Correlation Studies of Academic Excellence and Big‑Time Athletics
(A corrected version of an article published in
International Review of Sport Sociology, 3(11), Warsaw, Poland 1976, pp.57-69.)
L. David Roper (roperld@vt.edu) and Keith Snow (U.S.A.)
Abstract
Given particular measures of undergraduate excellence (U), graduate-school excellence (G), football excellence (F) and basketball excellence (B), we rank American universities in all four categories. Then the six correlation coefficients for all six pairs of the four categories are calculated: CUG=+0.033±0.053, CUF= –0.418±0.046, CUB= –0.496±0.033, CGF= –0.540±0.032, CGB= –0.556±0.038, CFB= –0.453±0.030. Several criticisms of our study and suggestions for future studies are made. Caution is particularly given that CUG may be considerably higher than the number we obtain.
One occasionally hears the following justifications for the massive financial and sociological resources that are expended by universities and colleges for big‑time (i.e., highly visible) athletics:
(1) It attracts good students to the school, directly and indirectly.
(2) It attracts financial contributions (private and public) which enable programs of academic excellence.
It is interesting to consider whether these are the real reasons for big‑time athletics being in institutions of higher education, or whether there are other reasons along with or instead of these reasons.
To the author’s knowledge no systematic study of the veracity of these justifications has been published. The study reported here is a first attempt to do so. There are many faults with the approach adopted here. which we shall discuss later. Nevertheless, we believe that our results are valid, and we encourage others to refine or expand on our methods. Indeed, we offer aid to those who wish to do so.
In the next section we define “big‑time athletics” and specify our measure of it. In Section III we indicate our measures of graduate and undergraduate academic excellence. Section IV contains the mathematical definition of the correlation coefficient; this section may be skipped by readers who are not mathematically inclined. Finally, Section V gives our conclusions, some criticism of our approach and suggestions for further work.
We define “big‑time” college and university
athletics to be varsity sports that receive the major attention of the news
media. Occasional casual glances at newspapers will convince one that men’s
football (American, not soccer) and basketball are by far the front runners.
Therefore, we further restrict our definition of big‑time athletics to
men’s football and basketball. Table 1 lists the Associated Press Polls and the
major bowl games and tournaments winners for football and basketball for the
years 1968 through 1972. From Table 1 we calculate the “score” listed in Table
2 by moving an entry up one rank when it won a major bowl game or tournament
and then adding the ranks for all five years for that entry and dividing by
five. (A team that was ranked in one or more years but was unranked in another
year was optimistically assumed to be in the twenty-first rank in the unranked
year.) An unranked entry that won a bowl game or tournament was assumed to be
ranked twentieth for that year. The football and basketball rankings given in
Tables 2 and 5 were then obtained by ordering the entries according to
decreasing score as given in Table 2.
|
Table 1 |
||||
|
Associated Press Polls and Major Bowl Game and
Tournament Winners |
||||
|
FOOTBALL |
||||
|
1968 |
1969 |
1970 |
1971 |
1972 |
|
1.
Ohio State |
1.
Texas |
1.
Nebraska |
1.
Nebraska |
1.
Southern California |
|
2.
Penn. State |
2.
Pennsylvania State |
2.
Notre Dame |
2.
Oklahoma |
2.
Oklahoma |
|
3.
Texas |
3.
Southern California |
3.
Texas |
3.
Colorado |
3.
Texas |
|
4.
Southern California |
4.
Ohio State |
4.
Tennessee |
4.
Alabama |
4.
Nebraska |
|
5.
Notre Dame |
5.
Notre Dame |
5.
Ohio State |
5.
Pennsylvania State |
5.
Auburn |
|
6.
Arkansas |
6.
Missouri |
6.
Arizona State |
6.
Michigan |
6.
Michigan |
|
7.
Kansas |
7.
Arkansas |
7.
Louisiana State |
7.
Georgia |
7.
Alabama |
|
8.
Georgia |
8.
Mississippi |
8.
Stanford |
8.
Arizona State |
8.
Tennessee |
|
9.
Missouri |
9.
Michigan |
9.
Michigan |
9.
Tennessee |
9.
Ohio State |
|
10.
Purdue |
10.
Louisiana State |
10.
Auburn |
10.
Stanford |
10.
Pennsylvania State |
|
11.
Oklahoma |
11.
Nebraska |
11.
Arkansas |
11.
Louisiana State |
11.
Louisiana State |
|
12.
Michigan |
12.
Houston |
12.
Toledo |
12.
Auburn |
12.
North Carolina |
|
13.
Tennessee |
13.
UCLA |
13.
Georgia Tech |
13.
Notre Dame |
13.
Arizona State |
|
14.
Southern Methodist |
14.
Florida |
14.
Dartmouth |
14.
Toledo |
14.
Notre Dame |
|
15.
Oregon State |
15.
Tennessee |
15.
Southern California |
15.
Mississippi |
15.
UCLA |
|
16.
Auburn |
16.
Colorado |
16.
Air Force |
16.
Arkansas |
16.
Colorado |
|
17.
Alabama |
17.
West Virginia |
17.
Tulane |
17.
Houston |
17.
North Carolina St. |
|
18.
Houston |
18.
Purdue |
18.
Pennsylvania State |
18.
Texas |
18.
Louisville |
|
19.
Louisiana State |
19.
Stanford |
19.
Houston |
19.
Washington (Seattle) |
19.
Washington State |
|
20.
Ohio |
20.
Auburn |
20.
Oklahoma (tie) |
20.
Southern California |
20.
Georgia Tech |
|
|
|
20.
Mississippi (tie) |
|
|
|
[Roanoke
Times Sat.
4 Jan. 1969] |
[Roanoke
Times Sun.
4 Jan. 1970] |
Roanoke
Times Wed.
6 Jan. 1971] |
[Roanoke
Times Tues.
4 Jan 1972] |
[Roanoke
Times Thurs.
4 Jan 1973] |
|
Bowl Winners: |
||||
|
Cotton-Texas |
Cotton-Texas |
Cotton-Notre
Dame |
Cotton-Pennsylvania
State |
Cotton-Texas |
|
Sugar-Arkansas |
Sugar-Mississippi |
Sugar-Tennessee |
Sugar-Oklahoma |
Sugar-Oklahoma |
|
Rose-Ohio
State |
Rose-Southern
California |
Rose-Stanford |
Rose-Stanford |
Rose-Southern
Calif. |
|
Orange-Pennsylvania
State |
Orange-Pennsylvania
State |
Orange-Nebraska |
Orange-Nebraska |
Orange-Nebraska
(forfeited) |
|
[Roanoke
Times Thurs.
2 Jan 1969] |
[Roanoke
Times Fri.
2 Jan 1970] |
[Roanoke
Times Sat.
2 Jan 1971] |
[Roanoke
Times Sun.
2 Jan 1942] |
[Roanoke
Times Tues.
2 Jan 1973] |
|
BASKETBALL |
||||
|
1968 |
1969 |
1970 |
1971 |
1972 |
|
1.
UCLA |
1.
Kentucky |
1.
UCLA |
1.
UCLA |
1.
UCLA |
|
2.
LaSalle |
2.
UCLA |
2.
Marquette |
2.
Pennsylvania |
2.
North Carolina St. |
|
3.
Santa Clara |
3.
St. Bonaventure |
3.
Pennsylvania |
3.
North Carolina |
3.
Minnesota |
|
4.
North Carolina |
4.
Jacksonville |
4.
Kansas |
4.
Louisville |
4.
Long Beach State |
|
5.
Davidson |
5.
New Mexico State |
5.Southern
California |
5.
Long Beach State |
5.
Providence |
|
6.
Purdue |
6.
South Carolina |
6.South
Carolina |
6.
South Carolina |
6.
Marquette |
|
7.
Kentucky |
7.
Iowa |
7.Western
Kentucky |
7.
Marquette |
7.
Houston |
|
8.
St. John’s, NY |
8.
Marquette |
8.
Kentucky |
8.
Brigham Young |
8.
North Carolina |
|
9.
Duquesne |
9.
Notre Dame |
9.
Fordham |
9.
Southwestern Louisiana |
9.
Indiana |
|
10.
Villanova |
10.
North Carolina State |
10.
Ohio State |
10.
Marshall |
10.
Maryland |
|
11.
Drake |
11.
Florida State |
11.Jacksonville |
11.
Memphis State |
11.
Kansas State |
|
12.
New Mexico State |
12.
Houston |
12.
Notre Dame |
12.
Hawaii |
12.
Missouri |
|
13.
South Carolina |
13.
Pennsylvania |
13.
North Carolina |
13.
Maryland |
13.
Syracuse |
|
14.
Marquette |
14.
Drake |
14.
Houston |
14.
Florida State |
14.
Southwestern Louisiana |
|
15.
Louisville |
15.
Davidson |
15.
Duquesne |
15.
Virginia |
15.
Memphis State |
|
16.
Boston College |
16.
Utah State |
16.
Long Beach State |
16.
Minnesota |
16.
Jacksonville |
|
17.
Notre Dame |
17.
Niagara |
17.
Tennessee |
17.
Oral Roberts |
17.
St. John’s, NY |
|
18.
Colorado |
18.
Western Kentucky |
18.
Villanova |
18.
Missouri |
18.
St. Joseph’s, PA |
|
19.
Kansas |
19.
Long Beach State |
19.
Drake |
19.
Houston |
19.
San Francisco State |
|
20.
Illinois |
20.
Southern California |
20.
Brigham Young |
20.
Indiana |
20.
Kentucky |
|
[Roanoke
Times Wed
5 Mar. 1969] |
[Roanoke
Times Wed
10 Mar. 1970] |
[Roanoke
Times Wed
16 Mar. 1971] |
[Roanoke
Times Wed
7 Mar. 1972] |
[Roanoke
Times Wed
7 Mar. 1973] |
|
Tournament Winners: |
||||
|
NCAA-UCLA |
NCAA-UCLA |
NCAA-UCLA |
NCAA-UCLA |
NCAA-UCLA |
|
NIT-Temple |
NIT-Marquette |
NIT-North
Carolina |
NIT-Maryland |
NIT-Virginia
Tech |
|
[Roanoke
Times Wed
23 Mar. 1969] |
[Roanoke
Times Wed
22 Mar. 1970] |
[Roanoke
Times Wed
28 Mar. 1971] |
[Roanoke
Times Wed
26 Mar. 1972] |
[Roanoke
Times Wed
26 & 27 Mar. 1973] |
|
Table 2 |
|||||
|
Football and Basketball Rankings |
|||||
|
Football |
Score |
Rank |
Basketball |
Score |
Rank |
|
Texas |
5.0 |
1 |
UCLA |
1.0 |
1 |
|
Pennsylvania
State |
6.8 |
2 |
Marquette |
7.2 |
2 |
|
Nebraska |
7.0 |
3 |
North
Carolina |
9.6 |
3 |
|
Notre
Dame |
7.6 |
4 |
South
Carolina |
10.4 |
4 |
|
Ohio
State |
7.8 |
.5 |
Kentucky |
11.2 |
5 |
|
Michigan |
8.4 |
6 |
Pennsylvania |
12.0 |
6 |
|
Tennessee |
9.6 |
7 |
Long
Beach State |
13.0 |
7 |
|
Oklahoma |
10.8 |
8 |
Jacksonville |
14.6 |
8.5 |
|
Louisiana
State |
11.6 |
9 |
Houston |
14.6 |
8.5 |
|
Arkansas |
12.0 |
10 |
North
Carolina State |
15.0 |
10 |
|
Southern
California |
12.2 |
11 |
Now
Mexico State |
16.0 |
11.5 |
|
Auburn |
12.6 |
12 |
Notre
Dame |
16.0 |
11.5 |
|
Arizona
State |
13.8 |
13 |
Louisville |
16.4 |
13.5 |
|
Alabama |
14.0 |
14 |
Minnesota |
16.4 |
13.5 |
|
Mississippi |
15.0 |
15 |
Davidson
|
16.6 |
15 |
|
Colorado |
15.4 |
16.5 |
Drake |
17.2 |
13 |
|
Stanford |
15.4 |
16.5 |
Kansas |
17.2 |
18 |
|
Georgia |
15.6 |
18 |
La
Salle |
17.2 |
18 |
|
Missouri |
16.8 |
19 |
Maryland |
17.2 |
18 |
|
Houston |
17.4 |
20 |
Southwestern
Louisiana |
17.2 |
18 |
|
Toledo |
17.8 |
21 |
Duquesne |
17.4 |
22 |
|
Kansas |
18.2 |
23 |
St.
Bonaventure |
17.4 |
22 |
|
Purdue |
18.2 |
23 |
Santa
Clara |
17.4 |
22 |
|
UCLA |
18.2 |
23 |
Florida
State |
17.6 |
25.5 |
|
North
Carolina |
19.2 |
25 |
St.
John’s, NY |
17.6 |
25.5 |
|
Georgia
Tech |
19.4 |
26 |
Southern
California |
17.6 |
25.5 |
|
Dartmouth |
19.6 |
28 |
Western
Kentucky |
17.6 |
25.5 |
|
Florida |
19.6 |
28 |
Memphis
State |
17.8 |
28.5 |
|
Southern
Methodist |
19.6 |
28 |
Providence |
17.8 |
28.5 |
|
Oregon
State |
19.8 |
30 |
Purdue |
18.0 |
30 |
|
Air
Force |
20.0 |
31 |
Brigham
Young |
18.2 |
32 |
|
North
Carolina State |
20.2 |
33 |
Iowa |
18.2 |
32 |
|
Tulane |
20.2 |
33 |
Villanova |
18.2 |
32 |
|
West
Virginia |
20.2 |
33 |
Indiana |
18.4 |
34 |
|
Louisville |
20.4 |
35 |
Fordharn |
18.6 |
35.5 |
|
Washington
(Seattle) |
20.6 |
36.5 |
Missouri |
18.6 |
35.5 |
|
Washington
State |
20.6 |
36.5 |
Marshall |
18.8 |
37.5 |
|
Ohio |
21.0 |
38 |
Ohio
State |
18.8 |
37.5 |
|
|
|
5 ties |
Kansas
State |
19.0 |
39 |
|
|
|
|
Hawaii |
19.2 |
40 |
|
|
|
|
Syracuse |
19.4 |
41 |
|
|
|
|
Virginia |
19.8 |
42 |
|
|
|
|
Boston
College |
20.0 |
43.5 |
|
|
|
|
Utah
State |
20.0 |
43.5 |
|
|
|
|
Oral
Roberts |
20.2 |
46 |
|
|
|
|
Niagara |
20.2 |
46 |
|
|
|
|
Tennessee |
20.2 |
46 |
|
|
|
|
Colorado |
20.4 |
48.5 |
|
|
|
|
St.
Joseph's, PA |
20.4 |
48.5 |
|
|
|
|
San
Francisco State |
20.6 |
50 |
|
|
|
|
Illinois |
20.8 |
52 |
|
|
|
|
Temple |
20.8 |
52 |
|
|
|
|
Virginia
Tech |
20.8 |
52 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
14 ties |
There are many methods one could use for measuring academic excellence. We make no attempt in this first effort to be exhaustive. In fact, we restrict ourselves to one measure of graduate-school excellence and one measure of undergraduate excellence.
For a graduate-school excellence measure we use the “effectiveness of graduate programs” ranking given by Roose and Andersen[1]. Scores for the entries in a field category were obtained by adding ranks for an entry that was ranked in at least one‑half of the curricula in a field category and dividing by the number of ranked curricula. The rankings in the five field categories listed in Table 3 were obtained by ranking these scores. Then a total score, also given in Table 3, was obtained for those entries ranked in three or more categories by adding the ranks and dividing by the number of ranked categories. For those ranked in only one or two categories, a score was obtained as indicated in the footnotes of Table 3. The final graduate school ranking, obtained by ordering the entries according to decreasing score, is listed in Tables 3 and 5.
|
Table 3 |
||||||||
|
“Effectiveness of Graduate Program” Ranking Obtained
from the Roose-Andersen Report and Graduate School Ranking |
||||||||
|
Program |
Humanities |
Soc. Sci. |
Bio. Sci. |
Phys. Sci. |
Engin. |
Score |
Footnotes |
Rank |
|
Harvard |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
|
1.25 |
|
1 |
|
Calif.
(Berkeley) |
4 |
5 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
3.0 |
|
2 |
|
Calif.
Inst. Tech. |
|
|
4 |
2 |
4 |
3.3 |
|
3 |
|
Stanford |
6 |
7 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
4.0 |
|
4 |
|
Mass.
Inst. Tech. |
|
|
7 |
6 |
1 |
4.7 |
|
5 |
|
Princeton |
2 |
6 |
13 |
4 |
7 |
6.4 |
|
6 |
|
Wisconsin |
5 |
8 |
6 |
7 |
|
6.5 |
|
7 |
|
Yale |
3 |
3 |
11 |
12 |
|
7.25 |
|
8 |
|
Michigan |
8 |
2 |
8 |
14 |
6 |
7.6 |
|
9 |
|
Texas |
7 |
|
|
13 |
12 |
10.7 |
|
10 |
|
Chicago |
9 |
4 |
21 |
9 |
|
10.75 |
|
11 |
|
Cornell |
11 |
14 |
12 |
8 |
10 |
11.0 |
|
12 |
|
Illinois |
13 |
16 |
14 |
10 |
5 |
11.6 |
|
13 |
|
UCLA |
12 |
12 |
16 |
11 |
|
12.75 |
|
14 |
|
Rockefeller |
|
|
4 |
|
|
13.3 |
*3 |
15 |
|
Minnesota |
|
10 |
19 |
17 |
8 |
13.5 |
|
16 |
|
Johns
Hopkins |
14 |
17 |
10 |
|
|
13.7 |
|
17 |
|
Pennsylvania |
10 |
9 |
|
|
|
14.3 |
*1 |
18 |
|
Columbia |
15 |
13 |
|
16 |
|
14.7 |
|
19.5 |
|
Purdue |
|
|
17 |
|
9 |
14.7 |
*2 |
19.5 |
|
Wash.
(Seattle) |
|
|
9 |
|
|
15.0 |
*3 |
21 |
|
Indiana |
|
15 |
17 |
|
|
16.7 |
*2 |
22 |
|
Calif.
(Davis) |
|
|
15 |
|
|
17.0 |
*3 |
23 |
|
Carnegie
Mellon |
|
30 |
|
|
11 |
17.7 |
*4 |
24.5 |
|
Northwestern |
|
11 |
|
|
|
17.7 |
*4 |
24.5 |
|
Mich.
State |
|
|
20 |
|
|
18.7 |
*3 |
26 |
|
Calif.
(San Diego) |
|
|
|
15 |
|
19.0 |
*4 |
27 |
|
Brown |
16 |
|
|
|
|
19.3 |
*4 |
29 |
|
Case
Western Res. |
|
|
22 |
|
|
19.3 |
*3 |
29 |
|
Wash.
(St. Louis) |
|
|
22 |
|
|
19.3 |
*3 |
29 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3 ties |
|
Footnotes:
*1: Added 24 & ÷3; *2: Added 18
& ÷3; *3: Added (18+18) & ÷3; *4: Added (24+18) & ÷3 |
||||||||
Since often the justification for involving educational institutions with big‑time athletics is that it attracts good students, we restrict ourselves to some measure of the academic excellence of the students attracted to an institution; i.e., incoming freshmen. Because the SAT scores of entering freshmen are available in Singletary's[2] compendium, we use the average SAT score (average of verbal and mathematical scores) as a ranking measure.
Table 4 lists the average SAT score for a selection of schools. The Singletary compendium does not give SAT scores for some schools. Our selection includes all those available in Singletary that are ranked in Tables 2 and 3 and most colleges and universities with average SAT scores higher than 599. (We say “most” because we did not attempt to find all such schools.) By excluding schools which are both unranked in Tables 2 and 3 and have SAT scores below 600 we bias our results toward larger correlations between undergraduate quality and the other qualities. Similarly, by not systematically searching for all schools unranked in Tables 2 and 3 with average SAT scores higher than 599, we again bias toward larger correlations.
|
Table 4 |
||||||||
|
Undergraduate Freshmen
Average SAT Score Ranking |
||||||||
|
|
SAT |
Rank |
|
SAT |
Rank |
|
SAT |
Rank |
|
Calif. Inst. Tech. |
715 |
1 |
Washington (St. Louis) |
611 |
40 |
North Carolina State |
536 |
79 |
|
Mass. Inst. Tech. |
714 |
2 |
Stevens Inst. Tech. |
610 |
41 |
Delaware |
535 |
81 |
|
Harvard |
695 |
3 |
Carnegie Mellon |
609 |
42.5 |
La Salle |
535 |
81 |
|
Yale |
690 |
4 |
Case West. Res. |
609 |
42.5 |
Vermont |
535 |
81 |
|
Rice |
684 |
5 |
SUNY (Stoney Brook) |
607 |
44 |
Southern Methodist |
534 |
83 |
|
Brandeis |
669 |
6 |
William & Mary |
606 |
45 |
Providence |
530 |
84 |
|
Brown |
665 |
8 |
Northwestern |
604 |
46.5 |
St. Bonaventure |
523 |
85 |
|
Chicago |
665 |
8 |
Wabash |
604 |
46.5 |
Auburn |
522 |
86 |
|
Reed |
665 |
8 |
Boston U. |
600 |
48.5 |
Mass. (Boston) |
520 |
87 |
|
Carleton |
662 |
11 |
Michigan |
600 |
48.5 |
Cincinnati |
517 |
89 |
|
Dartmouth |
662 |
11 |
SUNY (Buffalo) |
595 |
50 |
Detroit |
517 |
89 |
|
Williams |
662 |
11 |
Georgia Tech. |
593 |
51 |
Texas A&M |
517 |
89 |
|
Columbia |
661 |
13.5 |
New York |
589 |
52 |
San Francisco State |
516 |
91.5 |
|
Princeton |
661 |
13.5 |
George Washington |
587 |
53 |
St. John's, NY |
516 |
91.5 |
|
Oberlin |
660 |
15 |
Syracuse |
583 |
54 |
Niagara |
515 |
93 |
|
Cornell |
657 |
16 |
Tulane |
582 |
55 |
South Florida |
514 |
94 |
|
Pennsylvania |
655 |
17 |
St. Joseph's, Pa. |
579 |
56 |
Toledo |
513 |
95 |
|
Middlebury |
650 |
18 |
CCNY |
577 |
58 |
Louisville |
512 |
97.5 |
|
Renss. Poly. Inst. |
648 |
19 |
Massachusetts (Amherst) |
577 |
58 |
Ohio |
512 |
97.5 |
|
Johns Hopkins |
646 |
20 |
Wisconsin |
577 |
58 |
Oregon |
512 |
97.5 |
|
Rochester |
645 |
21 |
North Carolina |
576 |
60 |
Tulsa |
512 |
97 |
|
Air Force |
640 |
23 |
Miami (Ohio) |
575 |
61 |
Texas Christian |
511 |
100.5 |
|
Davidson |
640 |
23 |
Wake Forest |
572 |
62 |
Wayne State |
511 |
100.5 |
|
Lehigh |
640 |
23 |
Pennsylvania State |
570 |
63 |
Georgia |
510 |
102 |
|
Tufts |
635 |
25 |
Santa Clara |
569 |
64 |
Missouri |
509 |
103 |
|
Duke |
629 |
26 |
Pittsburgh |
562 |
65 |
Rhode Island |
507 |
104 |
|
Georgetown |
628 |
27.5 |
Northeastern |
558 |
66.5 |
Indiana |
505 |
105 |
|
Grinnell |
628 |
27.5 |
Rutgers |
558 |
66.5 |
Houston |
504 |
106 |
|
Boston College |
627 |
29.5 |
Maine |
557 |
68 |
Arkansas |
503 |
107.5 |
|
Colgate |
627 |
29.5 |
Virginia Mil. Inst. |
553 |
69 |
Duquesne |
503 |
107.5 |
|
Antioch |
626 |
31.5 |
Virginia Tech. |
551 |
70 |
Temple |
502 |
109 |
|
Vanderbilt |
626 |
31.5 |
Connecticut |
550 |
72 |
Oregon State |
500 |
110 |
|
Naval Academy |
621 |
33 |
Fairfield |
550 |
72 |
South Carolina |
498 |
111 |
|
Virginia |
618 |
34.5 |
Villanova |
550 |
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