“Even diehard fans of college sports will question their obsession after reading this page-turning tale about the modern machinery that runs big-time athletics on campuses. Meticulously researched, Andy Thomason shows us what happens when fans and academic leaders alike turn a blind eye to the mission of higher education all in the name of entertainment, money, and fame.”
—Jeffrey Selingo, author of Who Gets In and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions
— Jeffrey Selingo
“This engrossing book captures—with depth and passion—the toxic cocktail that set the UNC scandal into motion, and strikes at the heart of the lies higher education tells itself to preserve the myth of amateurism. Thomason’s convincing argument should serve as a warning to higher education. Hopefully, it is a guide as well.”
—Adam Harris, author of The State Must Provide
— Adam Harris
“Big-time sports in American universities are predicated on the myth of amateurism; that serving athletes’ educational and athletic interests represent the enterprise’s guiding light. But football and men’s basketball, in particular, fuel a multibillion-dollar sports entertainment industry, one that has reached a breaking point. Andy Thomason shows why the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is the perfect place to deconstruct the amateurism myth—and to show its potentially devastating effects on the reputations and missions of institutions of higher education—as university leaders across the nation today continue to cling to it.”
—Victoria Jackson, UNC alumna, NCAA national champion, and sports historian at Arizona State University
— Victoria Jackson
"Thomason’s book should inspire research into the post-college lives of typical players. All the “patches” that UNC or any other big-sports university can devise can’t solve the underlying problem that Frank Porter Graham identified some ninety years ago."
—James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal
— George Leef, James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal
“This engrossing book captures—with depth and passion—the toxic cocktail that set the UNC scandal into motion, and strikes at the heart of the lies higher education tells itself to preserve the myth of amateurism. Thomason’s convincing argument should serve as a warning to higher education. Hopefully, it is a guide as well.”
—Adam Harris, author of The State Must Provide
— Adam Harris
"Thomason’s book should inspire research into the post-college lives of typical players. All the “patches” that UNC or any other big-sports university can devise can’t solve the underlying problem that Frank Porter Graham identified some ninety years ago."
—James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal
— George Leef, James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal
“Even diehard fans of college sports will question their obsession after reading this page-turning tale about the modern machinery that runs big-time athletics on campuses. Meticulously researched, Andy Thomason shows us what happens when fans and academic leaders alike turn a blind eye to the mission of higher education all in the name of entertainment, money, and fame.”
—Jeffrey Selingo, author of Who Gets In and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions
— Jeffrey Selingo
“Big-time sports in American universities are predicated on the myth of amateurism; that serving athletes’ educational and athletic interests represent the enterprise’s guiding light. But football and men’s basketball, in particular, fuel a multibillion-dollar sports entertainment industry, one that has reached a breaking point. Andy Thomason shows why the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is the perfect place to deconstruct the amateurism myth—and to show its potentially devastating effects on the reputations and missions of institutions of higher education—as university leaders across the nation today continue to cling to it.”
—Victoria Jackson, UNC alumna, NCAA national champion, and sports historian at Arizona State University
— Victoria Jackson