Communication and Contradiction in the NCAA

Mike Milford (Ph.D., University of Kansas) is Associate Professor at Auburn University. He researches ideological messages in popular culture and sports. His research has appeared in a number of international journals and sport and political anthologies. Lauren Reichart Smith (Ph.D., University of Alabama) is Assistant Professor at Indiana University. She studies the intersection between sports, mass media, and social media. Her research has appeared in a number of national and international journals.

Acknowledgments – Mike Milford: Introduction: The NCAA from Conception to Contradiction – The NCAA’s Field of Play – Mike Milford/Lauren Reichart Smith: Communication and Contradiction in the NCAA – Lauren Reichart Smith: Competition, Conflict, and the NCAA – The Mythos of the Student-Athlete – Karen L.Hartman: Contesting the Meaning of Collegiate Football: Competing Narratives at the Birth of the NCAA – Gregory A.Cranmer/Karlee A.Posteher: Athlete Socialization into the NCAA Division I Environment: Communicating Contradictions – Travis R.Bell: The NCAA’s Mythos of the Student-Athlete and Academic Clustering: Media Guides and/as Contradiction – Organizational Authority and Control in College Athletics – Jimmy Sanderson: Do as I Say, Not as I Do: The NCAA and Social Media Contradictions within Intercollegiate Athletics – Angela M.Jerome: The Function of Counter-Arguments Built on Charges of Absurdity and Ridicule: Compelling Change in the NCAA – Mike Milford: Penn State, the NCAA, and the Rhetoric of Accusation: Power through Victimage – Conflicting Values in College Athletics – Joseph R.Blaney: The Contradictory Relationship between Tuition Increases, Image Repair, and the NCAA: Take It to the Bank – David M.Castleman, Daniel L.Wann/Jana Hackathorn: The Contrasting Influence of Team Identification and Fan Dysfunction on the Hostile and Verbal Aggression of NCAA Fans: Lashing Out in Pride – Shawn N.Smith/Michael L.Butterworth: Exploiting Contradictions of Capital in the NCAA: Rhetoric and Economic Materialism in the University of Missouri Football Protest – Daniel A.Grano/Kenneth S.Zagacki: The "Plantation Mentality": Problems of White Antiracist Criticism of the NCAA – Andrew Dix: Critical Race Theory, the NCAA, and College Baseball: Contradiction on the Diamond – Katherine Lavelle: Striking a Middle Ground: A Neocolonialist Analysis of the NCAA’s Mascot Ban – Phillip Chidester/Joshua Fitzgerald: "I Need a Hero": Representation, Support and the NCAA’s Disruptive Role in the Fan Identification Formula – Mike Milford/Lauren Reichart Smith: The Future of the NCAA and Collegiate Athletics – Contributors – Index.

"As questions and concerns continue to arise about the role of athletics in universities across the United States, the role, purpose, and responsibilities of the NCAA must be examined thoroughly, with clear-eyed analysis and thoughtful critique. This important book fills that space beautifully. Including contributions from some of the most prominent scholars in sports communication, Lauren Reichart Smith and Mike Milford have deftly pulled together a broad range of perspectives to help define and inform these important debates moving forward."
Danielle Coombs, Kent State University

"This valuable volume studies sports communication in the United States with a focus on the NCAA. Scholars of Interpersonal, Rhetorical, and Organizational Communication will find much of interest here. Rarely do we find a book that integrates fields across Communication so well. As collegiate sports, as well as the professional ranks, change, this book will be an important tool for understanding this new world."
Barry Brummett, University of Texas