Games Colleges Play

John R. Thelin is professor of history of higher education and philanthropy at Indiana University. A former Chancellor Professor at the College of William and Mary, he is the author of Higher Education and Its Useful Past and co-author, with Lawrence L. Wiseman, of The Old College Try: Balancing Academics and Athletics in Higher Education. His research for this book was funded by a grant from the Spencer Foundation.

• Editor's ForewordPreface to the 1996 EditionPrefaceAcknowledgementsIntroduction: American Higher Education's "Peculiar Institution"Chapter 1. The Reform Canon: The 1929 Carnegie Foundation ReportChapter 2. Responses to Reform, 1930 to 1946Chapter 3. Regional Pride and Institutional Prestige: College Sports and the "Booster" CampusChapter 4. Schools for Scandal, 1946 to 1960Chapter 5. Faculty Control and the Irony of Reform: The Pacific Coast Conference, 1946 to 1959Chapter 6. Critics and Controversies, 1960 to 1980Chapter 7. From Sports Page to Front Page, 1980 to 1990Epilogue: An American Dilemma: Balancing Academics and AthleticsNotesBibliographyIndex

An important historical analysis of college sport placed in the broader setting of American higher education. Thelin provides a helpful, even if dispiriting, perspective for not only thinking about current problems plaguing college sport but also for understanding why college sport has survived and why university leadership and the sports establishment have resisted major reform efforts. Academe A wonderfully easy read. -- Michael W. Simpson Education Review 2004 This book is an important addition to any canon of the field's literature. -- Jana Nidiffer History of Education Quarterly A welcome book on an important subject. American Historical Review An important historical analysis of college sport placed in the broader setting of American higher education. Thelin provides a helpful, if dispiriting, perspective for not only thinking about current problems plaguing college sport but also for understanding why college sport has survived and why university leadership and the sports establishment have resisted major reform efforts. Academe