FAMU athletes use summer for study

Alvin Hollins
Sports Editor

FAMU student athletes are taking advantage of the summer months to get ahead academically, with many taking required courses to stay on track to graduate on schedule. Rattler linebacker Brandon Hepburn chose to take a mandatory biochemistry class, a requirement for his major in the summer, to avoid waiting until the fall or next summer as his only other options.

Members of the football team traditionally start their summer days with early morning workouts before classes. Even with that, Hepburn says the summer option is better because there are fewer extracurricular activities to take up his time. While Hepburn, who maintains a grade point average above 3.0, has a choice, some student athletes who attend summer classes don’t. Those who found themselves on the borderline of keeping their eligibility, or the ones who failed last semester, must right the ship during the summer.

Some have to do it at their own expense because not everyone’s cost is covered by FAMU’s athletic department. The emphasis, said interim athletic director Mike Smith, is on football players and basketball players who get their tuitions covered as participants in revenue generating sports. The ones who pay their own way often are in sports that are classified as Olympic sports such as tennis, swimming and volleyball. But even those athletes get plenty of assistance to ensure that they don’t find themselves in a situation where they must fork over their own cash to pay for classes that they might need to remain eligible, Smith said. They can work with three academic advisors and participate in extended hours of study hall, Smith said. That strategy has been effective, as evidenced by FAMU’s improved standing in the latest NCAA Academic Progress Report.

“It’s not just getting our kids eligible; the standard is getting them graduated,” Smith said. “The standard is to get them graduated in a way that they could be successful when they leave school.” FAMU’s athletic department spends about $100,000 each summer to cover the cost of classes. A handful of student athletes such as Hepburn spend their entire summer in classes. The summer session runs from June to August. The upside of summer classes, apart from maintaining eligibility, is that it allows student athletes to take fewer classes during their playing seasons in order to meet the demands of their sport — such as traveling.

(Top) Brandon Hepburn (Middle) Michael Smith (Bottom) LaDawn Gibson

Getting student athletes to understand their role in the classroom is more than a onetime conversation, said women’s basketball coach LeDawn Gibson. “You just try to keep them focused by talking to them and being a part of what’s going on,” she said. “You can’t assume that because they are young adults that they will be responsible. “I tell them accountability is a lot of it.”    

That’s the same message that men’s tennis coach Carl Goodman sends to his players. Apparently he’s been getting through — his team recently won the athletic department’s academic award for having the best GPA as a team. “I tell them every semester, ‘I don’t want any surprises,’” Goodman said. “The athletic department has weekly meetings, and they’re big on academics. I tell my guys when I go to these meetings I don’t want to hear that tennis is not going to study hall.”