How The NCAA Funds Research Into Itself

An interesting story:

The NCAA has provided what Kretchmar describes as a startup grant for the advisory group and its journal. The association, he said, has no editorial review over the journal, and no controlling hand in the research or colloquiums. The NCAA is, in essence, funding a group of researchers striving to be as independent from the NCAA as possible. So what’s in it for Brand’s association?
“It’s not meant to be guided by the NCAA and controlled by the NCAA,” said Todd Petr, the NCAA’s managing director of research. “But I would say the NCAA is trying to encourage people to do this kind of work. The more data you have, the more national in scope it is, the broader the look, the more information that you have to create policy.”
The NCAA, Petr said, is encouraging a balanced look at the “complete story,” and Brand’s belief is that while not all of the story is good, most of it is. And good research will reveal that.
Existing research certainly paints contrasting sides of the complete story. One NCAA study of incoming athletes in 1994 showed that more than a decade later, 88 percent of those surveyed eventually received their degree, a figure considerably higher than graduation rates that don’t consider transfer students.

College sports are a considerably opaque realm for research (as Chuck Grassley would tell you) and it is promising to see research into them. Read the full piece for a better sense of just what kind of work is being produced.