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Today’s announcement that head University of New Mexico basketball coach Steve Alford is leaving for Westwood is a good opportunity to reprise my January 2012 column suggesting some possible benefits to UNM to be found in his departure:
Given the importance of athletics in our big colleges, the question of the influence of sports on the academic mission has seen oddly little research, but Lindo and colleagues point to a fascinating study by Duke University economist Charles Clotfelter. Clotfelter found a clever way of looking at whether students shirked on their homework around the time of the Big Game by tracking universities’ use of resources from the JSTOR online academic library.
If your team is in the NCAA basketball tournament, you’re less likely to be hitting the books around tourney time, Clotfelter found. He found an especially big drop-off if the team wins an upset victory.
Duh.
The column includes a discussion of delicious grilled bratwurst.
Reprint story -- Email the reporter at jfleck@abqjournal.com. Call the reporter at 505-823-3916
