One more year

"I am committed to earning my degree in architectural design from Stanford University and am on track to accomplish this at the completion of the spring quarter of 2012."
--Andrew Luck

Thus did the consensus first pick for the 2011 NFL draft give up an immediate guarantee estimated at up to $60 million today, choosing instead to stay in college, get his degree, and play one more year of college football.

The message boards have been blazing all afternoon. A few commentators congratulated Luck on his decision. Many found his decision incomprehensible -- "you go to college to gain a skill so you can make money, and you're risking a fortune. If you really love architecture, why not grab the money and go back to school later?" "Doesn't Stanford teach you basic economics?"

And a large number of even more rabid commentators foamed at the mouth over a matter that had virtually no impact on their own lives. They appeared outraged by a decision that they sensed questioned their most hallowed belief -- that making a pile of bucks was the essence of life itself. They attacked Luck's intelligence, his father's wisdom, his coach's advice. One messsage board writer even said he hoped Luck would sustain an injury next year, to prove the foolishness of today's decision.

Luck had promised to carefully consider all the pros and cons of his choice. The money involved, the uncertainty over the future of the NFL's compensation system, and his probable draft by the Carolina Panthers -- each undoubtedly played a part in his decision-making. But his father, himself a university athletic director and former NFL quarterback, undoubtedly had the best insight into Andrew Luck's final decision:

Luck’s father, Oliver, said his son wanted to complete his degree in architectural design, a rigorous major in the college of engineering. Luck also felt, his father said, the tug of finishing his career with the players whom he entered school with.

“He wants to finish with those guys,” Oliver Luck said in a phone interview. “It’s a great group of players. That was by far the most important factor.”

Oliver Luck was listening to radio hosts criticize the decision on the radio Thursday and recalled the psychological test in which people perceive different things in inkblots.

“It’s a Rorschach test for people’s values system,” he said of the decision.
--New York Times (Pete Thamel)

No one would have criticized Luck if he had turned pro. But his critics are evaluating his decision as a business decision by a business. Instead, it was a life decision by a young man setting out in life. The choice he finally made reflects credit on himself, on his family, on his team and teammates, and on his school.