Missouri senior forward Laurence Bowers hopes he’ll be playing in the National Basketball Association this time next year. But if not, he has a backup plan.
The 6-foot-8-inch, 227-pound dynamic man earned his bachelor’s degree in sociology in May and now has his sights set on a master’s degree in health education.
With the five-month grind of basketball season combined with off-season conditioning, Bowers said he has a lot on his plate. He gives a lot of credit to the MU athletic department’s academic support system, the Total Person Program, for his game off the court: his academics.
“I’m very involved with the program,” Bowers said. “Having them on our side helps make us being a student a lot easier. They have tutors for us whenever we need them, and I believe that without some of the tutors I’ve had, I wouldn’t have graduated with such a high GPA. They’ve been a big plus.”
With Missouri’s move to the Southeastern Conference in July, the Total Person Program has made changes in the class attendance policies for student-athletes, becoming stricter about absences.
“We have had to adapt a bit,” said Joe Scogin, the associate athletic director for academic services, in an email. “The SEC follows the NCAA guidelines, but also is more strict in certain areas. The SEC has made it very clear that they want to protect the integrity of the conference and has put more stringent policies in place to ensure it. We have had to make some adjustments in our area, and our coaches have had to make some adjustments as well.”
In the Big 12, if the NCAA approved eligibility, the conference office did not step in, Scogin said. The SEC reserves the right to have the final ruling on all initial eligibility decisions.
One of the biggest changes to athletic department rules is the required class attendance policy, Scogin said. There is not a specific number of absences for all sports, but there is a general standard the athletic department requires each team to meet. The teams can vary the number of absences before suspension as well as what grades are needed to play. The requirements depend on what the coach thinks they should be.
Regardless, players must attend their classes.
“The SEC pretty much says you have to go to class or you do not play,” Bowers said. “We have guys on the team who are very disciplined and want to do well.”
Junior offensive lineman Max Copeland made it clear he respects the authority of SEC regulations.
“Going from the Big 12 to (the) SEC (has been) more strict,” he said. “You’re damn sure you’re going to class. I go to class, so I don’t have to worry about the rules.”
The Total Person Program does more than enforce conference rules — it helps student-athletes get on a good track academically and stay there.
The program’s efforts are based on the idea that the student-athletes’ most critical year is their first, Scogin said.
“A lot of our focus is centered on what we call our first-year transition program,” he said. “In addition to normal transition issues that students face, such as being away from home and not having anyone telling them to get up and go to class and roommate issues, student athletes have a pretty tremendous obligation in terms of their athletic commitment. Practice, weightlifting, film sessions and rehab: With all that stuff hitting at once, it can become overwhelming.”
The fundamental skills for student success are organization, time management, communication and success skills, Scogin said. Any student-athlete will say time management is the No. 1 key to being successful, he said.
“I think it’s time control,” said junior quarterback James Franklin, who is majoring in communication. “I know that sometimes you don’t have to necessarily make time if you don’t pick a challenging major. But (if you do) … it forces you to work hard towards that.”
What Franklin said holds true in regard to one of his own teammates: Copeland, a physics major who said he didn’t want to think he was paying tuition solely to play a sport.
“When I chose a major, I had to choose a major that would not apply to me playing football,” he said. “I don’t think that there’s anything as important as physics. It’s how the world works. I had to do something that would challenge me outside of football.”
The Total Person Program is better able to help student-athletes manage their time because academic success is no longer only expected from the program, but from strength coaches, sport coaches, teammates and other student-athletes as well, Scogin said.
Junior soccer forward Alyssa Diggs said the study sessions her coach made her attend her first year established a good track for her to develop on academically.
“Not all of us have tutors, depending on your grades,” Diggs said. “When I was a freshman, we had mandatory study hall, and that helped a lot. The tutors helped you get adjusted to the new curriculum.”
The Total Person Program is set up so the student-athletes know they are students first, soccer coach Bryan Blitz said. To be successful with the team and schoolwork, Blitz said students have to have a “type A” personality, which, to Blitz, consists of three attributes: high-achieving, competitive and hardworking.
“We recruit smart players,” Blitz said. “We look at their GPA. We know that it does translate on the field. It makes them more coachable because they are more intelligent.”
The required GPA by the athletic department is a 2.0, Scogin said.
“Honestly, that rule typically does not pose a challenge,” Scogin said in an email. “However, the progress toward degree requirements creates more of a challenge. Students have to complete 24 credit hours by the end of their first year, 40 percent of their degree by the end of their second year, 60 percent of their degree by the end of their third year and 80 percent of their degree by the end of their fourth year. This only creates challenges when a student decides that they want to change their major.”
Senior cross-country and track runner Phillip Bascio originally started off as a biology major before changing his mind to chemical engineering, where he thought his real strengths rested.
“I wanted to use my strengths in math, so I chose chemical engineering,” Bascio said. “It’s a lot of work, but it’s totally worth it. There are a lot of jobs in that right now.”
The workload varies depending on the student-athlete and the major he or she selects, Scogin said. The Total Person Program does not advise in terms of course or major selection. They do, however, provide direction as to whom the student-athletes should meet to get their answers when choosing or changing their major. The decision of a student-athlete’s major is completely up to the student. If student-athletes sign up for strenuous majors, students are putting that workload on themselves, he said.
“That’s the hardest part of it all,” Bascio said. “Doing a major such as chemical engineering and doing something that requires a lot of time such as track is a huge time commitment. The most important thing is time management. It’s not just showing up to practice twice a day — there are a lot more things that go with it.”
Apart from running, Bascio is a good student. In fact, he had the opportunity to tutor for the Total Person Program last year.
“For cross country, you don’t have to go see (the tutors) unless you have a GPA of 3.0 or lower, so I’ve never had to go in,” Bascio said. “I did tutor for them last semester. They had me tutor people in my own sport or people who needed help with basic chemistry and physics. It was cool. It helped me review and teach other students. I did about 10 hours a week.”
The goal of the Total Person Program is to provide structure and teach what it takes to be successful individually, Scogin said.
Students, including Franklin, said the program is considerate and helps them get their work done so they can participate in athletics as well.
“It’s a great program,” he said. “They’re really nice … over there. I think it’s a great opportunity to get the best of both worlds.”
Franklin said he looks to be involved in public speaking after he hangs up his football cleats and calls it a career.
“Well, I like speaking in front of crowds and being prepared,” Franklin said. “My dad is an evangelist, and so when I’m done with football, I want to be a public speaker, representative or maybe even a motivational speaker for a company because I like to present and be animated and try to help out other people.”
It is not a coincidence Franklin likes to be prepared. In fact, Scogin said that is what the Total Person Program is all about. It’s not the definition of a student-athlete that is so impressive, but the known transferable skills that make that name so appealing to corporate eyes.
“When we visit with companies and ask them what they’re looking for in potential employees, at the very top are leadership qualities, work ethic, communication skills and teamwork skills,” Scogin said. “We’re having them advocate for themselves what those skills are that they’ve learned as a student-athlete and having them prepared for the transaction into the real world.”
Student-athletes already have the understanding that the success of the team — and one day, company — is more important than the individual, and this mindset will prepare them for success in life after school and sports, Scogin said.
“Our hope is to develop student-athletes’ skill sets so they can be more successful for the 40 years after they leave Mizzou than the four years that they’re with us,” Scogin said. “Life doesn’t end at graduation. It begins.”