A Degree of Success

Baylor football player Josh Zachry will graduate in August without benefit of many of the athletic reforms called for by the Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics. He'll graduate because he's a good student with a 3.3 GPA and because he goes to a University that values the student as much or more than the athlete. Not all student-athletes are so fortunate.
Baylor typically is in the top two Big 12 universities in graduating its student-athletes, says Joel Porter, academic adviser in the School of Education. He advised athletes for three years before he took a position in the School in September 2001.
Porter cites several reasons for Baylor's success in graduating athletes. He notes most Baylor student-athletes have serious academic goals. "I can force a kid to go to class, but I can't force him to learn," he says. He also commends the faculty members who work with student-athletes to help them succeed. "I've never had a professor say, 'I don't want to talk to you.' I have had some say, 'There's nothing I can do,' but that was the kid's fault, not the professor's." 
Third, Porter credits Don Riley, director of student-athlete services, who helped establish effective academic support programs, "Don's is a team system. Tutors would let me know about a student who was struggling," Porter says.
Twice a semester, attendance and academic evaluations are sent to professors, who report back to Riley's office. Records are checked to see which students need help and that information is shared with both students and coaches. "There's no magic, just a lot of follow up with coaches, students and tutors to make sure they're on the right track," Riley says.
Baylor's coaches also are integral to the system, Porter says. If a student-athlete is struggling, the coaches address it immediately, working with Riley's staff and the faculty. 
Zachry, who has been both a nonathlete and a football player at college, much prefers the latter role, tough schedule and all. He had a rocky beginning, though. Disappointed when he didn't receive the football scholarship he'd hoped for from Baylor, he went to a junior college for one semester, but tendonitis kept him on the bench. 
"After that semester, I wasn't sure I really wanted to play football anymore," he says. "I was unsure about a lot of things. College football is such a big commitment, and I don't think high school kids realize it."
He was discouraged, but decided he "didn't want to be sitting on my couch watching college football saying 'I could've done that.'" Zachry returned to Waco to attend a community college for a semester and then walked on the Baylor football team in fall 2000 after transferring his junior college credits. He was a starting quarterback in the last two games of the 2000 season and finally received a full scholarship in spring 2001. 
Although some student-athletes enter college with dreams of getting an offer from the pros instead of a sheepskin, Zachry says a degree has been his goal from the start. He plans to go to law school after earning his bachelor's degree in business real estate. "My parents instilled in me that college was so much more important than professional athletics," he says.
They should know. Pat Zachry, a 1976 National League Rookie of the Year, played baseball for the New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies. Sharron Zachry is principal of Midway High School in Waco.
Despite Baylor's commitment to high graduation rates for its student-athletes, Athletic Director Tom Stanton says there's more that needs to be accomplished. "We still have far greater goals in terms of expanding our graduation rate percentages," he says, noting that one goal of the Baylor 2012 Vision is to reach 80 percent or higher.
"The fact is, the percentages of those who will ever play at the highest professional levels are minuscule," Stanton says. "The ultimate goal for any student-athlete participating in any intercollegiate sports should be a degree first."