Under Review | Football Today

There are still a wide variety of views on the role sports should play at colleges and universities, and football receives a particularly large amount of attention in this debate. Recent controversies have highlighted some of the same issues brought up in the 1936 case at NC State, and it seems as though every few weeks there is a report of a new scandal involving a different college football team.

Recent scandals have involved players receiving money, cars, or other gifts from alumni or local businesses; relaxed academic standards for athletes; the use of money or gifts in the recruitment process; and the failure to report crimes committed by people associated with football programs. Many people feel that the sport has become too commercialized and distracts from the educational missions of colleges and universities. Some feel that football coaches hold far too much power on college campuses. Others argue that football is beneficial because it generates large amounts of money for colleges, or because it creates school spirit in a way that few other activities can.