who have transferred to ND in the past few years, including Jenna Brown, Maya Dodson, Marta Sniezek and Lili Thompson, as well as Cormac Ryan to the men’s team.

At one of the Final Fours ND made in the 2010's I remember they honored some Georgia alumna (I forget who) who told a story about how she didn't take school seriously because she thought the WNBA would be sufficient but then blew all her pro ball money very quickly and had to return to school and make it out of poverty. It was really touching and they gave her an award. I think it's prudent for women's basketball players to consider the value of their degrees.

That said, and while I appreciate the doors my ND degree has given me, I don't think the value of a four-year degree is unique to ND. All these schools do have good programs if players are academically motivated.

THAT said (lol), I also understand why someone who could kick it at Stanford would desire the particular academic advantages of somewhere like ND, Duke, or the places Kiki is most closely rumored to at this point, UCLA and USC.

many different facets of choosing a school.

…an elite athlete, I think sometimes it’s easy to forget how addictive playing significant minutes/snaps/innings can be for these players.

These are athletes who have achieved in their sport at a high level. They are competitive.

They want to play their sport at the highest level their talent allows for as long as they can. They also want opportunities to play big games at great venues.

Notre Dame offers all of that; but other schools offer all of that, too.

My wife and I were discussing this at dinner last night and we both remarked how her starting the last games of the season had a discernable impact on how she felt about herself on the court. She was the starter. She was going to play the minutes.

With Kate Koval coming in, Maddy Westbeld coming back and a possible transfer also coming in, she might/probably would be back in a rotation.

Now, armed with an ND undergrad degree, she can look for a place to keep the same feeling going...if at least, for one more year.

elite team.)

would open more doors, but I don't think for an elite athlete, like Clark or Bueckers, et al, it makes a bit of difference. Their professional career, and life after sports, wouldn't be changed too terribly much if they got an ND degree or an Iowa/UConn degree.

regarded university, has the same networking pull for athletes. Maybe someone has studied this and found that D1 athletes who do not become professional athletes do just as well financially and career advancement-wise as their non-athlete cohorts but it also seems like an inordinate number of them end up coaching the sport that they participated in, often at the high school level. Maybe that is their choice, is what they love, know, and are passionate about.

Many years ago I was looking to fill a very entry level international position and of the 100 résumés that I received I was very surprised that one of them was from a Duke basketball player (that everyone here would recognize) who had graduated 10 years earlier. I think most people would say that Duke's academic reputation is at least as well respected as ND's but, maybe, the network is not as strong. That's an N of 1 and maybe there was other reasons that an individual would not be able to leverage the Duke degree into a meaningful opportunity.

Of course we have some very bright shining stars of athletes that have been tremendous success in other businesses like Pat Eilars and Kevin Keyes. What about the vast majority of former student athletes, are the same sites opened to them?

Used to drink beer with that guy and his girlfriend KRob!! Two of the greatest people and so happy for their success at ND and beyond. Karen Robinson welcomed Muffet to ND and helped build the foundation for what would become an elite program. She left as the leading scorer in ND history and she and Kevin have supported the program in a huge way!

Sorry for the tangent, but this got my thinking of the good ol' days

to good people.

I used to live across the street from a former ND scholarship baseball player, who lived across the hall from me my freshman year, and he was VP of finance for a pretty good-sized company that specialized in promotional items, he's done very well, great family. I never asked him, though, whether the ND name or even being a D1 athlete impacted his professional life.

My hope is that the name of the diploma is just as important for everyone and that 40 year decision we advocate for is valid.