Paterno Pleased With the Tougher Standards

Not yet a year old, the NCAA’s Proposition 48, which sets academic standards for freshman college athletes, has gotten rave reviews from veteran Penn State football Coach Joe Paterno.

“I think it’s been spectacular,” Paterno said of the more stringent scholastic requirements for college freshmen football players. “And the difference, last year we took 17 kids (on scholarship) and only one of them was black. This year we took 24 kids and 11 are black. And all of them, except one, is a fine student.”

The rule, which took effect Aug. 1, 1986, is based on a sliding minimum scale and required that incoming freshmen have a minimum high school grade-point average of 1.8 out of a possible 4.0 in a core curriculum of at least 11 academic subjects. In addition, freshmen were required to have a set score on the Scholastic Aptitude Test or the American College Test based on their grade-point averages.

By 1988, all students will be required to have a minimum of 2.0 grade-point average and a SAT test score of at least 700 and an ACT score of 15.

Paterno said he and other college coaches with whom he’s spoken have noted a different attitude, with an emphasis on core subjects and tutoring, in most of the schools in which they’ve recruited.

As an example, Paterno noted the one previously below-standard Penn State recruit is being tutored and has already increased his test scores above the minimum.

“I think (that’s) indicative of what we wanted to get across on Proposition 48,” Paterno said during a meeting with reporters.

“We wanted people to make sure that they gave every one of those kids a chance, made them take the right courses, helped them to test,” he said. “We got away from this business of ‘you’re a good athlete and you’re black and you’re not particularly good in the schools, you’re dumb.’ Because they’re not dumb, most of the time it’s just been a question of nobody’s showed an interest in them or their priorities have been out of whack.”