[Vision2020] Gonzaga Leverages Basketball Success to Boost Academic Mission

Mon Jul 3 06:54:36 PDT 2017

Dear Scott:

Thanks for posting this information, some of which I included in a recent
column.  See sections appended below. Full column attached.

The thing to keep in mind is that Gonzaga is a rare exception. For example,
the "Flutie Effect" has fizzled at BSU and Boston College.  An LCSC
baseball star has gone to the majors, but at one time average professor
salaries were lower than Idaho's K-12 teachers!

Nick

*Alumni Donations Do Not Correlate with Athletic Success*

Some have argued that winning teams would result in a boost in both alumni
giving and student enrollment. With regard to donations this assessment by
former Notre Dame Vice President Richard Conklin still holds true: “There
is no empirical evidence demonstrating a correlation between athletic
department achievement and alumni fund-raising success.  A number of
researchers have explored this putative relationship, and they all have
concluded that it does not exist.”

Indiana University Professor Emeritus concurs: “Many studies indicate that
alumni giving is independent of college sports success or failure, and has
no relation to whether a school has a big-time intercollegiate athletic
program or not.” In his research UC Berkeley’s Michael Anderson did find a
positive correlation between alumni donations and athletic success, but he
found that “the effects appear concentrated among teams in the six elite
conferences.” He admits, however, that “these positive effects would not
recoup however much money a college invested in its athletics program.”

With regard to student enrollment Harvard professor Douglas Chung has found
that “when a school goes from being mediocre to being great on the football
field [from four wins to ten] applications increase by 17.7 percent.”
However, Chung calculated that the same effect could be achieved by either
a 3.8% decrease in the cost of tuition or by recruiting higher quality
faculty who are paid 5.1% above the market rate.

*The “Flutie Effect” at Boston College, Gonzaga, and Boise State*

Some would point to the great success attained at Gonzaga University. Since
the Bulldog basketball team started winning in 1999, Gonzaga has registered
86.4 percent more students, its endowment has increased 218 percent, and a
doubling of donors has increased giving from $13.4 to $31.1 million.  Boise
State’s alumni giving increased four-fold from 2006 to 2011 during a period
of great football achievement.

Gonzaga’s basketball success was sustained achievement, while the Vandals’
three bowl wins did not balance out losing records (some lopsided) in other
years. Furthermore, UI student enrollment did not increase appreciably and
in one year it actually dropped.

Gonzaga has experienced the “Flutie Effect,” named after quarterback Doug
Flutie who carried Boston College to national fame in 1984.  These are rare
exceptions rather than the rule, and once the teams stop winning, the
donations and student enrollment generally drop off.
*The quality of academic programs—not athletic success—is still the key to
higher education excellence. *

Boston College’s application rate did go up 16 percent and 12 percent two
years after their upset win over the University of Miami, but they also
went up 17 percent after a 4-7 season and up 9 percent after their worst
season ever (0-11). After of a year of embarrassing athletic scandals,
application rates remained the same as the previous year.

*Boise State Has Low Freshman Retention and Graduation Rate*

In 2010, after beating Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl in 2007 and winning it
again in 2010, Boise State’s freshman class enrollment peaked at 2,400—16.5
percent over the low of 2,104 in 2003. It has now returned to 2001 levels,
even though BSU won yet another Fiesta Bowl in 2014.

This temporary success is mitigated by the fact that BSU’s freshman
retention rate is only 69 percent as opposed to 93 percent at Boston
College.  BSU’s graduation rate of 29 percent is also one of the lowest in
the nation. BSU administrators boast about record numbers of applications,
but what counts is not only new freshman enrolled but those who go on and
graduate.

With a high number of applications, BSU has the pick of the best students
for their freshman classes. Even so, average ATC and SAT scores for these
students are only somewhat higher than before. Economist Craig Depken
states: “I can talk about how the incoming freshman class has a higher SAT
score, at the same time, in many places it’s been documented that a
successful football program tends to correlate with lower GPAs, that is
lower performance in the classroom, especially amongst male students.”

*Faculty Salaries Rarely Correlate with Athletic Success*

Faculty salaries at Gonzaga increased dramatically, but UI and BSU
professors are still 20-30 percent behind their peers. *Rarely has there
been, nation-wide, a transfer of athletic revenue to academic budgets. *BSU
salaries still remain at the bottom of a list of 10 comparable metropolitan
universities. The Lewis-Clark State Warriors have had winning baseball
teams since 1972 with a win-loss percentage of .777, but average faculty
salaries are below Idaho K-12 teachers. For details go to
http://idaho-aft.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Survey16.pdf

On Sun, Jul 2, 2017 at 9:04 PM, Scott Dredge <scooterd408 at hotmail.com>
wrote:

> *President [Thayne] McCulloh credits Gonzaga’s volunteer leadership – in
> particular the acumen of members of the boards of Trustees and Regents –
> for identifying the opportunities presented by the success of basketball to
> grow enrollment to support academics.*
>
> Since 1999, when the Zags – led then by Coach Dan Monson – advanced to the
> Elite Eight in their second NCAA Tournament appearance before falling to
> eventual national champion Connecticut, Gonzaga’s undergraduate enrollment
> has risen 83.2 percent, from 2,816 (1998-99) to 5,160 (2016-17).
> *Other Key Figures 1999 vs. 2017:*
>
>    - Total enrollment has increased 86.4 percent (from 4,061 to 7,572)
>    - Undergraduate admission applications have grown nearly 300 percent
>    (from 1,841 to 7,342 – as of fall 2016)
>    - Freshmen enrollment rose 124.9 percent (from 569 to 1,280)
>    - The annual budget rose 289.2 percent (from $72.7 million to $283
>    million – as of May 31, 2016)
>    - To accommodate a larger student body, full-time faculty increased
>    55.5 percent (from 279 to 434), allowing Gonzaga to maintain a small
>    average class size: 22 students (1998-99), 24 students (2016-17).
>
> Gonzaga Leverages Basketball Success to Boost Academic Mission - Gonzaga
> University News Service
> <http://news.gonzaga.edu/2017/gonzaga-leverages-basketball-success>
>
>
> Gonzaga Leverages Basketball Success to Boost Academic Mission - Gonzaga...
>
> SPOKANE, Wash. – As Gonzaga University enters its first Final Four
> appearance on Saturday following a magical 36...
> <http://news.gonzaga.edu/2017/gonzaga-leverages-basketball-success>
>
>
>
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-- 

A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they
shall never sit in.

-Greek proverb

“Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-imposed immaturity.
Immaturity is the inability to use one’s understanding without guidance
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understand-ing!—that is the motto of enlightenment.

--Immanuel Kant
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