Athletes and Admissions

The headline for the in-depth Associated Press story doesn't offer much of a surprise. It reads, Admissions Exemptions Aide Athletes.

The surprises come in the body of the story where some of the numbers are staggering.

From the story:

At California, one of the country's most selective public universities, Golden Bear football players were 43 times more likely to gain special admissions than non-athletes from 2002-04.

And this ...

The review identified at least 27 schools where athletes were at least 10 times more likely to benefit from special admission programs than students in the general population.

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According to the Star Bulletin, a defensive back from Hawaii named Chaz Bajet is "exploring Brown, Dartmouth and San Diego as destinations."

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Ever since he took a football "internship," at the University of Nebraska eight months ago, former chief executive of TD Ameritrade Joe Moglia has been the subject of periodic stories about his Quixotic quest to become a Division I head football coach at age 60. Now it's Forbes.com's turn to write about Moglia, whose last position in football was as Dartmouth defensive coordinator in the early 1980s.

Not surprisingly, Forbes does a terrific job with the story. Moglia told Forbes:

"A head coach is the CEO of his program. You have to have a vision and strategy, and be a great evaluator of talent, and be able to mold a staff and players, and be a great ambassador and handle yourself under pressure. I can do all those things in my sleep. And I've coached before! I know football!"

From the story:

Terry Holland, the athletic director at East Carolina U., calls Moglia "an impressive leader" who has all the skills needed to be a head coach but who lacks recent experience on the field and in recruiting. "I couldn't hire him," Holland says. "I wish I could think of some way for Joe to get enough experience in a short period of time."

More from the story:

A lower-tier Division I conference team, perhaps something like his former home in the Ivy League, is a plausible employer. (Nebraska icon Tom) Osborne has already begun making calls on his behalf. "I realize it's going to require someone to take a leap of faith," Moglia says.

The Sports Network site keeps track of Division I coaching openings. This listing shows just seven schools looking for coaches (although it hasn't been updated to include Cornell). Would either Cornell or Bucknell, which is also looking, benefit from taking a chance on Moglia?

Tom Olivadotti, the former defensive coordinator for the Miami Dolphins and New York Giants and someone who tried to hire Moglia in the 1980s, seems to think they might. He told Forbes:

"You could not ask for a better head coach. But it's going to take courage for someone to hire him."

Green Alert Take: It will be interesting to see if either school gives Moglia an interview. You simply never know what will come of it when you give someone a chance. ... I was working at Dartmouth when Moglia was on the staff and right about that time I was on an interview committee for a head coaching position. After we had finished the interviews, we were asked to convene one additional day to meet informally with someone who had never coached in college before. He wasn't thought to be a serious candidate and the interview was a favor of sorts. After 45 minutes or so we walked out of that interview unanimous in the opinion that we had just discovered the new coach. Turns out we had, and if you ask just about anyone who has been around Hanover since then they'll tell you this fellow might well be the best coach they ever met.

Happy New Year!