Book Review on Varsity Green

College athletics are often on the national stage, from the bowl games for football
to March Madness for basketball. For a university athletic program to be invited to
participate in tournaments or bowl games means exposure, prestige, and money. But is
that always a positive thing? After reading Varsity Green: A behind the scenes look at
culture and corruption in college athletics, he describes in depth how everything is
revolving around money and that student-athletes are the endorsement product.
The one topic discussed in the beginning of the Varsity Green is the Entertainment
product. That universities say athletes are, students first and athletes second (Yost,
2010, p. 14), but thats not the case. Athletes are at universities to play well and bring
revenue in for their university, and by doing that they have to be able to manage in the
classroom as well. Universalities spend an enormous amount of money for Academic
Learning for their athletes, which include counselors, graduate assistants, academic
advisors, tutors, assistance with writing skills, and supervised study time. Phil Hughes
states, My number one goal is keeping our kids grounded in the business at hand, which
is competing successfully in the classroom. Is this really the case, or is it to make sure
athletes are eligible to play in the game. We should focus on the academic aspect of it,
how well are these athletes doing in school and can they do it without extra perks. The
demands on athletes are tremendous and it is a full time job being a student-athlete. The
importance of academics should be engraved into the athlete so they are aware of the
importance of academics. There will be a time in an athlete's life where being an athlete
is irrelevant, but there will never be a time where being intelligent and having a degree is

irrelevant. Individuals may say that athletes are there for entertainment purposes, but
they are also there to receive an education. In Varsity Green, it covered a portion on how
tutoring centers are used to cover up academic shortcomings, which is not helping an
athlete. One incident occurred when Herschel Walker was breaking SEC and NCAA
rushing records at Georgia. The tutors were not helping the student-athletes study;
instead they were doing their assignments for them. The main goal is to make sure the
athlete can play, and do whatever it takes.
The big economic concerns regarding college athletics in 2009, was that colleges
and universities were getting caught up in a contest to see who could build the biggest,
most-lavish football stadiums, basketball arenas, training facilities, and student-athlete
tutoring centers (Yost, 2010, p.97). The question that Yost raised was, does it matter? Is
all our focus on our sport facilities and if they are the best in the nation. Those athletic
facilities are more cared about than academic buildings. During the development of
Adrian College facilities, there were two phases: Renaissance I focused on athletic
facilities, residence halls, and extracurricular life. Renaissance II focused on academics
(Yost, 2010, p. 98). This shows that athletic facilities were built first and academic
buildings second. The focus is on athletics because this is bringing the money in, and
what we should put our effort in. That is the mentality of universities and colleges, in a
press release announcing the boards approval to build a new stadium for Adrian college,
the school stated, it is anticipated that the new track and stadium will boost the campus
atmosphere and school spirit, and will help the college enroll more student-athletes (Yost,
2010, p.98). That press release explains itself and that our goal is to gain more athletes
and we will do that at all costs.

Yost discusses the false hopes that high-school kids put in their head because they
do not understand the system that well. These athletes watch ESPN and dream about the
fame and glory that they will receive and start working harder to have a shot at the pros.
The realization that doesnt take place is that only a low percent of these kids play in
college and an even lower percentage makes it to the pros. The parents are even
advocates for driving false hope into their children. Parents start their children young,
with years of intense training and elite summer camps to enhance their skills and ability.
Yost creates a scenario; if your whole life was revolved around sports and you had
coaches, tutors, trainers, teachers giving you extra time on assignments and the best way
of making it out of your situation is being the best in your sport. Then they play in
college and dont make it to the league and their hopes and dreams are shattered.. These
kids (now adults) are lost, they outlived their usefulness says Yost. They have nothing to
fall back on because their education had no meaning. There was no one to convince them
that academics were truly the most important part of your college career.. I was a college
athlete and my academics were my main focus. I told myself that if something happened
where I could not participate in my sport any longer and I would be fine because my
focus was on my academics too. There is a life beyond sports and sometimes taking your
sport out of the equation for a second can make you see the big picture.
Yost reaches a lot of answers about college athletics and how things are viewed.
But he also raises a few questions that I never thought about or had a different view on.
Being a college athlete a lot of what goes on by coaches, learning specialists and in
athlete departments. Sports have always been a huge part of my life and I never could
imagine a time without them. I know that my education is what will guide me through

my adult life and career. I will always consider myself an athlete, but always and forever
a student. Yost discusses the money revolving around college athletes and the demand
universities has on each student-athlete. Athletes do have two jobs and succeeding at
both is difficult but can be done. Individuals might question that athletes receive special
treatment, but universities offer the same resources to students. Sports are a huge part of
the American society and I dont see that changing. If we can balance athletics and
academics equally, that would be ideal.

Work Cited
Yost, M. (2010). Varsity Green: A behind the scenes look at culture
and corruption in
college athletics. (pp.1-195). Stanford, CA: Stanford University
Press.