Admittedly I share your disdain for “college athletics” (a uniquely American oxymoron) and the culture of privilege, but I dare hope that the life of the mind exists in more than one place in the Universe (even if it manifests itself differently in different environments).
Is athletic recruiting a recent development at UChicago?
https://athletics.uchicago.edu/athletics/recruiting
At any rate, so long as you leave M out of your HYPS condemnations, I think we can remain friends (such as we are).