Should colleges offer an athletics major?

Was talking about college sports in general with my editor today, and this thought came up. If a large university -- think one of the major football factories -- was to offer an "athletics" major, would it fly with the NCAA or in the court of popular opinion?
I'm sure you could come up with a 7-10 course core curriculum pretty easily. Public speaking, a business management and/or accounting course, a couple of kinesiology classes, classes focusing on coaching techniques of various sports, and some education major-type classes would be a good place to start.
If you want to tie it into the scholar-athlete theme, give athletics majors credit for competing on a team, sort of like you get course credit for internships in other majors.
Yeah, not every athlete goes on to play professionally. And lots of sports don't even have a professional league. But a lot of them do, whether it's in a place like the NFL or the Arena League. So why couldn't this work, and why hasn't some big-time school tried it? Seems like it'd be pretty easy to find a booster to donate enough money to get the athletics school up and running.

 

You could argue that an education major with a coaching track already qualifies as an athletics major.

 

There are already enough cupcake majors for athletes (or anybody) to take.

 

If you can major in music, you can major in athletics.

 

Not as easy as you may think. Ask a music instructor or someone in the symphony pit sometime.

Why the need for an athletics major? Isn't this another way to phrase Physical Education?

 

Actually, yes it is.

 

Athletics isn't easy either. Ask 10-year-old me.

 

Isn't a phys ed major taking glorified gym and health classes?
I was thinking this would be geared more toward preparing someone for a career in athletics, whether that's as an athlete, an agent, a coach/teacher, front office personnel or whatever. A big point of emphasis would be the sports business courses. Obviously it would incorporate pieces of an education major's curriculum and other areas -- like how other majors often cross over similar ground -- but there are plenty of ways to differentiate it and keep it from becoming a cupcake major.

 

If it's not a cupcake major, then the ones who should be taking it — bigtime college athletes who'll be playing professionally — won't take it.

 

There's also recreation majors, similiar to phys ed majors.

I've heard of a few schools offering sports management majors, for people who eventually want to run sports businesses and stuff like that.

 

My only question is...if a college tried it, would they offer cheerleading as part of the curriculum?

 

I have been saying this for decades. The big-time athletes or those who would not get into school other than through their athletic ability or have no desire to do much beyond athletics should absolutely just major in football, basketball or if that's too direct for the university call it a "sports business degree."

Several athletes, and most freshmen, have no idea what they want to major in and could care less. They want to play football - that's their major. Why even pretend like they are there for something else.

You can easily have them take courses in how to deal with the media, the public, (fans), how to read a sports contract, how to invest their money and not waste it on their hangers-on, maybe understand a bit more about how a salary cap works, general course in how to get along with an owner and the basics of social media and how not to get in trouble using it; how to hire an agent, etc.
Maybe, just maybe, some will actually take enough business courses where they don't need an agent or at least not get taken to the cleaners by them.

Of course the other "reality" courses they should take or at least be tutored in are how to hide steroid use, how to avoid getting in trouble at a frat or other campus party, how to delete naked pictures of yourself from an ex-girlfriend's cellphone, how to talk your way out of a speeding ticket, how to get your degree in eight months and prepare for the NBA or NFL draft and more along those lines.

Probably is asking too much, but maybe a few would actually take an interest in college courses and not just waste a professor's time in a philosophy or social science class they could give two shits about.