Drake Group  The Drake Group is a network of American academics who believe that college athletics has become too dominant a force on university campuses. It was established after a 1999 meeting at [Drake University] in Iowa by Drake University Provost, Dr. Jon Ericson and Dr. Allen Sack, a sociologist at the University of New Haven. Currently, the Drake Group is in residence at the University of New Haven. Since 2004, they have given an annual award named after the University of Chicago president Robert Maynard Hutchins.