Date of Award
Spring 2021
Document Type
Open Access Dissertation
Department
School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management
First Advisor
Richard M. Southall
Abstract
In big-time college football, successful recruiting is the foundation on which winning programs stand. Power-5 football and men’s basketball operate under a dominant institutional logic that values generating revenue above all else. Winning generates revenue and, accordingly, Power-5 stakeholders are often engulfed in their unique athletic roles. The system propagates adherence to a singular focus that emphasizes winning and revenue generation. This dominant institutional logic governing big-time college football has been dubbed jock capitalism (Southall & Nagel, 2009). While prominent theorists have analyzed college sports through an institutional logic perspective, a systematic examination of the Power-5 football recruiting process has not been conducted to this point. The three parts of this dissertation aimed to examine components of the college football recruiting process through the primary framework of Power-5 football’s dominant institutional logic. Findings reveal that athletic role engulfment and racially tasked disparate roles have been institutionalized within Southeastern Conference (SEC) football; proliferated by institutional actors (e.g. recruiters and coaches) and adhered to by recruits and players. In the SEC, the emphasis placed on winning football games directly reflects an institutional jock capitalism logic.
Rights
© 2021, Chris Corr
Recommended Citation
Corr, C.(2021). “The Lifeblood of College Sports”: The NCAA’s Dominant Institutional Logic and the Byproducts of an (Over)emphasis on Recruiting. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/6504