Perhaps it is my just imagination but the number of “bad acts” by collegiate athletes, coaches and AD’s seems to be rising as we start the 2015 – 2016 Academic Year. Here are some of the affected institutions: Rutgers (football players); Baylor (football player); Oregon State (football players); University of Illinois (football coach); University of Minnesota (Executive Associate AD) and Whitmore University (soccer players). Then, there are different sorts of scandals at Virginia Tech (player fines) and Auburn (paying for classes). And there are many relatively recent “bad acts” that are close enough in time that you can see them through the proverbial rear view mirror including North Carolina (academic scandal) and Penn State (child sex abuse scandal).
The obvious question is why are so many of these issues coming to the fore right now? Is it because it is now “ok” to talk about them? Is it because people are coming forward to report these situations when previously they remained silent? Is it because what was once acceptable conduct no longer is? Is it because these issues have been all over the news in professional sports and so they become less stigmatized? Think Deflategate. Think Ray Rice. Think Adrian Peterson.Think about the television show Ballers.
To be sure, there are many reasons why these “bad act” issues seem to be coming out of the woodwork now. I am sure readers have their own theories. I have two.
First, I think there has been sizable impact on all campus cultures based on the disclosures in the public trial of Owen Labrie, a graduate of, and a soccer player at, the prestigious St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire. In fact, he was the varsity team captain.
The trial was about way more than Owen Labrie; it was about the sexual culture that pervaded St. Paul’s School, which apparently had not clamped down on “scoring,” and “slaying” and “Senior Salute” (with its remarkable double meaning) on its campus. And, pre, during and post trial, there were questions as to why the SPS did not pay adequate attention to their culture for the benefit of all students. What passed as “fun” or “tradition” was neither funny nor a tradition worth preserving. The institution is like a sitting duck, with a civil lawsuit or two just hanging in the air.
I think this trial did more than that. I think it sent a message, perhaps even more than the pro sports debacles, that the business as usual of “boys will be boys” and “look the other way” and “this is how real coaches coach and real players play” are no longer acceptable on high school or college campuses. And, as a former college president, I think I speak for others when I say that it is better to clamp down early; waiting to deal with issues can lead to lawsuits and accusations of hiding key information and covering up. The best course of action when there is wrongdoing is “fess up” and be transparent. The cover-up is always worse than the crime.
Here’s my second reason – a more mercenary one. College athletics is big business on many levels. A recent IEG study showed that collegiate sports sponsorship spending exceeded $1 billion. The taint of a brand has a sizable economic impact. Better to stop the bleeding sooner rather than later if one wants to preserve maximum revenue. And, taint of a scandal can affect the quality of recruiting and transferring in of students. Add to that issues of unionization and payment to athletes that are not on back burners. Many of us are asking, across the NCAA divisions, what exactly is the definition or should be the definition of “student-athlete?” To keep the dollars coming, I think the athletic culture has to clean itself up. That is why, whether consciously or not, we are seeing the firings, the suspensions and the early announcements: revenue preservation is at work.
What all this says to me is that a key issue today in collegiate athletics is campus culture (which encompasses race and gender among other issues). Seems to me that there is this vacuum just waiting for some major athletic program to say: Enough already; we are going to be an example of how to do collegiate athletics right.
Campus culture change that starts in athletics makes real sense. Better to be in the driver’s seat so that change is not driven through you and around you. So, all of you out there who are college presidents and college administrators and athletic directors and coaches: ponder how to change campus culture through athletics in a way that preserves the amazing power, grace and value of sports with the responsibility we all have to educate the citizens of tomorrow. The challenge is yours. So are the rewards.
Feature image via P. Battaglia
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