TCU: Finals Over Football

Quite a while ago (right around the beginning of college football season), I wrote a post lambasting a number of colleges for not recognizing that even football players are student-athletes. Now comes a report, first reported in the Washington Post, that Texas Christian University may forego a bid to the GMAC on December 18 because it would interfere with finals.

"I have to be sensitive to our young people," [Athletic Director Eric Hyman] told the newspaper. "They are student-athletes, but they are also students, and they are coming to school to get an education. We cannot disrupt their exams. It's not fair to them."

Now the cynic in me says that if this were a BCS bowl bid, TCU would have figured it out and that this is all a bit of posturing because the GMAC Bowl has a much smaller payout for the schools. But at the same time, TCU did lose to Southern Miss and really wasn't a BCS caliber team so they really don't have too much room for being upset. They were Cinderella and the clock stuck midnight as it struck 0:00 on the scoreboard in the Southern Miss game. The GMAC Bowl isn't in the same league as the Orange Bowl, but it's still better than sitting home (and more profitable to the school).

But at the same time that I'm feeling cynical about the motivations I also think here's a guy who's actually making the unpopular statement that football players are students first.

It's tough to decide whether or not this is motivated by a true concern for the educational welfare of the students or by the hubris of a 9-1 team that feels they deserve better than a pre-New Year's Day bowl. But regardless of the motivation, in the end, the AD is supporting the very core of college athletics - the student-athlete concept.

It's going to be real interesting to see what happens when the invitation is formally extended by the GMAC Bowl officials. Does AD Hyman have the strength of conviction? Or will he accept the bid despite the statements made in these reports?