Getting Close And Personal With Student-Athletes

The following commentary was submitted by a professor who recently moved from the big leagues of college athletics—Vanderbilt in the SEC—to the minor leagues: Francis Marion University of the Peach Belt Conference.

By Joe Aniello, Professor, Francis Marion University

I spent a few years at Vanderbilt University in Nashville earning my doctorate. A transplanted New Englander, I quickly grew fond of the genteel atmosphere and relaxed pace of life in Nashville. And Vanderbilt—undeniably one of the finest institutions in the country—is a noteworthy site for matriculation, sociability and contemplation.

And of course, athletics too.

Vanderbilt competes with the biggest and the best in the Southeast Conference. Although they seem to have been beaten pretty badly of late by the football juggernauts, the Commodores—and the Lady Commodores—do more than hold their own in all the other sports.

And even though Vanderbilt attracts athletes with academics superior to its peer institutions, athletics are a very big deal. As a doctoral student and assistant professor, I could easily see that Vandy student-athletes were different, special, and largely unapproachable.

I recently moved from teaching at Vanderbilt to Francis Marion University in Florence, South Carolina. More significantly—in athletics terms—I moved from the Division I-A Southeastern Conference to the Division II Peach Belt Conference.

During the recent NCAA Division II basketball tournament, our beloved Patriots were eliminated one game short of the Elite Eight by our Peach Belt rival, Kennesaw State from Georgia.

Kennesaw went on to win the Division II national championship in a cakewalk. Had the Patriots not drawn Kennesaw so early in our regional tournament, they surely would have advanced much farther.

Despite being eliminated, it was a great year for our team, with 27 wins against only 4 losses, setting a school record for most wins in a season.

More important, however, was my transition from a school where sports are big business to one where sports are just big fun. I'm not really sure how the Divisions actually work, since Kennesaw has 17,000 students and Vandy has 6000, while Francis Marion has less than 4000. I just know that the FMU players are a great group of student-athletes who gave the entire region lots of exciting entertainment over the last four months AND a whole heck of a lot of reasons to be proud.

It seems to me that, as I was able to get up close and personal with the FMU basketball team, my level of enjoyment was that much greater versus the at-a-distance hype and hoopla surrounding the so-called big-time programs.

I am very grateful for the unexpected bonus of up-close fandom that awaited me at FMU. This starkly juxtaposed situation allowed me to experience the vast differences between these two levels of competition.

I still followed the Lord and Lady Commodores in the big dance during March Madness ... but with my head only. I gave my heart at the 'office' to my new team, the FMU Patriots.

Go Patriots!

Professor Aniello’s college athletics interest was initiated during his undergraduate days at small college—but D1 in basketball—Fairfield University. Like many 40 plus fans, Aniello has had difficulty coming to grips with today’s sad state of affairs, because his frame of reference derives from such stalwarts as John Wooden, Dean Smith and Bill Bradley.