The case for Football as a college major
Offering a college academic major in Football is not out of the question. Football is a big industry with many facets and skill requirements, and you don’t have to be a 5-star recruit to cash in. Coaching and playing are two very visible facets, but there are also myriad others who support the game behind the scenes.
A major in Football might motivate athletes to attend class and pay attention to their coursework, because they would find the topic interesting and see its usefulness for their playing days and post-playing career.
Most importantly, professors will have the opportunity to slip them a broad education in many important areas that could later transfer to work and life outside of football.
Let’s explore the broad content of a major in Football:
Football Basics
The intro course would naturally begin with a brief history of the game. Then, it would go straight into learning how the game is played, to include the intricate rules of football and the basics of officiating. Coaching skills and techniques would follow, to include the psychology of learning and motivation.
Perhaps the most challenging part of coaching and playing would be understanding intricate offensive and defensive schemes. One Notre Dame defensive back said that his defensive scheme was harder than his college course in Mandarin Chinese. Here is where you slip in more psychology coursework on memory skills.
Injuries and How to Prevent Them
Personal experience with physical conditioning could be an early lab course in this curriculum, tying it in with understanding common injuries and what an athlete might do to prevent them. This would be followed by an overview of what recovery and rehabilitation is like, if a player does get injured. This part of the course is where you teach them biology, particularly anatomy and physiology.
A second lab course might be on equipment design and innovation, students getting hands-on experience engineering and designing helmets and pads, not to mention throwing in a little commercial art regarding the packaging of football players in their colorful uniforms.
The Politics of Football
NCAA governance and rules are all over football. It would be essential for students to know and understand early on what the NCAA requires, and what the rules and ethics of recruiting and staying eligible are, so players don’t inadvertently disqualify themselves or anyone else from competition.
Conference alignment and realignment probably won’t go away soon. So, understanding this puzzle should generate many good class discussions.
NFL operations go well beyond the NCAA, and knowledge of this domain might lend itself to future jobs in football other than playing the game. Needless to say, the NFL is big business, and being a part of it could be a big, lucrative career.
The Business of Football
While the NCAA and NFL are certainly the business of football, there is much more. New NIL (name, image, and likeness) opportunities offer the additional opportunity to teach Football majors how to navigate the murky waters of finance, money management and negotiating skills, which would be valuable now and when their playing days are over.
Team and stadium operations are big business and big headaches, accommodating hundreds of team personnel, managing crowds in the thousands, and making sure a huge physical plant keeps functioning in all its moving parts.
From college to the pros, management, marketing, finance, accounting and travel logistics are all going to be necessary skills in the broad profession of football. Thus, the Football major will essentially need to be a mini-major in business.
Psychology of Football
Every sport has its mental side, and football would be no exception. Players need to learn how to manage their emotions, focus, think clearly under pressure, and to some extent, “psych out” their opponents and “psych up” their teammates.
More than these, athletes need to learn “life skills” such as responsibility, stress management and communication skills, as well as how to cooperate with the clinical help they might need for anxiety, depression, substance abuse, eating disorders and concussions.
An understanding of reinforcement theory is mandatory for coaches with their players, players with each other and management with the whole operation.
Life after football has become more of a concern and much more study and counseling has to be done in these areas. A topic like this opens the door for teaching Football majors about the scientific method, experimental design and statistics.
Clearly, we have another mini-major here in Psychology.
Public Relations
If one is going to be a public figure and role model, like football players tend to become, then the players image is going to be of high importance. They will need to learn how to carry themselves in public, as well as acquit themselves responsibly and with dignity.
Public speaking will be demanded of them, and some might be lucky enough to get into radio or TV broadcasting someday.
A Football major might attract good role models as guest speakers, such as executives from the NCAA and NFL, team owners, coaches, players, referees, sport physicians and psychologists.
The Finished Product
So, what is the end product when a Football major crosses the stage to get his diploma?
Well, you get someone whose curriculum includes a major in Football; mini-majors in Business and Psychology; minors in Biology, Communication Arts and Political Science; along with electives in Commercial Art and the Travel Industry.
More than someone who just knows the ins and outs of football, you get a polished graduate who can speak in public, is in good physical and mental shape, is articulate behind a microphone and could likely go into politics or business in many industries in addition to football.
Dr. Tom Dorsel is Professor Emeritus of Psychology, a graduate of Notre Dame, and a clinical/sport psychologist currently serving Pinehurst and Hilton Head. His best-selling book is “GOLF: The Mental Game,” and he can be reached on Facebook or via tom@dorsel.com.
