BOGALUSA - With change comes anxiety, so with State Representative Rickey Hardy trying to raise the bar for student-athletes, many Washington Parish coaches are concerned.
Currently, student-athletes in Louisiana have to maintain a 1.5 grade point average, but if Hardy's law passes, the GPA standard will be raised to 2.0.
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Not all coaches are worried about what will happen to their students, though.
Bogalusa softball coach Linda Pittman has been coaching for eight years, and she has seen that girls do not seem to have problems with academics the way boys do.
"I've only had one girl who didn't have a 1.5," Pittman said. "I think it would help to raise the standard. However, you might be knocking some kids out from being able to play who are underprivileged. If you take that away from them, you might be taking away the only thing they have. But if they know they have to make it, and that's all they have, maybe they will make it. I am definitely in favor of it."
Pittman said students who can make a 2.0 have a much better chance of getting a scholarship to college, which should be an incentive to students.
"When you get scouted, they look at their attendance record and their GPA and you can get all kinds of scholarships. I'm all for it. I don't see how it would hurt that many students," Pittman said.
Franklinton head football coach Shane Smith does not see the point in raising the standard for student-athletes. In a recent study, which he did, Smith found that in Washington Parish, 38 percent of people have a high school diploma and only 5 percent have a college degree.
"That kid is not choosing to have a low GPA, he has something else going on. I don't think 80 percent of the students who make a 1.5 will be able to make a 2.0," Smith said. "I'm not against education; I'm looking out for those kids who will end up on the streets. I mean, what do they do at 3 o'clock in the evening?"
The FHS football team would also be hurt talent-wise, as Smith said 25 to 30 percent of his players would be deemed ineligible if the GPA was raised to a 2.0.
"Do you know how many kids we save in athletics because they can play football?" Smith said. "As a coach, I stay on kids about grades, but if a kid is making a 1.5 and barely eligible, I bet there is a very small percentage of kids who will be able to make a 2.0."
David Hofstetter, an athlete on Franklinton's football and baseball teams said, "There is a reason that we are called 'student-athletes' instead of 'athletic-students.' The bottom line is that most people will not be able to live the rest of their lives on their millions from playing professional sports, so getting an education while the opportunity presents itself is key."
Bowling Green head football and baseball coach Brett Beard is 100 percent in favor of the proposed bill.
"I think a student being a student-athlete, the work in the classroom should come first. I think if the kids also realize that if they had to have a 2.0 to play football, they would make it. The kids know they have to make a 1.5 so they make it," Beard said.
Ben's Ford boys' basketball coach Derek Dantin said he thinks the new standard would be a good thing, but only under one condition:
"I think if the school offers assistance for students with learning disabilities then I'm OK with it. We've got kids who have learning disabilities here, but we don't have the classes for them," Dantin said.
However, he thinks the ultimate decision of changing GPA requirements should be left to the state athletic association.
Varnado head boys' basketball coach Paul Meyerchick agreed with Dantin when he said, "I think they need to leave it up to the LHSAA," which is the Louisiana High School Athletic Association.
At Pine High School, the boys and girls basketball teams would not have much to worry about. According to head boys basketball coach Lance Jordan, no one from the boys' team would have been ineligible last year.
"I think it would be good. In my opinion, if you make a 1.5 you're probably going to fail and not be eligible next year anyway," Jordan said. "Just getting by in academics is not what we're trying to teach in high school sports. It's going to hurt some people, but it's going to open some eyes too."
Many coaches and principals have been worried about what kids will do if the new GPA causes students to be ineligible for sports. Jordan thinks he has got the answer.
"I tell you what they can do after school. Go to tutoring," Jordan said. "If they don't have the work ethic in the classroom, how far are they going to go on the court or field? If these kids are going to be our future, we need them to have an education."
Editor's note: This is part three in a three-part series.
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