CLC stepping up monitoring of athletes' grades
In the wake of Hibbing Community College's decision to suspend its football program indefinitely, Central Lakes College announced its stepped-up monitoring of academic performance and recruitment of student athletes.
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On Jan. 24 Hibbing suspended its football program, citing the team's 1.81 grade-point average over the past five years. A minimum of 2.0 is required to be eligible for sports.
CLC recently released a five-year survey it conducted on its own, which showed CLC athletes have earned a 2.49 GPA. The volleyball team had the top GPA at 2.98 while the football team was last with a 2.15. The next lowest GPA was a 2.43 by the women's basketball team.
While the GPA and the retention of players for the CLC football program didn't reach the same low as Hibbing, it was cause for concern.
Joe Opatz
"We had never looked specifically at some of these academic issues with respect to athletics," said Joe Opatz, CLC vice president of academic and student affairs. "There was enough of a difference between the football program and the other athletic programs that we needed to take a look at things.
"When we got our data back we were very relieved that the numbers didn't come out looking like Hibbing's. But we also know there's work to be done."
Opatz said a working group was organized to look at changes that needed to be made. CLC will begin monitoring the academic progress of student-athletes earlier and will possibly implement athletic tutoring and study tables.
"In football if a student is doing poorly in class we may not know it until they fail the midterm," Opatz said. "By then it's too late. We're going to work with faculty to identify struggling students early on so they can get help."
Last month Greg Medeck accepted the head football coaching position and said he and his staff will do what they can to monitor their players academically.
"We're going to keep closer tabs on players to make sure they attain the goals in the classrooms," said Medeck. "This is the first time a survey like this has been done so now we have the information and we can see where we're at. We're going to monitor the players more closely, encourage them to work hard and possibly implement a study table.
"But we can't take the tests for the kids. We can't do their homework. Ultimately it comes down to the individual students and the effort they put in."
Recruiting and retention of players also was cause for concern. Out of Hibbing's 63-player roster, only three were from Minnesota while 34 players came from Florida and Ohio. Fewer than two of every five football players came back for a second year.
At CLC, 22 of its 50 football players were from out of state and its player retention rate was below that of all athletes and students. The retention of players is one of Medeck's goals as head coach.
"No one wants to see us have guys come in here and then leave after one year," Medeck said. "We want them to be here for two years, get their education in the classroom and get out on the field.
"Plus it just helps out your program when you can retain players. You're able to head into the season with that many more players with a year's worth of experience."
Both Opatz and Medeck understand that the football team's GPA isn't going to spike upward overnight. But they're both confident that over time those numbers will rise.
"I have every reason to be optimistic that we're going to head in a positive direction," Opatz said. "We're at the early stages of looking at the numbers but we're motivated to create some positive changes."
TROY GUNDERSON can be reached at troy.gunderson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5865.