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Shaquille "I Hate Charles Barkley" O'Neal, which is how the NBA star was introduced during commencement, graduated from Louisiana State University on Saturday. O'Neal received a Masters of Liberal Arts from LSU's College of Humanities & Social Sciences. This is O'Neal's second master's degree, the first being from the University of Phoenix, and his thesis was titled “Interdisciplinary Approach to Mentorship through the lens of the epic poem ‘The Odyssey.'"
In 1994, Jason Kidd left California-Berkeley after his second season and was drafted No. 2 overall by the Mavericks. Last month, at age 48, Kidd quietly earned a degree in English from the University of Phoenix. In August, Kidd told The Dallas Morning News that he was nearing completion of his final online class.
For the past three years, though, Kidd quietly has tried to set another example, one about which the Kidd Select players and most Mavericks fans don’t yet know. Kidd, 48, has been taking online classes at the University of Phoenix in pursuit of an English degree. He’s down to his last class, working online even through his frenetic start as Mavericks coach. Kidd on Saturday estimated that he is about a month from completing the class, which means there is a chance he will earn his degree by the time Mavericks training camp begins on Sept. 28. If not by then, soon after, Kidd promises.
That missing fourth year, and the degree credits to go with it, posed a hurdle for Trent, both to any jersey ceremony (a bachelor's degree is an OU requirement for such consideration) and to some career options. Trent had gone through several NBA programs for retired players, learning coaching, front office and even broadcasting skills. He thought about taking the AAU coaching of his son Gary Jr.'s team to another level. Finally, after a number of false starts, at a Twin Cities community college and online programs through the University of Phoenix, Trent completed a business management degree in 2010. Last summer, a friend told him about the position at Dayton's Bluff. He surely had the street cred to grab the kids' attention. "There are a few kids who look me up on the Internet and -- it's a bad thing, in a sense -- but it makes me feel good when they don't want to talk to nobody else, don't want to talk to teachers, they just want to talk to me," Trent said.
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Pat Garrity, who played ten seasons for the Phoenix Suns and the Orlando Magic, is set to complete his MBA at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. Boston Celtic Shaquille O'Neal earned his MBA from the University of Phoenix while playing for the Miami Heat in 2005. Kittles currently works as an associate for Ledgemont Capital Group, a boutique merchant bank in New York City, and Garrity is set to work at a hedge fund in Connecticut after he graduates in May.
A source told The Post that Gray had helped save his job as host of Westwood One radio's pregame Monday Night Football show by personally soliciting ad sponsorship from the University of Phoenix. That cyber university's logo and donation of scholarships to the Boys and Girls Club of America were highlighted during Thursday's ESPN show.
Gray’s interview in the show was widely criticized. Richard Sandomir of the New York Times panned the order and the timing of Gray’s questioning, saying that it took six minutes and 18 questions before asking on what team James would next play. USA Today’s Mike McCarthy called the six minutes before Gray asked the most important question “excruciating happy talk.” As part of the partnership, ESPN turned over some of the advertising inventory in the show to James’ team to sell commercials to the likes of the University of Phoenix, Bing and Vitaminwater. James’ team said it would donate $2.5 million from the proceeds of the ads to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.