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College athlete education woefully lacking decades after Dexter Manley

On May 18, 1989, Dexter Manley left the nation in shock when he testified before a U.S. Senate panel on literacy.

nypost.com

College athlete education woefully lacking decades after Dexter Manley​

By Phil Mushnick

On May 18, 1989, Dexter Manley left the nation in shock — at least those who didn’t know the score until then — when he testified before a U.S. Senate panel on literacy.

Manley, at the time, was a star NFL defensive end with Washington. Before that, he’d academically matriculated to become a senior at Oklahoma State under head coach Jimmy Johnson, who later coached in the NFL then landed with Fox Sports.

On that day, Manley revealed that his entire experience as a full scholarship college student-athlete was fraudulent, as he could neither read nor write.

Manley did have a learning disability, making it a greater challenge to succeed in, or even gain admission, to most universities. Yet the system predictably failed him.

Many were left in shock, aghast. Moral outrage as promulgated by the national news media followed.

And that gnashing of teeth over such a sickening win-at-all-costs story lasted about, oh, a week.

Then it was back to big-time college football and basketball business as usual, universities serving as fronts for teams assembled by whatever-it-takes design — including loopholes, winks and nods.

By 1989, TV money had been long established as the root of both semi-literacy and growing criminality among “student-athletes,” thus the incentive to act on Manley’s sorrowful tale was zilch.

The enablers, such as ESPN, made no value judgments beyond national rankings and popularity as to which schools to schedule.

In fact, in an astounding piece of on-air rationalization, ESPN college basketball know-it-all Jay Bilas once declared that it’s not important if recruited players attend classes because just being on campus improves “socialization skills.”

Then there was the University of North Carolina academic scandal, in which athletic recruits, across 18 years, maintained eligibility with A grades in no-show or fabricated courses. Rashad McCants, first-round NBA pick in 2005, claimed that after nearly flunking out, he made UNC’s academic Dean’s List — four A’s included — without attending a class. That claim was refuted by some teammates and coaches.

Today, and virtually every day and for too many consecutive years, NFL and NBA players, not long out of college, demonstrate their minimal literacy and absence of social skills.

Last Sunday, following the Bears’ win over the 49ers, Chicago defensive back Jaylon Johnson, a three-year University of Utah man, was asked to assess the play of opposing QB Trey Lance.

Johnson: “He ain’t do s–t.”

Latest in an endless series.

This is what big-ticket college football and basketball increasingly produces. And for those uneducated semi-literates or without social skills — all college men — the overwhelming majority of whom don’t make the pros can return from where they were recruited.

No upside, all down. Dexter Manley’s shocking Senate testimony was barely worth a shrug.

 

[walshtrips]

Based on what I know, Seton Hall does a decent job educating their athletes, perhaps I'm wearing jaded glasses. It's no surprise as to what universities were doing then, likely nothing has changed.

It's disgusting that we're lead to believe college athletes are receiving a legitimate education, and some are barely able to read or write.

There is a flip side to this misuse of human capital. Dexter Manley is currently worth $5,000,000 and likely reached that status as a result of a college coach giving him an opportunity that he wouldn't have gotten if academic rules were applied. Some say money is the root of all evil, if it weren't for money Manley's opportunities in life would have been very limited.