The Drake Group applauds the legislative effort of U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), and Brian Schatz (D-HI) who introduced the College Athletes Bill of Rights on December 17, 2020. The bill is comprehensive and far-reaching, providing college athletes with long-overdue protections that should have been the responsibility of the […]

The Drake Group reviewed the Collegiate Athlete Compensation Rights Act introduced by U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R)-Mississippi on December 10, 2020. The stated purpose of Senator Wicker’s bill is to protect the rights of college athletes, to provide for transparency and accountability with respect to college athlete name, image, and likeness (NIL) agreements, and to […]

On December 3, 2020, the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics issued a formal report, “Transforming the NCAA D-I Model: Recommendation for Change” in which the Knight Commission called for a “reset” of college athletics, urging Presidents and Chancellors to play their rightful leadership role in demanding such reform. Unfortunately, The Drake Group believes the proposed […]

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Drake Group decries an October 16, 2020, NCAA Committee on Infractions decision penalizing college athletes rather than the athletic program administrators who botched the computation of their scholarship checks. Over a three-year period, UMass athletic department administrators failed to properly compute payments when 12 athletes moved off-campus. Eight athletes continued […]

The Drake Group issued a position statement applauding The Student-Athlete Level Playing Field Act introduced on September 14, 2020, by a bipartisan group of U.S. Representatives led by Anthony Gonzalez (OH-R) and Emanuel Cleaver (MO-D). The Act, if adopted, would prohibit the NCAA and other national or conference governance organizations or their member institutions from […]

On August 3, 2020, U.S. Senators Cory Booker, Richard Blumenthal, Christopher Murphy, Kirsten Gillibrand, Ron Wyden, Mazie Hirono, and Kamala Harris issued a “College Athletes Bill of Rights” statement that sought to advance justice and opportunity for college athletes and promised future legislation to realize their position. On August 13, they were joined by Senators […]

The Drake Group is honoring Nancy Hogshead-Makar, J.D. with the 2020 Drake Hero Award for her determined and extraordinary efforts to advance the collegiate sports reform movement through persistent actions over the past thirty years. Hogshead-Makar’s leadership in addressing sexual abuse in sport, which began long before the recent horrific revelations in gymnastics, is path-breaking, […]

The Drake Group Presidential Award was established in 2017 to honor an extraordinary contribution by an individual or organization that has helped advance the integrity of intercollegiate athletics through a public action that demonstrates integrity, the primacy of educational objectives and the responsible and ethical conduct of intercollegiate athletics as an extracurricular enterprise. Johnasia Cash, […]

Members of Congress, sport leaders, advocates and athletes – What they have to say about the need for collegiate athletics reform:  Representative Donna Shalala, Senator Richard Blumenthal, Nancy Hogshead-Makar, Founder of Champion Women, Senator Cory Booker, Consumer Advocate Ralph Nader, former UCLA Gymnast Katelyn Ohashi, and Condoleeza Rice, Chair of the NCAA Commission on College […]

Extensively based on their work as members of The Drake Group, Gerald Gurney, Donna Lopiano and Andy Zimbalist present a cogent summary of the history, issues, and Drake recommended solutions to unwind the corrupting influences of highly commercialized college sports.  From academic fraud, lavish expenditures inappropriate for non-profit institutions of higher education, the exploitation of […]

Karl Igsvoog interviews David Ridpath about his research on mandatory athletic fees, examines recent concussion litigation and its impact on college sports, reports the result of a survey of 131 college presidents on issues related to college football and whether university presidents are taking on the issue of concussion litigation. This video is a portion […]

Karl Idsvoog examines whether college and university provosts are examining the athletic department for evidence of academic fraud and finds that universities appear to be looking the other way, participating in cheating cover-ups, knowingly admitting athletes who do not meet posted academic standards for admission and placing athletes at academic risk in the least demanding […]

Karl Idsvoog examines media coverage of football concussions, concussion lawsuit risk and the cost of intercollegiate athletics. This video is an excerpt from the Presidential Football Project.

Ramogi Huma, President of the National Collegiate Players Association reveals that all coaches promise their recruits that all medical expenses will be covered but do not include any written promise to do so. http://medexpense.jmc.kent.edu/

Karl Idsvoog examined whether University billing records for tuition and fees showed how much students were paying to support the athletic program and found that students and parents don’t know the highest fee the student pays goes to fund athletics because it is so hard to find on most college and university web sites. Some […]

A computer assisted reporting class at Kent State University examined whether Mid-America Athletic Conference institutions kept records of classes missed due to athletics competition schedules and athletic injuries such as concussions. Requests for interviews with every athletic director in the MAC conference were declined.

Mary Willingham previously worked in The Center for Student Success and Academic Counseling (CSSAC) at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.  She was an Academic Advisor in the Graduation Division and a Clinical Instructor in the School of Education. Originally hired by the University in 2003 as a Learning Specialist in the Academic Support […]