Creating the Big Ten: Courage, Corruption, and Commercialization by Winton U. Solbe

Below is just a one of the brief summaries I have done on the book:

The first portion of the reading was based on the Carnegie Report. The Carnegie Foundation wanted to improve the education system so, a study was conducted on how college athletics and scholarships correlated. The study revealed that college football had become a “highly commercial enterprise.” This study raises the question what are the big universities really after. A university is typically seen as a place of developing an individuals intellect, but was becoming more of an “social, commercial, and athletic agency.”

For most universities, colleges look to the alumni as a source of funding. Most alumni are likely to be more passionately interested in athletics which in turns leads to donations. Funding can put many universities into a pickle. Having successful athletic teams make it easier for alumni to donate funds to help the university with many campus projects. In order to have successful teams, universities might look invest into their sports programs with a mighty amount of funds that goes towards to the coach’s salaries, facilities, nutrition, gear, etc. Having state of the art facilities help a part in recruiting which will help land big time athletic recruits. This goes back to the original question. Are universities really promoting individuals to gain a meaningful education or just simply after making profit off of sports teams.

The epilogue section of the book summed up and pieced the book up as a whole. It reiterated the same problems that we face today and there is not one definite solution. College football was on the brink of being abolished, but was instead decided to be retained because it was just too good to abandon. College football in general is promoted and commercialized the same as professional teams, but the student-athletes are protected or treated as professional simply because of the “amateurism.”