The world of college athletics is in a brand new era and it is uncharted territory that coaching staffs, schools, and entire universities have never health with before.
There is a transfer portal allowing students to hop around from school to school. The world of NIL is a bit of the Wild West with very few rules and regulations for players to abide by. And there is the ongoing arms race of schools to build the newest, biggest, and brightest facilities.
Somewhere, schools have the decide what is most important and how they want to allocate their resources. An anonymous poll conducted by Athletes.org reached out to student-athletes from some of the biggest schools across the country to see how their programs are doing.
The University of Iowa was one of those programs that has had their results published due to a high number of responses. Student-athletes were asked to rank their school on strength and condition, athletic training, facilities, cafeteria/nutrition, academic support, career/personal development, NIL support, the overall college experience, and the mental health support provided.
These areas were rated 1-5 (1 being lowest) and averaged to an overall rating. The Iowa Hawkeyes received a 4.5 overall rating, which has them tied with the University of Maryland for the fourth-highest rating from their student-athletes.
Iowa scored extremely well in strength and conditioning, facilities, academic support, and college experience with all rating out at a 4.7 or higher. Athletic training, cafeteria/nutrition, career/personal development, and mental health support were all rated at least a 4.4.
Iowa’s lowest rating came in NIL support, which was down at a 3.8 rating out of five.
A few anonymous respondents from Iowa provided comments on their ratings.
“I think one of the main weaknesses would be nutrition. It would be cool to have an athlete dining hall where food access isn’t an issue as my practices ran well over lunchtime and fueling was a challenge. More NIL education and promotion would be beneficial as well. Strength training and weight room facilities were excellent and team travel was great as we got lots of experience across the country,” one respondent said of the cafeteria.
Iowa’s cafeteria and nutrition are graded at a 4.5.
“I believe the University of Iowa needs more education on NIL resources and should promote NIL to its athletes. I loved the strength coaches and facilities and the athletic trainers most often took care of my concerns. The travel to meets was fabulous and the indoor track facilities are nice aside from the locker room/restroom. Mental health support was accessible and quality,” another said regarding the need to improve upon NIL.
“I love the fans and the support we just get as athletes here at Iowa. It’s an endless amount of support no matter the sport,” said another respondent about the strong support of the Hawkeyes’ fanbase.
This poll received 1,561 responses from student-athletes participating in 25 different sports across 42 states. Of schools with their results published, Ohio State, Clemson, and Purdue nudged out Iowa with a 4.6 rating to come in at the top spot.
Athletes.org is an association that, while only 13 months old, works with over 3,200 college athletes in today’s collegiate landscape. They meet with athletes on campuses to help be an advocate for student-athletes.
Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes, and opinions.
Follow Riley on Twitter: @rileydonald7