientation of collegiate sport properties and its respective impact on college sport. The purpose of this study is to determine the perceptions of internal marketing in college athletics and to examine if those perceptions have an effect on the level of organizational commitment among departmental employees. Survey methodology collected information from 248 athletic department administrators at NCAA FBS and FCS institutions. Results indicate that internal marketing orientation strongly influenced affective commitment to the organization. Further, internal marketing was found to fully mediate the relationship of job function and affective commitment. Finally, theorized moderators of job type, level of competition and gender were not statistically significant. The results support the assertion that an internal marketing orientation can be effectively implemented to foster the development of affective commitment to the organization.

One issue facing the NCAA is the racial disparity in academic persistence (graduation rates). Previous research suggests that student perceptions of institutional fairness have an impact on academic persistence. Further, racial and cultural differences in the socialization processes of moral development influence perceptions of institutional fairness. Students who feel they are treated fairly are more likely to remain at an institution. Using both managerial responses to an initial positive drug test as a proxy for institutional ethical orientation and NCAA graduation success rate data for 87 Universities across three years, we examine the association between management practices and racial disparities in the graduation rates of scholarship athletes. Specifically, we advanced and tested the following hypothesis: athletic departments employing policies and management practices which reflect amoral orientation and combine an ethic of justice and an ethic of care (an orientation that is more typical of black community youth sports) will be more successful with black athletes than those whose management practices reflect more mainstream ethical reasoning. Performance outcomes based on a two-way ANOVA testing for the moderating effect of race on the relationship between policy and graduation rates found support for the hypothesis. The findings indicate that management practices contribute to racial disparity in graduation rates of scholarship athletes. Departments with an ethical orientation that combines justice and care reduce the racial disparity by one third, from those schools whose orientation is driven primarily by a concern for justice (rule driven) or care (nurturing with absence of accountability).

Increasing the graduation rates of student athletes is one of the more visible NCAA academic goals. Overall student-athlete graduation rates have improved significantly among many institutional members. However, Historically Black College and University (HBCU) student-athlete graduation rates lag considerably behind. Although the NCAA asserts that a causal relationship exists between lack of economic resources and lower student-athlete graduation rate for HBCUs, the presence of additional impacting factors are also admitted as not all HBCUs are struggling in graduating their athletes. Seeking an additional explanation for graduation rates, this case study examined key components of organizational culture in the form of policy, language and ritual of an HBCU athletic department with an exceptionally high student-athlete graduation rate. Framework for the study is based on historical research connecting performance to organizational culture and understanding how policy, language and ritual transmit culture through socialization. Results indicate that a focus on purposefully designed policy, language and ritual can shape a culture in athletics geared toward academic success.

Numerous studies have been completed examining academic ability of student athletes. Since the mid 1980s, the NCAA has emphasized the importance of academics and mandated more stringent requirements for participation in intercollegiate athletics. These initial-eligibility standards have been successful in increasing overall graduation rates of student-athletes, but a number of concerns remain. The purpose of this study was to determine if a NCAA Division-I freshman student athlete’s place of residence on campus, as opposed to off campus, during his/her freshman year had a statistically significant relationship to academic performance. The participants of this study (N = 205) were surveyed individually to determine their place of residence and preference of residence during their freshman year. Academic performance at the end of the freshman year was obtained via the school’s database of academic records (Access Banner). Based on the results of this study, it was concluded that living in an on campus or off campus environment had no statistical relationship with how the NCAA D-I freshman student athletes performed academically. There were however, significant differences between gender. The findings warrant further discussion and continued research.

The global migration of athletes has been increasing in a variety of sporting contexts around the globe. Notably, the past decade has seen a nearly threefold increase in the number of international athletes coming to the United States for the purposes of participating in collegiate sport. In accordance with such growing internationalization, a body of research in the area of sport labor migration has developed. The purposes of the current study were to improve our understanding of the forces that lead athletes to the U.S. in order to participate in collegiate sport and to explicitly connect research on international collegiate athletes to the broader context of sport labor migration research. In doing so, we utilized the typologies of migrant athletes developed by Maguire (1999) and Magee and Sugden (2002) as a conceptual framework for analysis. Based on findings from qualitative interviews with international collegiate athletes, we present a revised typology including the categories of mercenary, nomadic cosmopolitan, settler, returnee, exile, and ambitionist to help understand the diversity of factors and experiences associated with the migration of athletes in the context of U.S. collegiate sport.

The presence of the arms race in intercollegiate athletics has led to extensive spending on major, revenue-producing sports (Knight Commission, 2004, 2010). Despite revealing that only a handful of programs produce profits (NCAA, 2009), administrators continue to embrace a commercial model that has coincided with the elimination of nonrevenue, Olympic sports in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) athletic departments. The purpose of the study is to gain an understanding of the revenue and nonrevenue program elements that are most highly valued by NCAA Division I athletic administrators (N = 248) to understand athletic department administrative theory and to facilitate an effort to develop strategic measures to counter program discontinuation. The results reveal an athletic organism that has morphed into a divided system with each school mimicking one another in the arms race of expenditures in their revenue sports (Knight Commission, 2010), while maintaining core values in the Olympic sports.

Policy makers at the federal and state levels use retention rates as one of several measures of performance for higher education institutions. Although student retention has been an area of intensive study by higher education researchers, very few studies have focused on the retention rates of big-time college athletes. The major purpose of this study was twofold. First, Federal Graduation Rate data were used to measure the retention rate gaps between football players and other students in Football Bowl Subdivision institutions. Second, a number of hypotheses were tested in an effort to explain why some FBC institutions have bigger gaps than others. The overall average federal graduation rate gap between players and other students, while small, was statistically significant. A school’s academic selectivity and commitment to athletic success were positively related to the size of the retention gap. The percentage of part-time students in the general population was inversely related to the retention gap.

The primary purpose of this study was to examine Division I-A collegiate athletic marketing directors’ current sport marketing strategies; the secondary purpose of this study was to determine if there is an evaluation component of such marketing strategies, and to assess if a need exists for research specialists to assist in the athletic marketing evaluation processes. Surveys were mailed to 329 Division I-A athletic marketing directors and 136 were returned for a 41.3% response rate. Half-time promotions, brochures, local business sponsors, radio advertisements, game giveaways, newspaper advertisements, and internet advertisements were used 90% or more of those surveyed. Of those respondents, 68% felt good at developing and implementing new marketing strategies, while 62% said they often evaluate their marketing strategies. Moreover, 54% of athletic marketing directors believe they are competent in designing and implementing a statistically sound form of measurement for their marketing strategies. It was noted that only 22% of Division I-A athletic marketing directors use research consultants.

As NCAA Division I coaches feel greater pressure to produce winning teams while ensuring that athletes remain eligible and progress toward degrees to avoid sanctions under the NCAA’s academic reform initiatives, concerns regarding the clustering of athletes into limited numbers of academic majors has increased. Academic clustering occurs when 25% or more of the members of one team share a single academic major (Case, Greer, & Brown, 1987). Recent studies have extended the analysis of clustering to include the disparate impact on white and minority football players in a single athletic conference (Fountain & Finley, 2009), as well as consideration of female basketball players throughout Division I (Paule, 2010). To date, these studies have provided a snapshot of teams for a given season. This study extends the understanding of clustering by examining one football program over a period of ten years, which allowed for greater understanding of the movement of players into and out of majors, especially the movement into a clustered major midway through their academic experience. Media guides from one BCS football program were used to track the listed majors of 349 players, from 2000 through 2009. Results indicated that players migrated into a single clustered major over time and that a significant number of touted recruits and National Football League draftees selected the clustered major. Further, players who had listed general education (University Studies) in their first media guide appearances frequently selected the clustered major.

The purpose of this investigation aimed to examine public information presented at U.S. Congressional Hearings regarding the legitimacy of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) arrangement from important stakeholders related to the Division I (Football Bowl Subdivision). This work centered on using actual transcripts, letters, and testimonies published by the: a) Senate Committee on the Judiciary (2003); b) Judiciary Subcommittee on Anti-trust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights (2005); c) House Committee on Ways and Means (2006); and the d) Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection (2009). A content analysis identified several themes which juxtaposed BCS-charter members and their supporters against non-BCS conferences and their supporters. The various themes emerging from this public discourse centered on the: a) welfare of student-athletes; b) protecting the sanctity and tradition of bowl games; c) the growing financial chasm between BCS and non-BCS institutions; d) logistical concerns related to alternative postseason formats; e) antitrust concerns regarding the current BCS agreement; and f) the fundamental fairness of the BCS arrangement, structure, and selection process compared to alternative formats (e.g., playoff).