An Analysis of a University Reclassification Effect on Applications Following a Move to a New Intercollegiate Athletic Association Dylan P
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Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2014 An Analysis of a University Reclassification Effect on Applications Following a Move to a New Intercollegiate Athletic Association Dylan P. Williams Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Kinesiology Commons Recommended Citation Williams, Dylan P., "An Analysis of a University Reclassification Effect on Applications Following a Move to a New Intercollegiate Athletic Association" (2014). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 3018. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/3018 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. AN ANALYSIS OF A UNIVERSITY RECLASSIFICATION EFFECT ON APPLICATIONS FOLLOWING A MOVE TO A NEW INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The School of Kinesiology by Dylan P. Williams B.S., Southeastern Louisiana University, 2007 M.B.A., Southeastern Louisiana University, 2008 August 2014 This dissertation is dedicated to my parents, Donald and Debbie Williams, my “three” brothers, Donnie, Dathan, and Mario, and my fiancé, Kineta. Without their love and encouragement, I would not have been able to complete this project and accomplish my goals. ii Acknowledgements I must begin by saying thank you to my Lord and my savior Jesus Christ for giving me the courage to earn my doctorate and the strength to endure the trials and tribulations that I have encountered during this process. Everything I worked hard to achieve could not be accomplished without God giving me guidance and knowledge to succeed. Thank you Lord for not only the great things that I have done here but for the times when I needed your guidance the most. I am truly thankful for everything, and I will continue praise and worship you. While my four years at LSU were both fun and challenging, there have been many people that I need to thank for their efforts during this entire process. First and foremost, I am grateful to have met my fiancé Kineta when I first started my coursework. You have put up with me during some of the hardest times within this process, but I am truly grateful to have you by my side and I look forward to our future together. I am also grateful to have the love and support from my family including my parents, Donald and Deborah Williams; my brother Donnie, his wife Tammy, and their children Riley and Karli; my brother Dathan; and my close cousin, who is like my “third” brother, Mario. Anytime that I felt lost or down, you all provided me with the encouragement to keep going. I am also grateful to have some of the best friends that I could ever hope to have in life. I first must thank my best friend Chris Pousson and his wife Kelly for their advice when I was considering working on my doctorate. I have truly enjoyed the last 10+ years of our friendship, and I know that despite long distances and what life gives us, we will continue to have that bond. I am also grateful to have gotten to know my close friend iii Andrew Brister while I have been at LSU. Thank you for being there to listen to my frustration about school, life, the Saints, all LSU sports, and whatever else came along this process. Another person that I am thankful for having as a friend is my fellow Ph.D. colleague Patrick Tutka. While we did not understand one another when we first met, we got to know one another and bond as friends. I have enjoyed our daily conversations on sports, politics, relationships, and of course the differences between the North and South. I look forward to continuing with you as we both progress in our careers. Finally, I want to thank my friends Greg Hamlin, Joel Pena, Justin Mahe, Pat Hardin, Anthony Rutledge and his wife Sarah, and Tia Friel and her husband Connell, simply for being my friends, and I am looking forward to celebrate with you all in the near future. I am also truly grateful to my dissertation committee. First, to my advisor and committee chair, Dr. Chad Seifried, thank you for your advice throughout this dissertation project and the numerous projects that we have worked on together. I may not have understood everything you suggested at the time but I thank you for being patient with me as I grew into a better scholar. I am also grateful for everything that you have exposed to me in our field, and I hope to continue to build on those aspects as I continue my career. To Dr. Brian Soebbing, although you only served as a committee member, I have enjoyed being able to ask you for feedback on this project as well as class and manuscript preparation. Thank you for taking time out of your day to answer the questions that I had about every single aspect of the dissertation, especially the statistical side. To Dr. Jimmy Smith, this dissertation would not exist without your help back in 2012 when you and Brian both allowed me to participate in a project related to your dissertation. That presentation has led to this project and many others that will soon iv follow. To Dr. Kwame Agyemang, thank you for your comments and support throughout this process as well as the much needed Twitter comment or joke to break the monotony. Finally, to Dean Damon Andrew, I have enjoyed every opportunity to converse with you, even if it was for a few minutes with your busy schedule. I cannot thank you enough for agreeing to be on my committee, and I am grateful for all the advice that you have given me. Finally I would be remiss if I did not thank certain individuals that I have had the pleasure of working with over the last four years. First, I must thank Dr. Aaron Clopton for accepting me into the Ph.D. program back in 2010. Although you left to go to the University of Kansas after my first year, I am still very appreciative of the opportunity that you provided me here at LSU. I also need to thank Dr. T. Gilmour Reeve for supporting the Sport Management Ph.D. program and allowing me to enroll in 2010. Finally, to Dr. Dee Jacobson, thank you for always believing in me and providing a welcoming environment to us Graduate Assistants. I am very thankful for all the conversations that we have had the last four years and your suggestions as how I can improve as a teacher. v Table of Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ iii List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... ix Abstract .............................................................................................................................. xi Chapter 1 – Introduction ......................................................................................................1 Background of the Problem .............................................................................................5 Legitimacy and College Movement .............................................................................7 The Benefits of Sports ...............................................................................................10 Statement of the Problem ...............................................................................................11 Conceptual Framework ..................................................................................................13 Research Setting.............................................................................................................14 Research Questions ........................................................................................................15 Summary ........................................................................................................................15 Justification and Significance ....................................................................................16 Limitations .................................................................................................................18 Delimitations ..............................................................................................................18 Organization of the Study ..........................................................................................19 Chapter 2 – Searching for Legitimacy ...............................................................................21 Legitimacy .....................................................................................................................22 Institution ...................................................................................................................33 Institutional Strategy ..................................................................................................35 Social Identity Theory and Mobility ..............................................................................39 Conclusion .....................................................................................................................45 Chapter 3 – The Novelty of College Movement ................................................................50