He envisions a three-credit seminar in conjunction with an “internship” — a semester on the team. The course could require players to keep logs of what they do each day and write a self-evaluation on career-building skills. “Athletes sometimes don’t realize the value of the skills they’re learning,” Dr. Coplin said. “But employers do.” He argues that their skill set — competitiveness, drive, the ability to work toward a common goal and take responsibility — is particularly valuable in sales and business management. Another idea for the class: an Excel lesson in which a player tracks his performance using trend lines and percentage change.

One supporter, Andy Geiger, a former Ohio State athletic director, recalled cajoling athletes to study simply to keep their grade-point average high enough to remain eligible to play. A degree in sports, he said, could close the enthusiasm gap.

“Think of the academic overlay,” added Karen Weaver, a sport management professor at Drexel University. “I’m training for a sport and I have to learn the science behind the muscles I’m using. I’m injured and I have to study and report on my rehab plan. It’s the ultimate personalized education.”

Such a hands-on education might also help players achieve what is, for many, their ultimate career goal: joining the professional ranks. Most won’t make it, but their fate, Dr. Pargman says, is not unique to sports: “Everyone who wants to be a doctor doesn’t get into medical school.”

Con: A Needless Accommodation

With higher education already facing criticism that it is beholden to big-time sports, Josephine T. Potuto, a University of Nebraska law professor and N.C.A.A. faculty representative, worries that a sports major would be another example of the tail wagging the dog. “There comes a point when you are turning higher education into a pretzel to accommodate the high-revenue, fan attention-grabbing two sports,” she said.

A major sticking point is the illustrious history of academic fraud that long predates the University of North Carolina scandal. Dexter Manley, a former Oklahoma State defensive end, told a Senate committee in 1989 that he was functionally illiterate during college. A smattering of universities used to offer courses entitled “Varsity Basketball” or “Varsity Football,” graded on attendance. Coach Bill Snyder of Kansas State — surprise — gave nearly all his players an A, and Jim Harrick Jr. was fired as assistant basketball coach of the University of Georgia; one of the reasons was a final exam he gave to his “Coaching Principles and Strategies of Basketball” class with multiple-choice questions like “How many points does a 3-point field goal account for?”

Currently, 20 colleges are being investigated by the N.C.A.A. on suspicion of academic fraud, according to a report last month in The Chronicle of Higher Education.