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Notes, Quotes and Slants
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Pirate
Notebook No. 126
Wednesday, June 11, 2003
By Denny O'Brien
Staff Writer and Columnist |
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Integrity eroding in college
athletics
©2003 Bonesville.net
Somewhere amid our coffee house banter about conference
realignment and the cataclysmic effect it could have on college athletics,
the name Larry Eustachy became a distant memory.
Once the hot topic of water cooler conversations, the
indiscretions of Mike Price also has been swept under the rug in the larger
scheme of things.
Were it not for recent reports that University of Washington
football coach Rick Neuheisel gambled on the NCAA men's basketball
tournament, we likely would have dismissed the poor judgments of Eustachy
and Price as isolated cases.
But they're not.
"I'm embarrassed," East Carolina football coach John
Thompson said in a recent interview. "The way things are now, the way the
media is and the access that they have, we have to be on our toes all the
time because people are looking.
"I welcome that, but you've got to be really smart in what
you do. The position that we all have, we're held accountable."
Eustachy and Price paid the ultimate price for their
actions. Neuheisel may not.
The difference?
Eustachy was fresh off another subpar season at Iowa State
when images of the drunken coach at a college party surfaced in the press.
Price had yet to coach a game at image-smeared Alabama when his
wife-for-a-night charged a cool grand to his hotel room for a week's worth
of victuals.
Neuheisel, save for last season, is perceived as a
top-flight gridiron boss. Yes, he has been accused of skating on the edge
before, but his reputation for on-the-field success could turn out to be the
'mitigating' factor that salvages his job.
It's pretty cut and dry that winning, sadly enough, has
become the principle barometer by which we measure the greatness of a
college coach. The overall progress of an athletics program both on the
playing field and at the cash register is the oversimplified algorithm
that determines an athletic director's legacy.
The 'What?' in college sports is far more significant than
the 'How?'.
As long as our coaches win, we often excuse them for
breaching the moral codes of conduct they are expected to uphold. We give
our stamps of approval to administrators for balancing the budget, even if
that means sacrificing the integrity of the school by striking an
under-the-table deal.
Bonuses and extensions are tied directly to wins and losses,
bowl appearances and conference championships, and accounting books that
don't bleed red. Academic excellence and model representation of the
university's ideals are undervalued in the sections of a contract where
compensation and tenure are addressed.
And we wonder why our athletes sometimes make poor choices.
"Everything in coaching, teaching, parenting, and
everything, it all starts with integrity," Thompson said. "You've got to do
what you believe and know is right.
"Integrity means a completeness, not just piecing it
together. You can't take shortcuts. You can't cut corners because that's all
short term. If that happens, that's going to come back to get you, whether
it's recruiting, whether it's how I deal with you, how I deal with my
children, how I deal with my players, or anybody. It all starts with
integrity. Without that, you don't have any chance."
If only the the executives and the administrators
responsible for shepherding college athletics would collectively buy into
theory instead of just paying lip service to it.
Public Relations 101
Friday night road games are becoming an annual tradition for
Cincinnati. At least this year there is no controversy.
Cincinnati and Louisville will play for the Keg of Nails
Friday, November 28, the day after Thanksgiving. That will be a big night
for high school football in the Bluegrass State, but Louisville Director of
Athletics Tom Jurich made sure he got the approval from the high schools
before signing off on the game change with ESPN.
''We would never change a home game to a Friday night
without the blessing of the high schools,'' Jurich told the Louisville
Courier-Journal.
As a show of gratitude for the high schools' cooperation,
Jurich mentioned the possibility of offering Papa John's Cardinal Stadium
for a Thursday or Saturday prep game.
Now that's forward thinking.
Banowsky speaks
For the most part, Conference USA commissioner Britton
Banowsky has been silent about his league's stance on the conference
expansion issue. The first-year league boss has declined interview requests
and hasn't returned phone calls.
It wasn't until Monday that Banowsky publicly addressed
conference realignment.
For many weeks, Conference USA has been actively monitoring
the circumstances involving the ACC and Big East and has been in open
communication with both conferences regarding the potential for change and
implications of that on others, Banowsky said in a C-USA release. As we
concluded our meetings, we emerged with a commitment to address these issues
in an orderly and thoughtful manner and in cooperation with the Big East and
other affected conferences.
"It is important to remember that we are institutions of
higher learning, not professional sports franchises, and we are rightfully
held to a higher standard in our dealings with others.
Thanks for clearing things up, commish.
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02/23/2007 01:52:50 AM |
