Southeastern Conference Research Articles

The History and Evolution of the Southeastern Conference for Public Administration

The Southeastern Conference for Public Administration (SECoPA) began in 1969 in the wake of reapportionment and desegregation. The founders of SECoPA sought to promote the emergence of a new South, one that would be both dynamic and inclusive, by promoting the practice and study of public administration throughout the region. In the decades since, SECoPA has continued to host annual conferences serving the region. Through coding and analysis of annual conference programs, and using the lens of new institutionalism, this article explores SECoPA’s history and fidelity to its founding mission. The annual conferences have been responsive to concerns of public administration scholars in the region, but drastic declines in practitioner participation mirror broader trends in the profession.

Student-Athlete Career Development through Community Service: A Retrospective Study

The purpose of this study was to examine, through a retrospective lens, the effects that collegiate community service has on the career development of student-athletes under the umbrella of functional motivation theory. To do so, researchers analyzed the career development of seven former Southeastern Conference (SEC) student-athletes who were awarded membership to the SEC Community Service team through both individual and team contributions. NCAA Division-I student-athletes face hindrances through time restraints but also have resources designed to enhance academic and vocational development, such as the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Life Skills program (formerly CHAMPS). Through phone interviews focused on reflective collegiate community service and career development, several themes emerged. For collegiate community service the most common themes were: Service Settings, Current Service, and Time Restraints. For career development, the major themes were: Working with Diverse Groups, Scholarship and Admittance into Graduate Programs, and Career Choice/Personal Values. In analysis, the majority of the discovered themes align firmly with the National Association of College and Employer’s (NACE) career readiness competencies.

“We Smoked a Gator!”: An Exploration of College Football Fans’ Instagramming of Food

The ritual of tailgating is a staple of college football Saturdays, particularly for fans of teams in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Fan traditions help infuse pregame gatherings around the stadiums with team spirit, as fans frequently theme their food and drink to represent their chosen team. New social media platforms—particularly photo-sharing platforms such as Instagram—have taken tailgates to the virtual space. Through interviews with participants who partake in the phenomenon, this study sought to ascertain what fans of SEC teams gain from the process of social media participation. Utilizing the critical framework of symbolic interactionism, this exploratory study examines meaning attached to the ritual and symbolism of team-specific food and drink. By sharing pictures of food and drink with supporters of their favorite team, SEC fans create a virtual community, united by fan allegiance and food and drink fellowship, realizing personal benefits such as sharing nostalgia and developing a sense of community.

Return to Play After Shoulder Instability Surgery in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Intercollegiate Football Athletes

Background: Recent attention has focused on the optimal surgical treatment for recurrent shoulder instability in young athletes. Collision athletes are at a higher risk for recurrent instability after surgery. Purpose: To evaluate variables affecting return-to-play (RTP) rates in Division I intercollegiate football athletes after shoulder instability surgery. Study Design: Case series; Level of evidence, 4. Methods: Invitations to participate were made to select sports medicine programs that care for athletes in Division I football conferences (Pac-12 Conference, Southeastern Conference [SEC], Atlantic Coast Conference [ACC]). After gaining institutional review board approval, 7 programs qualified and participated. Data on direction of instability, type of surgery, time to resume participation, and quality and level of play before and after surgery were collected. Results: There were 168 of 177 procedures that were arthroscopic surgery, with a mean 3.3-year follow-up. Overall, 85.4% of players who underwent arthroscopic surgery without concomitant procedures returned to play. Moreover, 15.6% of athletes who returned to play sustained subsequent shoulder injuries, and 10.3% sustained recurrent instability, resulting in reduction/revision surgery. No differences were noted in RTP rates in athletes who underwent anterior labral repair (82.4%), posterior labral repair (92.9%), combined anterior-posterior repair (84.8%; P = .2945), or open repair (88.9%; P = .9362). Also, 93.3% of starters, 95.4% of utilized players, and 75.7% of rarely used players returned to play. The percentage of games played before the injury was 49.9% and rose to 71.5% after surgery (P < .0001). Athletes who played in a higher percentage of games before the injury were more likely to return to play; 91% of athletes who were starters before the injury returned as starters after surgery. Scholarship status significantly correlated with RTP after surgery (P = .0003). Conclusion: The majority of surgical interventions were isolated arthroscopic stabilization procedures, with no statistically significant difference in RTP rates when concomitant arthroscopic procedures or open stabilization procedures were performed. Athletes who returned to play often played in a higher percentage of games after surgery than before the injury, and many played at the same or a higher level after surgery.

"On the Opposite Side of the Fence": The University of Kentucky and the Racial Desegregation of the Southeastern Conference

"On the Opposite Side of the Fence":The University of Kentucky and the Racial Desegregation of the Southeastern Conference S Zebulon Baker (bio) On Christmas Eve 1965, Mrs. Flossie Northington mailed a letter to Kentucky governor Edward T. Breathitt. Six days earlier, she and her family had been his dinner guests at the Governor's Mansion, where he persuaded her son, Nathaniel, an All-State running back at Thomas Jefferson High School in Louisville, to become the first African American to play football for the University of Kentucky (UK). In that moment, Mrs. Northington believed that her son "had made an intelligent decision." Now, she told the governor, "I am no longer of this opinion." Attending UK was her son's choice alone, but Breathitt's intense lobbying—including a limousine ride for the family from Louisville to Frankfort—was, by her account, "the determining factor in his decision to sign," which, "I think, is not good." He became "overawed by your advocacy," she warned Breathitt, "so much so that I am beginning to wonder if the influence you exerted was not too great." She worried that he might even have been "coerced" into signing with UK, since she was "certain that he has not given enough thought to the question."1 After all, he was being asked to integrate [End Page 561] not only Kentucky football, which was challenge enough, but also one of the South's most impenetrable bastions of racial segregation, the Southeastern Conference (SEC).2 Indeed, it was "Nat's safety as the first Negro to play in the Southeastern Conference" that animated his mother's "natural apprehension" about him taking on this historic role. "I realize the importance of the integration of the Southeastern Conference," she wrote Breathitt, "and, as a Negro, I am an advocate of it." She admired how her son, bravely, "really wants to play in the Southeastern Conference." "But this does not mean," she insisted, "that I would like to have my son break the race barrier." Such trepidation was rooted in her own personal history. Born in Mississippi, she was well acquainted with the realities of life in the Deep South, and this knowledge frightened her as she now confronted the prospect of sending her son to play in stadiums at SEC member institutions in Alabama, Louisiana, and, in particular, her native state. Without a "guarantee of his safety" from Breathitt and university officials, she threatened to withhold her support for his enrollment at UK, "despite my signature" on his scholarship offer. "My attitude, I know, is not the most progressive, nor unselfish," she admitted to the governor, "but this is the way I feel about my son and the problem of athletic segregation."3 For his part, Breathitt reassured Mrs. Northington and her friends in Louisville that he bore "a heavy responsibility" to ensure that her son's "stay at the University and his visits to other states are pleasant [End Page 562] Click for larger view View full resolution Nathaniel "Nat" Northington signs with the University of Kentucky in Lexington at the president's office, 1965. Standing behind Northington are (L to R) Kentucky governor Edward T. "Ned" Breathitt, UK football coach Charles Bradshaw, Thomas Jefferson High School football coach Jim Gray, and UK president John W. Oswald. University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center. and safe." Nat himself thanked the governor for "your great interest and concern for me" and, in the end, reported for football practice in August 1966 to begin his freshman year at UK. Still, in her motherly concern, Mrs. Northington had put her finger on the main dilemma with which many at UK had wrestled for more than a decade when contemplating the integration of their teams: no one knew what awaited these pioneering black athletes, or their university, inside the SEC itself. UK's president John W. Oswald maintained that it was "our sincere hope" that, since Kentucky "has 'broken the ice,' the others [in the conference] will not feel the same hesitancy they have felt in the past." But not everyone shared his optimism. "I hope that you and the U. of K.," one Northington family friend wrote Breathitt, "have not...

"Doing Just What the Others Were Doing": The University of Kentucky Wildcats and the Debate over Commercialized College Athletics, 1946–1954

"Doing Just What the Others Were Doing":The University of Kentucky Wildcats and the Debate over Commercialized College Athletics, 1946–1954 Chad Carlson (bio) University administrators, professors, coaches, sportswriters, boosters, fans, and athletes have debated amateurism in college athletics since the end of the nineteenth century. These debates came to a head following World War II, as interested parties discussed eligibility rules and the increasing "commercialism" of college athletics. In the midcentury, complaints about commercialism typically came when players were paid or universities accepted large sums of money for playing certain games, especially in the postseason, both of which ran against the ideal of amateurism. Of course, the ideal of amateurism—as defined by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and university administrators—has changed over time. After the war, "reform-minded educators and the NCAA attempted to eliminate the widespread illegal subsidies and academic manipulations practiced at member schools by establishing uniform national standards," historian Charles Martin has noted.1 The advocates of amateurism, especially university administrators at midwestern and northeastern institutions, won a major victory in 1948 when the NCAA instituted new rules regarding amateurism. The new Sanity Code, as it was called, was [End Page 525] hotly debated and ultimately lasted only a few years. While some universities, particularly private institutions such as the University of Chicago, the University of the South (Sewanee), and the Ivy League schools, decided to de-emphasize athletics, many other universities made the decision to emphasize athletics, especially as a way to generate revenue and build a national reputation.2 Some universities, especially in the South, fought against the new Sanity Code and ignored its rules, and many players desired to be paid for their work on the field or the court. In the 1940s and 1950s, as the University of Kentucky (UK) basketball and football programs rose to national prominence, the university and its players flouted the rules about "illegal" inducements and remuneration. The actions of UK players, especially on the basketball team, demonstrate clearly that many of them thought they should be paid for their work. UK administrators, coaches, and boosters agreed, not necessarily out of solidarity with their student-athletes but in order to win more games. Although the NCAA and most university administrators today oppose paying their "student-athletes" anything more than scholarships and living expenses as defined by the association, for a brief period following World War II at least some university administrators and coaches, including those at UK, were strong advocates of altering the amateur code. Few college athletics programs endured more turbulence during the immediate postwar years than the University of Kentucky. Between 1946 and 1954, the Wildcats experienced the highest of highs and weathered the lowest of lows, making the period among the most successful and most penalized that any program has ever experienced. In this nine-year stretch, the program's basketball team won one National Invitation Tournament (NIT), three NCAA championships, an Olympic gold medal, an Associated Press end-of-season number-one ranking (outside of its NIT and NCAA championships), and eight Southeastern Conference (SEC) championships. However, it served a one-year suspension for a gambling scandal involving three [End Page 526] All-Americans and two other starters and dealt with NCAA and SEC investigations on player eligibility. In addition, the Wildcat football team had unprecedented success while also testing NCAA eligibility policies and skirting rules about paying players. Like their counterparts at many other research institutions, university administrators and coaches at UK often joined with boosters and alumni in pushing the limits of NCAA regulations so that their school's athletic teams could succeed on the field and the court, thereby boosting the image of the university and, they hoped, increasing the bottom line. Two prominent figures in UK athletics at the time, the notoriously outspoken basketball coach Adolph Rupp and a rising star football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant, add another complicated layer to this turbulent period. Rupp, a native Kansan born to German immigrants, played basketball for the game's founder, Dr. James Naismith, and his successor, the legendary coach Dr. Forrest "Phog" Allen, at the University of Kansas. Rupp came east to begin his coaching career in Lexington...

Metric Dimension of Bounded Tree-length Graphs

The notion of resolving sets in a graph was introduced by Slater [Proceedings of the Sixth Southeastern Conference on Combinatorics, Graph Theory, and Computing, Util. Math., Winnipeg, 1975, pp. 549--559] and Harary and Melter [Ars Combin., 2 (1976), pp. 191--195] as a way of uniquely identifying every vertex in a graph. A set of vertices in a graph is a resolving set if for any pair of vertices $x$ and $y$ there is a vertex in the set which has distinct distances to $x$ and $y$. A smallest resolving set in a graph is called a metric basis and its size, the metric dimension of the graph. The problem of computing the metric dimension of a graph is a well-known NP-hard problem and while it was known to be polynomial time solvable on trees, it is only recently that efforts have been made to understand its computational complexity on various restricted graph classes. In recent work, Foucaud [Algorithmica, 2016, pp. 1--31] showed that this problem is NP-complete even on interval graphs. They complemented this result by also showing that it is fixed-parameter tractable (FPT) parameterized by the metric dimension of the graph. In this work, we show that this FPT result can in fact be extended to all graphs of bounded tree-length. This includes well-known classes like chordal graphs, AT-free graphs, and permutation graphs. We also show that this problem is FPT parameterized by the modular-width of the input graph.

Sacked for Dollars: The Exploitation of College Football Players in the Southeastern Conference

This study seeks to answer if academic clustering occurs in the SEC and if race and field value are significant indicators of this phenomena. The academic majors players select or are steered towards may lend credence to the claim that universities possess an avenue for fast tracking an athlete’s eligibility status. At stake in college football’s competitive market are complex streams of revenue ranging from television exposure and merchandise sales to increased student applications and alumni contributions. This market places enormous pressure on SEC football programs to not only keep pace with other programs within the conference, but more importantly, to increase market share by ensuring only elite athletes are recruited, signed, and developed into top performers for the conference. The on-the-field product, then, serves as a means for top programs to access lucrative revenue streams made available through college football’s popularity, marketability, and merchandising. The student-athlete becomes the lynch-pin driving this multi-billion dollar industry. Therefore, we asked the following questions: 1) Are SEC football players clustered into academic majors? 2) If clustering exists, does it differ according to race? 3) If clustering exists, does field value determine which players get clustered? Our findings, in which the majority of starters and key contributors were obtained from only a few majors, support the claim that Universities possess mechanisms that reinforce the systemic foreclosure of a student-athlete's educational freedom.

Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting: Analysis of Criminal Behavior During the SEC Football Season

ABSTRACTEvidence suggests that live sporting events may lead fans to engage in criminal behaviors. The current study examined the relationship between criminal behavior and college football game days. Archival data of criminal offenses were collected from Southeastern Conference member institution police departments to analyze reported criminal offenses during the regular season. Multilevel linear models revealed an increase in criminal behavior. A factorial ANOVA indicated an interaction of team rankings and game outcome was related to specific types of criminal behavior in the host city (F (1, 9142) = 20.07, p < .001). Results provide insight to more effectively allocate resources.

Brand management in top-tier college athletics: examining and explaining mark-usage policies

Purpose – The practice of an interscholastic athletic department reproducing the logo of a collegiate team for its own use is becoming increasingly visible. In response to this growth, many collegiate licensing departments have begun actively enforcing zero-tolerance policies that prohibit third parties from using their respective colleges’ trademarks. Conversely, other institutions have exercised discretion by allowing high school programs to use their athletic departments’ logos only after receiving assurances from the high school that it will adhere to strict usage guidelines. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides a thorough discussion on the concept of brand dilution and its application to sport. More specifically the study gives an account of the strategies employed by trademark specialists to protect (and in some cases, enhance) the equity of their brands. To identify these strategies, a qualitative questionnaire was employed, which was completed by 13 brand managers representing institutions from the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big 12 Conference, Big Ten Conference, Mid-American Conference, Missouri Valley Conference, Pac-12 Conference, and the Southeastern Conference. Findings – Qualitative questionnaire responses from collegiate brand managers suggest that licensing departments differ in their perceptions of the outcomes associated with allowing logo replication in high school athletic departments. Originality/value – Perceived consequences of two enforcement strategies – prohibitive and cooperative – are highlighted, as are implications and directions for future research.

Strong Inside: Perry Wallace and the Collision of Race and Sports in the South by Andrew Maraniss

STRONG INSIDE: Perry Wallace and Collision of Race and Sports in South. By Andrew Maraniss. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press. 2015.In February 2015, Serena Williams surprised world when she announced that she would return to Indian Wells; a tournament she had boycotted permanently. In 2001, a predominately white crowd booed and harangued then-nineteen-year-old entire match because they believed that her sister, Venus, had pulled out of a match at last minute to avoid playing Serena in semifinals. Distraught and traumatized, Serena, then 19-years-old, wept in locker room for several hours and vowed never to return. For years Indian Wells officials begged her to return. For thirteen years she declined, but in February of 2015 she had a change of heart after reading Nelson Mandela's autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom. She learned that victims are expected to extend sentiment and gesture of reconciliation.Andrew Maraniss's Strong Inside: Perry Wallace and Collision of Race and Sports in South seems to follow a similar pattern as it outlines traumatic journey of first African American to play in South Eastern Conference (SEC). In this narrative, Wallace resolves that bitterness would only earn him scorn. The contemporary reader who annually watches University of Kentucky trot out five blue-chip African-American freshman basketball players in hopes of capturing a national title may be astonished to discover what Kentucky used to be and Wallace's pioneering efforts. The Kentucky of Perry's era would never have considered starting five freshmen-and certainly not a single African-American player. Few contemporary players realize that they have Perry Wallace to thank. Wallace's inner strength and resolve to withstand unimaginable strife, vitriol, and abuse to break racial barriers deserves more notice.In Strong Inside, Maraniss, a former member of Vanderbilt University athletic department, tells story of Perry Wallace's historic effort to successfully break SEC color line. Maraniss is perhaps best person to write about Wallace's historic trials and tribulations and his journey to desegregate SEC basketball because he wrote about Wallace while he an undergraduate at Vanderbilt. He interviewed Wallace, and, at one time, he director of media relations for Vanderbilt Athletic Department. Thus his knowledge of institution and its culture, along with his access to key archival material, prepared him to tell as whole of a story as possible. The book falls within trajectory of recent books about race and sports like Kenneth L. Shropshire's Sports Matters: Leadership, Power, and Quest for Respect in Sports, Jennifer H. Lansbury's A Spectacular Leap: Black Women Athletes in Twentieth Century America, and James Conyers, Jr. edited book Race in American Sports, among others.A strength of Maraniss's Strong Inside is that it is several connected stories. Not only is it about Wallace, but also about his teammate Dillard, South, Vanderbilt University's racist past, civil rights struggle in South led by James Lawson, and Chancellor Heard's struggle to uphold his belief in universities as spaces where one's plea for fuller freedom can be calmly debated and heard.The narrative gets especially interesting once Wallace's black teammate, proud Godfrey Dillard appears. Maraniss is to be commended for making Dillard such a significant part of Wallace's narrative. Dillard, who signed with Vanderbilt seven days after Wallace, is often a forgotten figure. A native of Detroit, Dillard not your typical African-American recruit of 1960s. He attended an integrated Catholic school in Detroit, and unlike Wallace he wanted to go to South. His reverse migration about becoming the SEC's first black ballplayer and it was only reason [he] wanted to head south (107). …

Where Everything New Is Old Again: Southern Gospel Singing Schools

Where Everything New Is Old AgainSouthern Gospel Singing Schools Brooks Blevins (bio) Click for larger view View full resolution On occasion, during those informal singings, Orgel Mason, the founder and director of the Brockwell Gospel Music School, would take the floor to promote the school, tout the beauty of shape notes, and lead the house in a gospel standard or two. Mason organized the first Brockwell Music School in the summer of 1947. Photo courtesy of Beverly Meinzer/Brockwell Gospel Music School, 2016. [End Page 135] He looks like he should be in pads and a helmet, protecting a quarterback on some manicured Southeastern Conference field. But his massive hands and fingers frolic along the keyboard with the dexterity and unpredictability of mice in a late winter hayloft. He sits grinning through a goatee at the main piano, romping away at a tune he had never seen before yesterday, a new melody branded with the echoes of jangling strokes on pine walls and sunburned voices in two-door meeting houses. Twenty feet away, perched formally atop the second piano’s bench like a downy owl peeking from his nest, a wisp of a boy accompanies his massive partner. The lad’s eyes burn a hole in the songbook. His petite hands move effortlessly across the keys—a waterbug on a summer eddy. No wasted movements, no change of expression on his face. Two masterful musicians, bound to be ignored. The voices in this auditorium are what matter most. That becomes clear when the singing starts. The silver-haired song leader peers over tiny spectacles, chops the air with her right arm, swings it to her left, to the right and back up to its starting point, and we are off. Six-year-old sopranos, eighty-year-old tenors, teenage wannabe basses hold their paperback songbooks as instructed—out from the body in one hand (the other is for “leading”)—and follow their respective parts. The tenors lead: mi, mi, do, mi. Half a beat into the second measure, everyone else joins in, each section following its own line. Shape notes the first time through, followed by three verses of a newly minted song called “A Godly Man.” It will likely never appear in another songbook; once the new books arrive for next year’s school, it may never be heard or sung again. But on this day, “A Godly Man” reverberates throughout the cinderblock auditorium, one hundred voices in four-part harmony—or something approximating it. This is, after all, only the second day of singing school.1 People have been doing this on North American soil for the better part of 300 years—and with shape notes for 200. The gospel singing school melds two American musical traditions—the singing school and shape notes. Designed to improve congregational singing by imparting the rudiments of musical education, singing schools date to early-eighteenth-century New England. Near the end of that century, William Little and William Smith published The Easy Instructor, which introduced the concept of replacing standard round notes with shapes that correspond with tones or pitches on the musical scale. Though denounced as “dunce notes” by traditionalists, Little and Smith’s four-note system gained widespread popularity among the untutored Christian masses, especially those stimulated by the revivalist fires of the Second Great Awakening. This four-note system, in which three of the shapes were re-used to complete the seven tones on the diatonic scale, reigned nearly half a century until the publication of Jesse Aikin’s The Christian Minstrel, which added three additional distinctive shapes and thereby created the seven-note system. Aggressively marketed by southern songbook publishers like Aldine S. Kieffer and A. J. Showalter, the seven-note system was adopted as the [End Page 136] common language of a pliable and adaptive sacred style that gradually emerged as “gospel” in the late 1800s.2 Click for larger view View full resolution In the summer of 2011, my daughter and I attended one of the oldest of the gospel singing schools. Only a seven-mile drive from the family farm in Arkansas, the Brockwell Gospel Music School has instructed generations of children (and adults...

Rates and Determinants of Return to Play After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Soccer Athletes

Background: Factors and details regarding return to play in elite, collegiate female soccer athletes after an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury and reconstruction have not been well studied. Purpose: To evaluate return to play among collegiate female soccer players, specifically examining the effect of surgical and individual athlete characteristics on the return-to-play rate. Study Design: Descriptive epidemiology study. Methods: Sports medicine and athletic training staff at institutions from the National Collegiate Athletic Association Southeastern Conference (SEC) were contacted to request participation in the study. All institutions were sent a standardized spreadsheet with response choices and instructions regarding athlete inclusion criteria. Athlete, injury, surgical technique, and return-to-play data were requested for ACL reconstructions performed on female soccer athletes at the participating institutions over the previous 8 years. χ2 analyses were used to compare the return-to-play rate by year in school, scholarship status, position, depth chart status, procedure, graft type, graft fixation, concomitant procedures, and previous ACL injuries. Results: All 14 of the SEC institutions chose to participate and provided data. A total of 80 ACL injuries were reported, with 79 surgical reconstructions and return-to-play data for 78 collegiate soccer athletes. The overall return-to-play rate was 85%. There was a statistical significance in return-to-play rates favoring athletes in earlier years of eligibility versus later years (P < .001). Athletes in eligibility years 4 and 5 combined had a return-to-play rate of only 40%. Scholarship status likewise showed significance (P < .001), demonstrating a higher return-to-play rate for scholarship athletes (91%) versus nonscholarship athletes (46%). No significant differences in return-to-play rates were observed based on surgical factors, including concomitant knee procedures, graft type, and graft fixation method. Conclusion: Collegiate female soccer athletes have a high initial return-to-play rate. Undergoing ACL reconstruction earlier in the college career as well as the presence of a scholarship had a positive effect on return to play. Surgical factors including graft type, fixation method, tunnel placement technique, concomitant knee surgeries, and revision status demonstrated no significant effect on the return-to-play rate.

Does Geographic Location Matter on the Prevalence of Ulnar Collateral Ligament Reconstruction in Collegiate Baseball Pitchers?

Background:There has been a significant amount of research in the prevention of throwing injuries. However, one area of research that is lacking is geographic location of play. Warm climates may permit year-round play and increased exposure to throwing arm injury risk.Hypotheses:(1) Pitchers from southern institutions would have greater rates of ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction (UCL-R) compared with pitchers from northern institutions. (2) Pitchers originating from high school teams in warm weather states would have a greater risk of undergoing UCL-R while in college.Study Design:Descriptive epidemiological study.Methods:This study was completed by reviewing publicly obtained records of male collegiate baseball players during the 2008 through 2014 seasons. Data were accessed through online search engines, online baseball media guides, and school websites.Results:A total of 5315 player-years and 2575 pitcher-years were identified. Fifty-eight UCL-R cases were found in collegiate pitchers, 40 of which occurred in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and 18 in the Big Ten. More injuries (36/58) occurred in pitchers who participated in high school baseball in southern states as compared with northern states (22/58), regardless of location of collegiate participation (χ2 = 28.8, P < .05). The injury rate for pitchers who participated in high school baseball in southern states was 25.3 per 1000 player-years versus 19.1 per 1000 player-years in northern states, with a risk ratio of 1.32 (χ2 = 0.89, P = .35). The injury rate for the SEC versus Big Ten pitchers was 13.3 per 1000 player-years versus 7.8 per 1000 player-years, with a risk ratio of 1.71 (χ2 = 1.45, P = .23).Conclusion:There is a greater likelihood of undergoing UCL-R in the SEC compared with the Big Ten. There is also an increased risk for UCL-R for pitchers who played high school baseball in southern states versus northern states, irrespective of collegiate play location.Clinical Relevance:Pitchers originating from high schools in a warm weather climate may be more likely to undergo UCL-R.

Preparticipation Screening of Athletic Officials: SEC Football Referees at Risk.

Although preparticipation screening for athletes is commonplace, few studies have addressed the issue for those officiating at games. To review current data on physiologic stress on sports officials, to obtain prevalence data on health parameters for football officials, and to determine the outcomes when screening criteria are applied in preseason exams. A protocol was established using health history questionnaires and physical exams with laboratory screening to assess the health of all football officials working in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) from 1997 to 2000. The main outcome measure was the prevalence of cardiac risk factors as determined by American College of Sports Medicine guidelines. Initial screening of 102 football officials revealed that 10.1% of SEC referees had elevated systolic blood pressure, 13.9% had elevated diastolic blood pressure, and 3.8% had resting tachycardia. Average body mass index (BMI) was 28.6 kg/m2, with 87.3% having a BMI that exceeded 25 (overweight). About one-third (31.6%) had a BMI greater than 30 (obese). Total fasting cholesterol exceeded 200 mg/dL in 44.2%, HDL levels were below 35 mg/dL in 34.3%, and LDL levels were above 120 mg/dL in 62.3%. Compared with age-adjusted national data, there were more overweight and more obese officials, but they had lower systolic and diastolic blood pressures and lower mean total cholesterol levels. Using the Framingham Study prediction model to estimate coronary heart disease (CHD) risk, analysis revealed that referees had a lower risk than the national 10-year CHD risk but a higher risk compared with that of the low-risk population. These data reveal a greater need for graded exercise testing. The higher rates of obesity among officials will promote further screening for CHD risk factors.

Interprofessional Education (IPE): Synchronous, Asynchronous, Clinical Practice, Simulation Across Disciplines, Across Universities

A plenary session at the annual meeting of the International Association of Medical Science Educators introduced the challenges and successes experienced with two models of interprofessional education (IPE). Representatives from the Vanderbilt Program in Interprofessional Learning (VPIL) and a five-university IPE consortium, the Southeastern Conference (SEC) for IPE, answered moderated questions from the audience including methods for integrating basic science learning with interprofessional students, in the clinical and digital environment. Online modules for delivering IPE with both asynchronous and synchronous connectivity were introduced. Additional areas of discussion included integration and relevance of IPE integration with basic science, the impact of IPE models on student behavior and career choice, concerns associated with documenting IPE activities for promotion and tenure, and managing difficulties associated with integrating IPE across multiple curricula.

Rates and Determinants of Return to Play after Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction in Division I College Women Soccer Athletes: A Study of the Southeastern Conference

Objectives:We sought to determine the overall return to play (RTP) rate of female collegiate soccer athletes after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Additionally, we examined particular athlete related and surgical technique related variables as they correlated to RTP. We hypothesized that RTP after ACL reconstruction would be higher than previously published results and that it would be independent of graft type utilization or surgical techniques employed.Methods:Head team physicians and athletic training staff of the 14 institutions of the SEC were contacted to request participation in the study. All institutions were sent information regarding the nature of the study, a standardized spreadsheet with standardized response choices for the purpose of data collection from the participating institutions, and instructions regarding athlete inclusion criteria. The spreadsheet provided queried certain athlete and technical surgical related variables for ACL reconstructions performed at the participating institutions over the previous 8 years (2005-2013).Results:All 14 of the SEC institutions chose to participate and provided data. 79 reconstructions were reported with RTP data available for 78 women soccer athletes. Overall RTP rate was 84.6%. There was statistical significance in RTP rates favoring athletes in earlier years of eligibility versus later years (p<0.05). Athletes in eligibility years 4 and 5 combined had a RTP rate of 40%. Scholarship status likewise showed statistical significance (p<0.001) favoring RTP rate for scholarship athletes (91%) vs. non-scholarship athletes (45.5%). Athlete position (p=0.242) and depth chart status (p=0.110) showed no significant effect on RTP. In examining surgery specific variables; RTP rate for autograft (87.9%), allograft (75%), and combined graft (50%) demonstrated no difference (p=0.218). RTP rates were similar for the two most commonly used grafts: patellar tendon autograft and hamstring autograft (p=0.186). Femoral tunnel drilling technique showed no effect (p=0.725) on RTP rate for transtibial, accessory medial portal, or two incision techniques. When comparing multiple graft fixation constructs on both the femoral and tibial side, no difference was observed as it relates to RTP. RTP in isolated ACL reconstruction (77.3%) versus ACL reconstruction with concomitant procedures (88.9%) showed no difference. For players undergoing revision ACL reconstruction versus primary, RTP rate was 77.3% and 87.3% respectively, without significant difference (p=0.499).Conclusion:Of Division I collegiate women soccer athletes undergoing ACL reconstruction, overall RTP rate approaches 85%. Undergoing ACL reconstruction earlier in the college career before the 4th year of eligibility as well as the presence of a scholarship had a positive effect on RTP. Surgical factors including graft type, fixation methods, tunnel placement technique, concomitant knee surgery, and revision status played showed no significant effect on RTP rate.

What Are SEC Football Tickets Worth? Evidence from Secondary Market Transactions

Tickets to sporting events are highly differentiated—seat location, date and time of the game, and home‐team and opponent qualities make each ticket unique. Preferences also differ nontrivially across fans, all of which make the supplier's pricing problem complex. We examine strategies employed by Southeastern Conference (SEC) universities in pricing their football tickets and evaluate their effectiveness in extracting surplus from fans. We use hedonic analysis of data collected from online secondary market transactions to construct a synthetic season ticket, which we compare to prices actually charged by university athletic departments. We also compare quality premiums charged by universities for better seats with market evaluations of those quality differences.

Factors that Positively Affect Academic Performance of African American Football Student Athletes

The purpose of this study was to identify the factors that affected the academic persistence and graduation of African-American male student-athletes who participated in the sport of football at Southeastern Conference (SEC) institutions. This study differs from previous studies by concentrating on African-American male student-athletes who successfully navigated the academic processes of higher education and ultimately earned a degree. More often than not, research on the academic performance of African-American male student-athletes has been conceptualized from a deficit perspective focusing mainly on nonperformance. This study used a qualitative case study design to examine the experiences and perceptions related to academic persistence and graduation. Eighteen African-American males who are former student-athletes in the sport of football in the SEC and graduated were interviewed. A grounded theory approach was used in the analysis of the data. Six themes emerged from this study that appears central to the academic persistence and graduation of the student-athletes in this study. These themes are: (a) family member/significant other influence; (b) institutional commitment; (c) teammate influence/peer acceptance; (d) self-motivation; (e) fraternity influence; and (f) spirituality.

Assessing the Intensity of Sports Rivalries Using Data From Secondary Market Transactions

Assessing the intensity of college football rivalries is an annual exercise of sports columnists. Fan polling, average ticket price, and even the bad behaviors of athletes have been used to quantify and rank rivalries. For economists, market prices of tickets have an appealing behavioral interpretation as they represent fans’ marginal willingness to substitute game attendance for other sources of utility. We have collected secondary market data on 278,117 individual ticket sales at different points in the season for 171 home games played by Southeastern Conference (SEC) member football teams over a 2-year period. Our rich data set allows us to control for the quality of the seats and the effects of on-field successes or failures during the season. Since we use data from 2 successive years, we are also able to normalize the level effect on prices of certain stadiums. We construct a willingness-to-pay measure of fan interest in various matchups and use this to compare the intensity of different rivalries for SEC schools.