Turris to the 'Yotes

So, Kyle Turris signed with the Coyotes on Monday, leaving the University of Wisconsin-Madison pretty much right after the Badgers lost in the final eight.

I always find this type of movement fascinating. I think part of it has to do with the completely different climate that surrounds college hockey in the US compared to Canada. I mean, for 99% of CIS athletes, there's really no chance of them making the NHL (UofA Golden Bear Harlan Anderson has an amateur tryout agreement with the Springfield Falcons but this seems to be the exception more than the rule. Aaron Sorochan from the Bears received an amateur tryout agreement when Roloson was sidelined with the flu in December, but I think that was more about it being easier to get Sorochan to sit on the bench and back up Garon as opposed to bringing someone up from the Falcons). I've known a few players that have gone over to Europe following their CIS careers, and I assume some play ECHL/AHL/etc., but you don't really see hot prospects lacing 'em up for Canadian University teams. Then you have US colleges. For guys like Turris (or Kyle Okposo, who signed with the Islanders in December - how do you abandon your team mid-season?!) college is nothing more than a place to develop their hockey skills, and on the school's dollar no less.

As someone who scratches, claws, and generally prays for funding every semester, I find full rides for future NHLers (or NBAers, or NFLers) very offensive. Okposo leaves midway through his sophomore year, Turris his freshman year. Turris, because of his scholarship, will be returning to Wisconsin, probably after the Coyotes last three games, to finish up his coursework. I'd applaud this as evidence of his dedication to academia, but, let's be realistic. Is he ever going to come back and finish up the last three years? And really, what did he even take this year? Honestly, it doesn't matter. What matters to me is that the NCAA loves to put out all these commercials, especially during March Madness, about how their athletes are going places outside of sport. This article touts that 63% of athletes (2% more than non-athletes) graduate within a six-year window of beginning college. What they bury within the article, however, is that:

Among the more notable findings over a four-year period were that female athletes earned diplomas at a significantly higher rate, 71 percent, than their male counterparts, 56 percent; and that blacks (53 percent) and Hispanics (58 percent) continued to lag behind other ethnicities when earning diplomas.

Go figure, female athletes are propping up the men. 56%. Only a tiny bit more than half. What I find even more disconcerting? That "The NCAA considers any rate above 50 percent, a standard adopted by the privately funded Knight Commission on college sports, to be good" (from here). I could go on about the many problematic graduation statistics in the NCAA, but the most problematic ones are in basketball and football and less so in hockey, so I'll move on from here. The point I'm really trying to make is that when players come into college, I would argue that the reason why for a large percentage is "play sports" and not "get a degree". Something that I find really unfortunate for an academic institution.

I really don't feel like an education should be a "fringe benefit" of playing sports at an academic institution. High school students with really good averages can't get full ride scholarships, whereas someone who can shoot a puck, toss a ball, or score a goal and maintain a mediocre-to-ok average rolls on in on the athletic gravy train. I'm not saying it's every player, because it isn't. But it is a trend, and it is one I find problematic. I don't wish ill on Turris; I just think this situation really highlights what I find to be problematic about the athletic/academic system.