Chapter 6 The Flutie Factor

In the mid 1980’s Doug Flutie threw a last second “Hail Mary” pass on national television during a Thanksgiving weekend game, enabling Boston College to beat a heavily favored Miami. It was one of the most memorable moments of sports during the 1980’s. Since that amazing throw on national television, watched by thousands of people, the applications for admission to Boston College rose 25% in the year following Doug Flutie’s year as quarterback at BC. This shows that athletic success can influence enrollment to colleges and increase the amount of tuition received.

Since then every admissions office in the country wanted the “Flutie Factor” to hit their schools. Because of the Flutie phenomenon during that time, many students were enrolling, not because of the academics but because BC became a “hot college town,” popular for its bars, sports and expanding party scene. BC continued to rise in sports fame but when BC football players were involved in an ugly gambling scandal; the media attention damaged the school reputation. Applications to BC dipped and then remained at the ordinary plateau, as it was in the past.

The Flutie Factor shows how influential a sport can be in society. Many people look at sports and relate it to how a school performs academically. At many schools that the sports program is ranked in the top ten in the country but have horrible undergraduate programs. For example, Florida State University has achieved a very high recognition of football achievement. It is stated in the book, that FSU has “an almost permanent Flutie Factor.” FSU has always been at the top of national football polls. It has also been at the top of the list of party schools as well. The school has had many titles and is a prime example of an institution that provided it students with beer and circus and not much of any undergraduate education.

Undergraduates at schools with big time sports teams are do not get proper education in the class room. At the University of Buffalo, undergrad classes have 400 to 500 people in a classroom where professors don’t know the students names or even answer many questions. UB neglects undergraduate studies and is a situation that many universities are in, and is an unfortunate situation. I feel the president of NYU Jay Oliva said it best. “Every school wants to believe they will be the one to make it big in college sports, but they mainly end up wasting huge amounts of money on the effort, funds that could be spent on academics.” I feel this is very true. Many colleges fail at using their sports to bring in money, but usually they lose money and the teams lose. Let us stick to what college is all about. Learning and developing into a better person. Not learning how to do a funnel, but to actually write a paper. Social life is important but should not be the main focus.

College life should be looked at and thought about more in depth, especially by the student. A student should understand and realize why they are there. They shouldn’t choose a college because its football team is top ten in the country. I am realizing how sports can be corrupt and is emphasized over studies. It is crazy how a president of a university and professors let this happen. But I’m going to be honest. I went to a basketball game instead of studying.