Sports in Higher Education: Issues and Controversies in College Athletics

Sports in Higher Education: Issues and Controversies provides students with a comprehensive foundation in the study of college sports. While college sports scandals have dominated the news recently, these scandals are offset by fan interest, increasing revenue streams, extensive television coverage, and alumni interest and support. This text informs readers about college sports as a critical aspect of the university education system, with material written by experts in their respective areas in Sport Management and the Sociology of Sport.

The nine chapters of the book address issues such as the history and governance of college sports; the student athlete experience; gender; deviance; race and ethnicity; and coaching, administration, and reform. Each of the author-contributors is a member of the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport, and they write with passion and eloquence on topics such as Crime, Deviance, and Violence in Intercollegiate Athletics and College Sport Reform: Deja Vu All over Again & Again. The goal of the material is not only to inform and educate, but to stimulate dialogue about college sports, and move understanding of this topic beyond box scores and championships, to encompass ethics, philosophy, sociology, and the education of the student-athlete as a whole person.

Sports in Higher Education: Issues and Controversies is the first comprehensive textbook of its kind, and is ideal for classes on American college sports at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Adopting professors will receive a sample course syllabus, PowerPoint lectures notes, and sample test questions.

Gary Sailes, Ph.D. is an award-winning Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies at Indiana University. He is the author of six books and more than 100 articles and book chapters, and has appeared on national and international television with NBC, CBS, ESPN, BBC, CSPAN, the Tennis Channel, and various cable networks. Dr. Sailes has also served as an educational consultant on several books and award-winning sports documentaries.

Dr. Sailes' work on race and sport has led to invitations to speak nationally and internationally. He has addressed two congressional hearings and appeared before the International Olympic Conference in Tokyo, Japan; the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport; NCAA conferences; and dozens of coaching conferences, including the NIKE All-American Basketball Camp. As a consultant to the commercial sports industry, Dr. Sailes works with elite high-school, collegiate, professional, and Olympic athletes, coaches, and teams. His work focuses on performance enhancement, life skills, and professional development. He received the 2011 Distinguished Service Award from the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport.