Florida State catches a lot of flack for their football program behavior, and as I fan I would say deservedly so, but I thought this deserved some attention. It’s a tough decision to make. I am not an NFL scout so I have no idea where he may fall in the NFL draft, but if you are purely after money then the NFL pays a heck of a lot better than just about any other career especially for someone right out of college. But if you are looking for longevity and more intellectual interests then Oxford would be terrific.
This is going to sound strange to say, but a Rhodes Scholarship is no guarantee of success. When I was at Oxford I knew a lot of them, and not all of them have gone on to great things (I didn’t exactly set the world on fire either). I highly doubt that many of them have ever made even the minimum NFL salary.
Yeah, going to Oxford is theoretically the chance of a lifetime; I wanted to go there more than anything myself. But it is not a guarantee: Rhodes Scholars usually don’t get the chance to present themselves for anything more than an M.Phil (somewhere between an MA and Ph.D degree), and so they’re going back to the US to try to get a into a doctoral program somewhere, and it’s a big climbdown. There’s a lot more I could say about the Rhodes program, but a lot of it would sound like sour grapes and I don’t want to sound that way, but essentially what you’re doing as a Rhodes Scholar is a lot of going to parties and not so much preparing yourself for an academic or professional career. The Oxford grad program in general isn’t much more than “The library is over there” and “Who you know will teach you a lot.” It’s why a lot of politicians (Bill Clinton, Bobby Jindal, etc.) were Rhodes. I knew a number of very disillusioned Rhodes.
Of course doing all that would also pretty much wreck his chances of getting into the NFL. All in all, if I were in his position and knowing what I know I’d probably go to the NFL. He’s a smart guy, he can handle the money and the pressure and the fame.
I’m a little confused by the selection process. All I know about Rhodes Scholarships I’ve learned from ESPN, so I don’t know much, but my understanding was that Rolle just had his interview for the program yesterday (Saturday 11/11/08). There was a big story about how the graciously University of Maryland (Florida State’s opponent yesterday) made a special accommodation for Rolle so he could go to the interview and then fly to and play in the game. Then it was announced that Rolle had won the scholarship.
That’s good for him and congratulations, but the interview panel didn’t waste much time on their decision or deliberating about the candidates, IMHO. Was it a rigged game? Did the other students interviewed yesterday have a chance? Anybody know?