Welcome Zach Laput!

[stevelee]

If we all pool our ignorance during our pearl clutching maybe we can get rather refined facts.

[Wildcat92]

Having multiple residents of the Pines enrolled in my classes despite having already received their college degrees and having no intention to graduate from Davidson certainly did not devalue my diploma or my experience.

Never heard of this and was not aware it happened.

Absolutely. There were residents of Davidson participating in several of my classes. One of them, Bill Vinson, was a WWII veteran who added immeasurably to my experience in political theory AND astronomy.

[raptorcat]

Bill Vinson was a great Davidson alumnus whose college years were interrupted by the war. He served on a battleship in the Navy, then returned to Davidson and completed his degree. His son Bill Jr. '78 was my freshman hallmate. I lived with Bill and a bunch of guys in his father's house during my sophomore year. After Bill graduated, the elder Vinson eventually moved into that house (a proud but tired old Victorian house on Main Street) and fixed it up. It remains a showplace to this day.

I can easily see Bill Sr. providing provocative and lively insights into class discussions with students who were young enough to have been his grandkids.

[Wildcat92]

Bill Vinson was a great Davidson alumnus whose college years were interrupted by the war. He served on a battleship in the Navy, then returned to Davidson and completed his degree. His son Bill Jr. '78 was my freshman hallmate. I lived with Bill and a bunch of guys in his father's house during my sophomore year. After Bill graduated, the elder Vinson eventually moved into that house (a proud but tired old Victorian house on Main Street) and fixed it up. It remains a showplace to this day.

I can easily see Bill Sr. providing provocative and lively insights into class discussions with students who were young enough to have been his grandkids.

He absolutely did.

[Wildcat92]

This must have been the young man at the Soda Shop. An Orange-ade and a grilled cheese will close any deal.

[Acorn]

Loyer did not have a college degree when he came to Davidson.

And everything written about Laput says one year. He himself also said one year.

[quickcat]

Lots of rules have changed (or gone away?) since COVID and NIL. But you still only get 4 years of eligibility. It is just that 20-21 doesn’t count as using a year. If you were an Ivy or Bentley student and your school didn’t play at all that year you don’t get a fifth, even if others did.

Maybe someone could spring for a pint for you if that is the case.

[Dr. Bliss]

This must have been the young man at the Soda Shop. An Orange-ade and a grilled cheese will close any deal.

An egg salad would've gotten us two years.

[stevelee]

I don’t know much about it (which has not been much impediment in this thread anyway), but I heard that Davidson now has some kind of certificate program that could be earned in students’ postgraduate years. Maybe that and $5 will get you a cup of coffee, or maybe credits could go toward master’s degrees. I’m not implying that this has any relationship to what Zach is doing. Whatever he is doing must have more value to him than even grilled cheese. I could see that a good player might expect a better entrée into a pro career in Europe after a year at Davidson and with the connections that could bring.

[bagelcat]

It is neither sanctimonious nor wishcasting to state that Davidson has rigorous standards for the admission of athletes (not saying basketball players necessarily have the same credentials as non-basketball playing students: I doubt that is the case at any upper tier academic institution). But the athletes who are admitted to Davidson are legitimate students, full stop. This will continue to be the case; no one needs to worry about that.

[DC69Wildcat]

This must have been the young man at the Soda Shop. An Orange-ade and a grilled cheese will close any deal.

An egg salad would've gotten us two years.

[DC69Wildcat]

I don’t know much about it (which has not been much impediment in this thread anyway), but I heard that Davidson now has some kind of certificate program that could be earned in students’ postgraduate years.

Are they awarded a Participation Trophy rather than a diploma?

[stevelee]

I don’t know much about it (which has not been much impediment in this thread anyway), but I heard that Davidson now has some kind of certificate program that could be earned in students’ postgraduate years.

Are they awarded a Participation Trophy rather than a diploma?

Maybe a Colt 45 award if they do well.

[Acorn]

A nondegree-seeking student has a stronger temptation to blow off spring courses. Sure, any student-athlete can do it and some Davidsonians have (I believe Mike Maloy and Rodney Knowles have been described on here as doing so). But the counterweight for a degree-seeking student is that they would be giving up the chance to earn a degree by finishing up three to four courses. A nondegree-seeking student is giving up what?—the chance to complete a meaningless “certificate” at best?

Maybe Davidson has a policy of checking in on student-athlete progress during the season. But they didn’t when I taught there, nor have other places I’ve taught (to be sure, at every place profs could and have always been encouraged to contact coaches if a student-athlete was struggling—although that potential eligibility check is relevant only until the end of the season). Most Davidson MBB players I’ve met would follow through on the perceived obligation to complete their coursework. But incentives matter. Someone in Laput’s position (one-year student athlete who already has a college degree and is, at most, working toward a certificate) faces a powerful incentive to focus on basketball or enjoying life to the exclusion of coursework in the spring semester. That incentive is only stronger if the “grad transfer” proves to be as good a basketball player as we all hope he is. If someone comes in and puts up performances that attract attention from pro scouts, then it’s going to be hard for them to justify sticking out their schoolwork instead of living in the gym.

[ScootCat]

It would appear that Davidson has now succumbed to the new realities of the D1 college basketball landscape. Totally understandable given the still evolving backdrop, but certainly a sad fact for those of us who loved Wildcat basketball because it proudly stood above most all other programs.