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Andrew Luck (Stanford QB) Going Back to Architecture School

LITS4FormZ
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/Stanford-rejoice-Andrew-Luck-turns-down-more-mo?urn=ncaaf-304360

Andrew Luck is the consensus 1st overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft...

The only hitch: Luck has decided to return to Stanford in the fall as a fourth-year junior, to continue his pursuit of both a Pac-12 championship and a degree in architectural design.

"The NFL is mulling a major change in the rookie pay scale after the '11 season (assuming there is a season, with a looming labor dispute threatening to put the league on ice), which could ultimately cost Luck more than $40 million, and possibly as much as $60 million, even if he's the first player off the board next year. That is one expensive architecture degree."

The insanity in the profession never ends...

 
Jan 6, 11 5:09 pm
vado retro

i think forty million bucks might enable you to start your own office and maybe even pay your interns!

Jan 6, 11 5:13 pm  · 
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won and done williams

dude, it's all about pursuing your passion. screw the nfl if your heart is really in design.

Jan 6, 11 5:18 pm  · 
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won and done williams

btw who knew stanford had an architecture program?!

Jan 6, 11 5:20 pm  · 
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LITS4FormZ

"Stanford Architectural Design Program"
School of Engineering | Dept of Civil and Environmental Engineering

http://cee.stanford.edu/programs/archdesign/index.html

It's not a professional degree...

Jan 6, 11 5:25 pm  · 
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Rusty!

I guess the prospect of being drafted by either Charlotte, Cincinnati or Buffalo is frightening enough to make you reject a blank check.

I also question anyone's ability to go to an architecture school and still have any time left for sports of any kind. Maybe once the preferential treatment ends, so will Andy's interest in architecture...

Jan 6, 11 5:55 pm  · 
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outed

it's awesome. really. i'm proud of the kid. andrew, if you're lurking around this board at all, congrats on seeing the degree through. you'll have plenty of money to do whatever you want when your playing career is through....

Jan 6, 11 5:58 pm  · 
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wrecking ball

what's dumber than becoming an architect? playing football.

i know we all like to be martyrs about our profession but getting more education seems to be a much better idea than subjecting yourself to concussions week after week. no amount of money will buy your brain back.

Jan 6, 11 6:18 pm  · 
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AP

a good friend of mine played basketball for Kansas (won a nat'l championship while there, several conference titles...) and completed his B.Arch in 5yrs. He's in grad school now for urban design. I know he struggled to keep up w/both school and sports, but he worked it out, and his portfolio from undergrad was strong enough to get him into a highly competitive grad school.

props to Luck. Like Peyton Manning, Lou Holtz and others have said (via ESPN) -- you have your whole life to play pro ball (especially someone as talented as Luck), but only a few years to play in college.

Jan 6, 11 6:19 pm  · 
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SoulBrother#1

I'd go back to school too if my dad was a former NFL QB(Athletic Director at WVA) and money was no option.

Jan 6, 11 6:27 pm  · 
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SoulBrother#1

correction: money was no object

Jan 6, 11 6:27 pm  · 
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snook_dude

Maybe he will Join Brad Pitts Architectural Office. I think Frank Ghery works there.

Jan 6, 11 6:51 pm  · 
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beekay31

I guess the prospect of being drafted by either Charlotte, Cincinnati or Buffalo is frightening enough to make you reject a blank check.

I also question anyone's ability to go to an architecture school and still have any time left for sports of any kind. Maybe once the preferential treatment ends, so will Andy's interest in architecture...
---
Exactly, rustystuds. I once tried out for Minnesota's baseball team. During freshman tryouts, they made us fill out forms that included our proposed major. I knew I was done for once I penciled in Architecture. They even stated after they collected them that certain degree programs would make it difficult to make the team, assumedly because of time constraints. If I had made it, I have little doubt I would have had to changed majors.

And anyone on here young enough to seriously argue the merits of choosing architecture over being the #1 pick in the draft, give yourself a few years. That includes you, Luck. The day you commit, you're set for life. I don't want to run into you in some dimly-lit office someday in a black turtleneck, hunched over a set of drawings skipping lunch and cranking out CAD, wondering what the hell you were thinking. You DON'T have your whole life to be an athlete, you HAVE your whole life to be an architect. That said, the 2011 season is a bit of a monkeywrench.

Jan 6, 11 6:52 pm  · 
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jbushkey

DUMB....

Years ago it was the wrong move to leave school for the draft. Now it is the opposite. Imagine squandering being a first round NFL pick and the multi-million dollar check just for signing a contract. Someone mentioned a rule change that could cost him millions if he does decide to enter the draft in a few years. There is also the chance he gets a career ending injury on his college team or a serious x-acto wound on his throwing hand at 3am while building a model.

Imagine what you could do as a multi-multi-millionaire. Architect as developer anyone? Intern for a starchitect? Why bother you could have them work in *YOUR* office for a month. You could handpick 2-3 architects to lead you through IDP. It's not so much the amount of money as it is being set for life. It would be a shame for him to be in his 50s, unemployed for the fourth time in his career, with serious regrets abou tthe life he could have had. Maybe like someone mentioned though money is no object for this young man.

Jan 6, 11 7:37 pm  · 
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olaf design ninja

I knew a guy who the football team asled him to make a choice in college between football and architecture$ Division I football is a job there is no way you can do all nighters and then show up at two a days...

Does Luck have studio? If not, its like any other degree, read and take tests and write papers...


Lucks a true architect already - he'd rather risk loosing it all now over something that will never pay you back no matter how passionate he is. He'd rather torture himself then be happy.

My guess he just wants to win the Heisman and he needed an excuse to come back.

Jan 6, 11 7:48 pm  · 
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rza

I regret not taking the path to the NHL...

Jan 6, 11 9:38 pm  · 
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outed

people, this guy will make gazillions in the NFL, in endorsements, etc. i'm psyched he wants to finish out. also, there won't be an NFL season next year and by the time they finish the cba, the rookie scale will be changed before he could sign anyways. we need great patrons- he'll never practice in the conventional sense so why be critical at all? just to show off how big a group of whiny pathetic assholes we are?

Jan 6, 11 9:50 pm  · 
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St. George's Fields

"just to show off how big a group of short whiny pathetic assholes we are?"

Fixed that for you.

Jan 6, 11 9:51 pm  · 
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won and done williams

not to go all sports talk radio on you, outed, but look at it this way:

a.) luck is about to lose the coach that brought the cardinal to success unprecedented in the school's history. chances of going 12-1 without harbaugh are pretty much nil.

b.) luck's stock is as high as its going to get. he's projected number one. you can't get higher than that.

c.) the difference between a number one and a number seven draft pick is probably $10 million.

d.) and he is staying in school to get an architecture degree (non-accredited, i.e. he'll be a 3+er just like brad pitt) and have a little fun.

just goes to show you, kid is a true architect - no business acumen whatsoever.

Jan 6, 11 10:07 pm  · 
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vado retro

Brian May the lead guitarist from Queen finished his phd in physics in 2007 and has a new book out called Bang the complete history of the universe. He is also the chancellor John Moores university in Liverpool. so you can go back and get your degree. coincidentally, May wrote We Will Rock You which has probably been sung or played at every game Luck has ever played in since his pop warner football days.

Jan 7, 11 7:47 am  · 
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Quentin

I don't see anyway in hell he had time for football pratice and studio. No way, I had studio 4hrs for 3 times a week (+ all the time just beind in studio after hours). No way he made it through unless he had special treatment. Which I'm sure he did.

Not trying to hate on the guy. But let's be real...

Jan 7, 11 8:03 am  · 
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sureel08

For everyone doubting that its possible to do Atheletics and Architecture without special treatment(easier grading) you are wrong. I was able to do both with no problems. The only special treatment I was given was the ability to miss a few classes due to road trips.

Lets face it, most architectural students only pull all-nighters bc they like to brag to their non-arch friends and think its the "cool" thing to do. I did my share of them as well and cant tell you the amount of times I would see classmates just screwing around, drinking, or sleeping under their desks.

Its doable for sure....takes a lot of time management and some other sacrafices but never held me back professionally. I will say that grades do suffer, went from a ~3.0 while playing sports to a ~3.6 in grad school. Getting a job is all about the portfolio, not about your actual grades from classes in art history and math - prioritize your time accordingly and its not too difficult to do both.

Jan 7, 11 10:35 am  · 
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jbushkey

[i]I regret not taking the path to the NHL...[i/]

architectum Your dentist is even more disappointed.


cc14

What sport? division 1? and honestly how many of your team mates were "real" students? I imagine students below d1 work a lot harder because their future depends on the degree and not on turning pro. Please understand I am not trying to diminish your accomplishment.

I often seem to have a block until the project deadline is very close. Many of my projects end up being completed during an all nighter no matter how much I try to plan ahead. Does anyone else have this problem? I know all nighters are common. What I mean is working regularly on a project trying to avoid the all nighter but having to do them in the end anyway.

Jan 7, 11 11:02 am  · 
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Apurimac

Stanford's architecture program is somehow getting alot of press despite not being accredited. I know when I was looking for arch schools their program popped up and it actually attracts alot of people from what I understand. I've heard of a couple of star student athletes here in ATL that want to play football AND study architecture at Stanford.

In regards to Luck, I think he's actually made the right move. Regardless of whether or not he's going to get 40mil to start with, he's going to make alot of money over the course of his NFL career, so in the long run 40 million may not be that much.

By staying at Stanford, he's getting the opprotunity to finish his degree, which will make his post-NFL career easier and more enjoyable. He's also getting another shot at taking his team to the championship, and that's probably the biggest reason he's staying.

I can respect a man who chooses his passion, his future and his team over a fat paycheck and the opprotunity to QB a losing team that even with his arm will struggle to make anything happen next season.

With the amount of money he'll make over the course of his career, he'll easily have enough left over during retirement to get his M. Arch, setup a small practice, and almost never have to worry about billings.

Jan 7, 11 11:27 am  · 
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vado retro

i was in econ class with Uwe Blab who played on IU's bball team under His Holiness Bob Knight. The guy was a brilliant student majoring in computer science and math. He played in the NBA for awhile cuz everyteam needs a big slow white guy.

Jan 7, 11 11:28 am  · 
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jmanganelli

just curious, but why not cranbrook?

Jan 7, 11 11:28 am  · 
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jmanganelli

nevermind, wrong post

Jan 7, 11 11:29 am  · 
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Quentin

Well hats off to you CC. I mean maybe diff schools require diff amounts of time. But I know football at my colleged required like 2 a day pratices, meetings, game days, etc. And most sports at my college, the athletes had to be done with class and such by noon. With architecture you had class to 6pm, no way around it. I mean I suppose it's possible at some school. But you have many doubters here for a reason.

Yea you could probly do it and kill yourself with no sleep. But I doubt Luck is killing himself.

Jan 7, 11 11:41 am  · 
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sureel08

I don't doubt he gets special treatment. I was just stating that doing both is not as impossible as most seem. When you got to a school for athletics and pick a major like architecture usually the coaching staff and will work with you to accommodate practice/ games/class as they realize the person is in it for more than the $ of pro contracts. Okefor from uconn graduated in 3 years and went to the nba.

I don't advise doing both as I miss out on some of the studio "culture" but I loved the sport and it helped pay for some of my tuition.

Jan 7, 11 11:57 am  · 
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Luck is a fool.

Although pro sports pay well, the NFL is actually at the lower end of the spectrum once average career length and risk of injury are factored in. Additionally, compared to some of the other sports (baseball, basketball, etc) NFL contracts are often structured where most of the big dollars $$$ in the headlines are not guaranteed.

Oddly enough one of the exceptions to this is the contracts of top draft picks. That is to say that a rookie such as Luck (who has not yet played a game) can sign a contract that provides more guaranteed money than a player who has spent 10 years in the league and proven his worth on the field. This is incredibly unfair and both the league and the players union are likely to renegotiate this during their next collective bargaining agreement to take place this year. This recent Yahoo sports article explains it in more detail, but to summarize, Luck has bascially chosen to leave somewhere between $40 and $65 million dollars in guaranteed money on the table. He may never recoup that even with a good football career.

And should he suffer an injury during his next year at Stanford, he might never make a penny off of his football talent. He has the opportunity to take the Philip Johnson/Brad Pitt path to arch glory (become rich first) but is walking away from that. Try not to hate him.

Following dreams and doing what you want is great and all, but if there is a poster on this forum 3 years from now named "ALuck12" and he's complaining about how a starchitect firm only pays him $1000/month while working 80+ hours per week then he shouldn't be getting much sympathy.

Jan 7, 11 2:23 pm  · 
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ichweiB

We heard it first. Sources close to Mr. Luck (as in my boss' son is Andrew's best friend from childhood) have confirmed that Andrew will return to school to finish his degree and play another year of college football. We will probably hire him after his years in the NFL to do marketing for our sports facility group...not kidding.

Jan 7, 11 2:34 pm  · 
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won and done williams

i think ALuck12 needs to post a thread on archinect asking for a little advice before making this major decision.

Jan 7, 11 2:52 pm  · 
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Rusty!
"We will probably hire him after his years in the NFL to do marketing for our sports facility group...not kidding."

If his architectural ambitions are no higher than being a marketing puppet, then why bother with a formal education in architecture? It's also presumptuous to assume that someone worth more than your company would want a salaried position that puts him in a cubicle next to the accounting department.

Retired professional players tend to open up steakhouses and car dealerships. Rarely do they go on to work for other people, unless they squandered away their fortunes.

Jan 7, 11 2:58 pm  · 
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St. George's Fields

He needs to post his portfolio, ask at least 12 obvious questions about architecture you can learn from Google and then ask for free things (like massing models) while complaining about fairness of pay.

Jan 7, 11 3:28 pm  · 
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Apurimac

...admittedly i think this forum has seen better days in that regard uxbridge.

Jan 7, 11 3:34 pm  · 
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St. George's Fields

But... that's what all the new kids on the block do. We can't evaluate his worth unless we publicly chastise for his lack of foresight and inability to type words in Google.

Once he's be assigned a group evaluated worth, we'll continue to bully him for the next 2-18 months until he changes his screenname or someone new comes along.

LET THE INTERNET CRITIQUE BEGIN.

Jan 7, 11 3:48 pm  · 
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Rusty!

Excerpts from Andrew Luck's portfolio:



Library



Community Center



A hospital



Restaurant



Concert Hall



Dream House

Am I doing it right Uxbridge?

Jan 7, 11 4:06 pm  · 
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jbushkey

Just to repeat the point that HandsumCa$hMoneyYo made:

Players sometimes have career ending injuries in college. What Luck is risking by staying out of the draft is not just a paycheck, but being set for life. There is a big difference between the two. Someone should talk some sense into him. It's not any big moral dilema. All he has to do is go play a game he loves for a few years.

As long as he realizes the risk he is taking...as if any of us realize when we are that young.

Jan 7, 11 4:18 pm  · 
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jbushkey

Just to repeat the point that HandsumCa$hMoneyYo made:

Players sometimes have career ending injuries in college. What Luck is risking by staying out of the draft is not just a paycheck, but being set for life. There is a big difference between the two. Someone should talk some sense into him. It's not any big moral dilema. All he has to do is go play a game he loves for a few years.

As long as he realizes the risk he is taking...as if any of us realize when we are that young.

Jan 7, 11 4:18 pm  · 
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outed

people - his dad has made more than enough money to make sure he's 'set for life'

be happy for someone, for once your lives....

Jan 7, 11 5:02 pm  · 
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toasteroven

$40 mil? He needs at least 80 to pay off student loans.

Jan 7, 11 5:30 pm  · 
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binary

i was going to go pro in baseball but due a football injury in h.s. that derailed my hopes.... even if you played for 2-4 years in a pro sport, the few million you might make would give you a cushion to go back to school..... if it was me, i would go pro.. you can always go back to school and it's not like architecture is paying big bucks anyways...

Jan 7, 11 5:44 pm  · 
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olaf design ninja

Don't worry he will get injured and never play football again and end up being a marketing puppet for that guys above firm...he will be taking clients out to lunch at steakhouses owned by ex nfl lineman who studied communications and the keg toss.

Seriously a dumbass decision, you can learn architecture at any age.


Tadao Ando - boxer first then architect

Jan 7, 11 8:28 pm  · 
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olaf design ninja

His conversations with clients will be like this at restaurant

Client - "oh you are andrew luck the stanford QB who was up for the Heisman. Man that hit you got in 2011 looked bad man, how's your back? You miss playing football?"

Luck "no. I always wanted to be an architect, I always wanted people to remember me for my football and hire me for my football while I make no money rehashing bull shit glory days storys. My back hurts and I can't afford the pain medication because my firms health benefits suck. Anb fuck you for reminding me of that hit!"

Client - "maybe you got hit in the head to hard buddy. Hey autograph my sons football and then we can talk about my strip mall design."

Waiter "hey you are that luck guy, how you like eating at your former centers restaurant. Hey former center, luck is here, the guy who had his hand up your ass every saturday."

Former center " hey luck, how's your back. Nevermind heard your wife left you for a football player. I am doing fine, after those 5 years at cincinatti loosing game after game I got into property development. I actually own the land your client land."

Client "luck what you say you open up a stanford football bar to remind people of the days when stanford football won games."

Former center"luck I sponsor a little football team you want to coach them?"

Waiter "how's my boss ass look now?"

Luck " I now going to wear black and teach at columbia when I am 65, I will be better than all of you, all of you, alll of you!!!!! I am architect!"

Client"yeah maybe you aren't the right guy for the job. I like that vado retro guy in your office, he went to school with a big white NBA player and knows his Queen. Seems like a cool cat, you know architect but cool."

Jan 7, 11 8:44 pm  · 
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ichweiB

So it wouldn't be cool if our firm had tv commercials with him as the spokesman?

Jan 7, 11 11:31 pm  · 
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Rusty!
So it wouldn't be cool if our firm had tv commercials with him as the spokesman?

In Troy McLoure's voice:

-Hi this is Andrew Luck. You may remember me from such sport facility clips as "Wonderful world of duct-tape: the annual Metrodome roof collapse"; "Too good for any organized sport: glory of Montreal's Olympic stadium"; and "Not your grandma's Noah's Ark: many (screaming) faces of Superdome". If you call right now you will get a free ichweiB bobblehead.

Jan 8, 11 12:17 am  · 
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St. George's Fields

This is way overblown.

Important people know the only sports that really matter are 3rd-rate European soccer, polo, tennis and croquet.

Jan 8, 11 12:38 am  · 
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jmanganelli

please do not forget curling

Jan 8, 11 1:26 am  · 
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rza

high school curling champion here....

Jan 8, 11 1:29 am  · 
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Milwaukee08

I love how how a quality education (most likely free or at a greatly reduced cost) at a top notch school is a "backup plan" for some people. I mean seriously, you can't take 2 years of your life to get a college degree someone is giving you for free, something many of us go deeply in debt for because a bachelors degree (or in reality now, a masters degree) is our only way out of poverty? I just think it sets a bad example for younger people, that if you're really talented at throwing, hitting or kicking a ball around, college is a waste of time.

Jan 8, 11 11:38 am  · 
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trace™

DUMB....jeopardize a future that many would die for is just stupid and naive


Mil - so someone that is making a killing doing something they love is less significant than higher education? C'mon!

I don't care what someone does or how smart they are, if they are making a fortune and love what they do, then I tip my hat to them (regardless if they finished high school or not).


There is always time to go back to school, if you want, but your youth and opportunities won't wait for you.

Jan 8, 11 1:18 pm  · 
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