Bed of Lies

In a  college sports culture driven increasingly by profits and cash, Sean Hannon, a Notre Dame Senior and student in Social Foundations of Coaching,  offers an opinion on the state of coaching.

Coaches in collegiate athletics preach loyalty, dedication, and perseverance.  They recruit young teens, wide-eyed and ready to trust successful, smart adults.  They promise these young men a chance to play for a great team, to attend a prestigious university, and to be coached by the best.  However, I am not so sure that coaches nowadays practice what they preach.

Todd Graham, Urban Meyer, Lane Kiffin, and John Calipari are all successful coaches in their respective sports.  They are great recruiters, they get their players to buy into their philosophy, and they say the right things.  If you have ever heard one of them talk, you cannot help but believe what they say.  These four men use their persuasive speech to bring their team together, to build a community, to win games, and then they use it to find the door, to flee, to find a better job, at a better school, in a place that pays more.

Last December Todd Graham texted, that is right, texted his players at Pitt that he had taken a job to coach at Arizona State only 11 months after he had taken the head coaching job at Pitt.  To be clearer, Graham, after not receiving approval from the Pitt athletic director Steve Pederson to talk with Arizona State, texted his decision to two Pitt assistant athletic directors, who forwarded the text message to the players. 

Graham, only seven days prior talked with Pitt receiver Devin Street and, as Street recounts, “He told me he's here to stay.  He said he wanted to make me the best player he can.”  After Graham’s decision, Street told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “It's all a lie. It's been all a lie this whole time. Everything he told us has been a lie.”  This abuse by a coach is mind numbing.  A coach is trusted with so much by his players, and it is baffling to see the coach return so little of that trust. 

Pitt Senior defensive tackle, Chas Alecxih, put it best, saying, “How is it in college football, if a player wants to leave he has to do all kinds of stuff, he has to fill out paperwork, he has to sit out a year?  But if a coach wants to leave he can up and leave without so much as a moment's notice.”  As some would say, loyalty is as thin as a dollar bill.

Seeing this really makes me question this double standard the college athletics hold.  Teams and coaches expect their players to be loyal to a school, but coaches are free to do whatever they want.  They have to pay a buyout clause if they leave before their contract expires, but that means nothing to a coach who has just found a higher paying job.  The school and team are left high and dry.  However, if a school wants to fire a coach, it must pay him a termination package.  Coaches seem to be the ones with the upper hand here.  They lie, they scheme, and they win.

Coaches like Todd Graham are horrible examples of how to be a coach.  Graham coached at Rice in 2006, signed a contract extension with the Owls through 2012, and then, one day later, used this new contract as leverage to get more money and become the head coach at Tulsa.  What makes this deceit even worse is that after he signed the contract extension with Rice, Graham said, “I am very grateful to Rice University for the opportunity to coach this team, and for the commitment the university has made to me and to my staff as we look forward to build on the efforts of our first season.”  Also after he got hired as the Pitt head coach he said, “I've spent my whole life working to get this job.”  Graham says these grand things making one think he is committed to the team, but instead he just says whatever will allow him to make it to where he wants to be next. 

Graham is unfortunately not alone in these deceitful practices.  Urban Meyer resigned as the head coach of Florida in 2010 to spend more time with his family, only to take become the head coach for Ohio State this season.  That does not seem like much family time after all.  Columnists in Florida say that Meyer built a house of cards in Gainesville and let them all come falling down on the next coach after he left.  Additionally, Lane Kiffin left Tennessee for USC after only coaching there one season.  Kiffin recruited a class of young men, selling to them the University of Tennessee, the football program, the school’s ideals, and himself, only to bolt for another, more lucrative offer.  Finally, in college basketball, John Calipari fled Massachusetts in 1996 when it seemed like NCAA sanctions were about to hit UMass.  Then, after he coached Memphis for nine seasons, he darted to Kentucky in 2009 before Memphis received sanctions from the NCAA for violations under Calipari.  These coaches all preach good things but when the going gets tough, and the money is on the table, they choose I over WE.  They do what is best for themselves and disregard the others in their wake. 

What is happening in college sports with coaches is sickening.  Coaches are meant to be people athletes trust, look up to, and respect.  Instead the coaches say one thing and do something else.  They preach “WE” but do what is best for the man in the mirror.  What is worse is that universities fuel the fire more than anyone.  Universities only care when they are the ones hurt by the coaching carousel.  They offer coaches more and more money in an attempt to get their team to win.  However, athletes are lost in this equation.  They are the ones harmed by these lies, and they have to deal with the consequences of decisions they do not make.  Coaches have a responsibility to their players and the universities for which the work to show the commitment, loyalty, and dedication they so often preach. 

Coaches have the unique opportunity to shape the lives of young people.  They are trusted with the development of these individuals, and with this trust comes responsibility.  

Coaches must be held accountable for their actions, because right now they are abusing their power.  Coaches need to reflect on why they became coaches, and they need to get back to the fundamentals of developing and teaching their players.  Steps by coaches AND universities will correct this scary and unpleasant path we have gone down in college athletics.  One can only hope steps are taken sooner rather than later, before any more young athletes get used by these smooth talking adults.  

Occupation: Professional Athlete

Steven Murphy, a Notre Dame Senior on the varsity Lacrosse team, and member of  Play Like a Champion Today's "Social Foundations of Coaching" Course guest blogs for us today.

In some individuals lives there is a time where sport rolls over into our “grownup” years and we have to take into consideration our financial stability for ourselves and our families. Playing a contact sport, such as hockey, is a very demanding occupation that takes an extreme toll on one’s personal health. It seems only right then that the players would form a conglomerate to ensure their financial needs to the risks that they put themselves in while being a professional athlete.

Most of society will tend to view the players as greedy individuals demanding more compensation then what they really deserve. Thus is the conundrum in which the professional athlete lifestyle evokes; far gone is the idea of playing sport for the sake of doing so. Salary and compensation is begged to performance, and most intriguingly showmanship. Teams want the “player” who is going to attract the fans to fill the stadium seats, buy the jerseys and team merchandise, and win that oh so coveted championship trophy.

All of these thoughts come at the expense of the athlete to make sacrifices. The general public puts professionals on a pedestal, almost as if the positives come without some sort of price to obtain them. In any job or occupation there have been lockouts or refusal to work, this is no different than the current NHL lockout. The clear misunderstanding is that current economic conditions are limiting each sides stances regarding allotment to NHL revenues. Keeping it consistent with the ideals that sport is based off of, the easiest way is to understand that if each side can sacrifice some power they will be able to preserve Hockey as an outlet in which society demonstrates its core virtues of competition, mutual respect, and fairness to promote our collective goals of personal excellence and understanding of individual potential within society to improve the greater good. 

Disgusting Fandom

Punishing hits and injuries are not the goals of professional sports. No points are awarded for violence, and victories are not measured in broken bones. When a fullback throws a block, or a linebacker delivers a hit, it is not with the intention (or at least should not be) to injure or intimidate. The action on the field is fierce and physical because it has to be, due to the nature of the game. Defensive players have to tackle hard because offensive players are strong and agile, not because there is anything good about being carted off the field or ending up with permanent physical damage.

Unfortunately, to the ordinary viewer, we don’t grasp that the fierce hits we see in football are made possible by sound fundamentals and years of strengthening. Most football fans have never strapped up pads and taken a bone-shattering hit from a defender, and so our understanding of the tactful nuances of a play can be reduced to a thirst for blood. Yesterday, in Kansas City, this pitfall of our culture was put on a grand stage in Arrowhead Stadium as the Chiefs took on the Baltimore Ravens. KC’s struggling quarterback Matt Cassel took a hit from a defender that resulted in a concussion. He was walked off the field, and as he was escorted to the locker room, the home fans cheered the defense that knocked him out.

“We are not gladiators. This is not the Roman Coliseum,” is how Chiefs offensive lineman Eric Winston reacted to the barbaric response of the home fans. Winston echoed what hopefully any rational fan would believe when he called the response of the home fans “absolutely disgusting.”

I would like to believe that I would have taken the higher ground this situation if I were a KC fan. I would hope that my knowledge of sports and my compassion as a human being would have superseded the temptation to resort to the lowest common denominator. But, hearing the roar that came out of the 70,000 seat stadium makes me wonder if I would have been able to resist. Surely there were good, decent fans that found themselves cheering on the injury.  So what is it about football that makes us think that our natural tendencies to show compassion and offer forgiveness don’t apply when we watch sports? Is it because professional athletes get paid so much? Is it because sports networks highlight rough hits as a part of their marketing rather than skillful play calling? Or are we really just bad people? I don’t think we are hopelessly evil, but I think that this incident reveals how dumbed-down our sports culture is.

Like a great symphony, great sports require a large number of great players working in tandem, under the coordination of a great leader to be beautiful. And like classical music, classic football is most appreciated by people who take the time to understand it, and appreciate its intricacies. Unfortunately, it seems rare these days that we are taking the time to teach the fundamentals and intricacies of football and other sports to our youth. Coaching defense is too often reduced to pure violence, and children are suffering both physically, psychologically, and in their knowledge of the game. Not only are children being taught blind aggression instead of important life lessons, but they are not as good in sports when coaches skip the fundamentals.

So let’s get back to the basics. When we coach sports, let’s teach our kids the fundamentals of sports, and how skillful and truly artistic they are. Hopefully then we will be able to show them that a trip to a game is closer to an evening at the opera rather than a night at a cage fight.

Lucky to Know Him

It was just over 3 years ago that I met Manti Te’o. It was probably 11 PM, and he walked into Nick’s Patio, a local late-night hot spot that attracts droves of hungry undergrads. Some football players were grabbing some late-night grub after the beginning of the first week of preseason camp. Recognizing Manti from the über-hype, I approached him and asked him for his autograph. I wished him the best of luck starting his career.

When I returned to my table, I told the people I was with that that kid was going to be great.

We didn’t have a profound conversation or talk about football, but I could tell that anyone who had been the talk of ESPN recruiting analysts for months and still carry himself with humility and class would be a perfect storm for a college program. And he has proved to be over the last 4 seasons here in South Bend. Te’o has proved to be a star on and off the field. Te’o will garner much attention as an almost certain first-team All American this year, but that’s not even half of who this stout Hawaiian is. As a Notre Dame student, he has been an active member of his dorm, community service within the athletic department, and a devout member of his church, the church of Latter Day Saints. Notre Dame Football Coach Brian Kelly calls him a “once in a lifetime athlete,” and Athletics Director Jack Swarbrick says he epitomizes everything a Notre Dame student athlete should be.

And this pillar of the Notre Dame community has endured great heartache in the last week. As has been well documented, his grandmother and his girlfriend both died last week. Suddenly the anchor of a defense, and in many ways, a student body, has needed people to lean on. And people have responded. Friends and “foes” (opposing fans) have reached out to Te’o offering prayers and support for this loyal son Notre Dame. And certainly, we at Play Like a Champion Today® echo those sentiments. To be put through such a trial during a year that should be marked by success and fun is no easy task, and Manti is dealing with it with pure grace. When a reporter asked him after the Michigan State game that the Irish won 20-3 could have gone better, he responded "Yeah, I could call my girlfriend right now and talk about the game.” He continued, "but I've just got to get on my knees, say a prayer and I can talk to her that way.”

Through this incredibly tough time, I, an ND grad, am tempted to say that Manti Te’o is lucky to be a Notre Dame student, and to have the love of so many peers that is a hallmark of the this school. But getting to see how this young man reacts to adversity, success, pain, and glory lets me know that we are the lucky ones to call him friend, player and brother.

Making History

I remember in 9^th grade history class, we had a many lively discussions about historical figures. Mr. McNamara would challenge me and my classmates on a continuing theme throughout the year. When we would encounter a major historical figure, he would ask us: “Did this person make history or did history make this person?” Not having seen much of the world at the in my rather ordinary 14 years on the planet, it was hard for me to recognize who was a real difference maker, and who was merely in the right place and right time.

But any teenager could tell you that this football season, Erin DiMeglio is making history. She is the first female to play quarterback for her high school team in the state of Florida. And for anyone familiar with football in the Sunshine State, you know that they come suiting up in the south is no cake walk. Teammates call her a hard worker, and coaches and fans know that she is not taking any handouts on her way to success on the gridiron.

Growing up in a country where the only legitimate option for women to play professional televised football involves suiting up in a bra and panties, you would think DiMeglio might opt for a sport that values women’s athletic talent, rather than merely their physical appearance. But Erin obviously isn’t the type to have history make her. She pursues what makes her happy, and that’s why she is the type that makes history.

Erin DiMeglio is not trying to prove anything grand. She’s not an advocate, not a politician, and the only agenda she has is the one that she writes her homework in. She’s just a natural athlete, who loves football. She’s not concerned so much with buzz words like “barriers to entry” or “trailblazer.” She’s wanted to play the sport she loves, and now she is doing it. So while she may be laying the foundations for generations of young girls, she is teaching us something more universal, and no less significant: follow your dreams, and have fun. DiMeglio is not only living a life that future women will be inspired by, but one that inspires me as a fan, reader, and person.

Erin is making history the way most greats do: by doing what feels natural, despite any sort of societal pressure that might discourage that (keep in mind there are over 1 million boys playing HS football in America, and 700 girls). Like others, her legacy will be felt for generations, and people will admire her courage. But DiMeglio enjoys an impact not all history-makers enjoy: she’s changing the life of everyone who reads about her today.

'Tis the Season

And so it begins.

Last night the first college football games of the season were played around the country. Years of hard work paid off for many young men who played for the first time on the collegiate stage, and for many fans, the sounds, sights, and smells of the season has begun to enchant their lives for yet another year of pageantry.

We love football in this country. It seems we always have. We have found ways to love football that we once might have either deemed impossible or we might have laughed at for their insignificance. We once packed the stadiums around our fair nation, rooted for our beloved teams, screamed our heads off, and then left the games, only to hope for victory in the next week, or in the next season. Players worked construction in the summer, and hoped for jobs in medicine, law, business, education, and the like after graduation.

Things are a bit different now. We have 4 channels of one TV network following every facet of college football from quarterback play to the dietary habits of the defensive linemen, year-round. We follow the twitter accounts of pre-adolescent “phenoms” making college commitments that are, for them, half a lifetime away. Players and coaches are now suggesting that players should be paid.

I don’t mean to intimate that the evolutions in the game are cheap or bad in some way. Although I cannot seem to escape them, and in some small way I pine for a simpler sport, I admit I love being able to read the latest buzz on Notre Dame Football, whether it is in the heart of autumn or in middle of spring. The one thing I do warn against is that it is hard to remove one aspect of the college football experience from another: good or bad. As we build up college football into a powerful “industry,” we run into the same kinds of problems that we encounter with other powers: corruption, greed, and sometimes scandal. Why was a guy like Jerry Sandusky seen as “untouchable” by so many people? OUR love and patronage (bordering on obsession) gave him that influence.

So as we begin this new season of a brilliant, beautiful sport, let’s remind ourselves of the same things we remind our kids of as we drive home from a soccer game: it is just a game. Just because we have followed some recruits since they were still learning state capitals doesn’t make them grown men, equipped to take on aggressive criticism from gridiron pundits. Just because they play under the lights doesn’t mean that they don’t still study for philosophy exams or deal with the pain of being away from home. We will be doing the sport a favor by keeping it in perspective, so as to avoid the trappings of any being that allows power and influence overtake it.

Don’t get me wrong. There can be a happy medium where we can get excited by watching a YouTube video of an 8-year-old express his intent to play for the Fighting Irish, and still maintain a proper level of reality in college football, but begins and ends with US, the fans.

The Best of Sport: Citius, Altius, Fortius

This is the final installment of the series on the Best and Worst of Sports, chronicling the 2012 Olympics and the Scandal at Penn State University.

The 4 X 400m men’s Olympic final was one of the coolest things that I’ve ever seen. No record was set and the country I rooted for didn’t win, but for 3 minutes, such a tremendous display of humanity was put forth on the track at Olympic Stadium in London, nearly leaving me breathless as I watched.

The Bahamas took home the Gold in the relay, a race that is typically the pinnacle event of every track meet. The Bahamas? Really? If it weren’t for the Beach Boys and postcards, I don’t even know if I would know the Bahamas existed! And yet, out of obscurity comes the fastest team on earth at that distance. How beautiful is that—that a country the size of Connecticut, with the population that rivals Bakersfield, California, could defeat the largest, and most talent-filled countries on the planet. And isn’t that a wonderful lesson: Grandeur pales in comparison with hard work, dedication, and commitment to excellence.

The second lesson I learned watching the race was learned seeing something that in my lifetime, I hadn’t seen before: the United States not winning the Gold medal in the event. Only five times in the history of the modern Games has this been the case. And yet there was not bitterness or disappointment from the Americans. They were beat in the world’s most objective sport, and they lost. They still WON a silver medal, even after two of their best athletes had been taken out with injury. But they were grateful for the opportunity to compete. How awesome and oft-forgotten is that? Sport is enjoyable, and it’s a joy simply to compete. You could see that, too in the last-place finishers in the race: the South African Team. The much publicized Oscar Pistorius, running on two prosthetic legs, running in his first Olympics, anchored the historic run for the South Africans. The team had only been allowed to run after they had protested their disappointing finish in the semi-final due to a nasty fall. And yet there was such gratitude in their athletes! How often do we pout after we lose a game or we have a call go against us? The 4 X 400 reminded me of yet another important lesson: The joy of competition is not in winning, but in competing.

Most people that compete in the Olympics lose. In fact, almost ALL athletes lose. Many athletes train their whole lives to come to the Olympics and lose in the first heat of a 10 second race. Why do they fly across the world and why do we watch? It’s because the Olympics has more to do with being better than the best. If your focus is self-improvement, it is entirely up to you if you can succeed. In competing, we cannot predict the valor of an opponent, but we can control our pursuit of excellence. We participate because it’s fun, and we continue because there is something in us that pushes us to do the “more.”

After all, the motto of the Olympics is not “Fastest, Highest, Strongest,” because only one person can be that, but we can ALL be Faster, Higher, and Stronger. 

The Worst of Sport: Character Ed and the PSU Scandal

This is an installment in the Best and Worst of Sports Scandal chronicling the Olympic Games and the Sandusky scandal at Penn State.

In the wake of the severe sanctions imposed on Penn State by NCAA President Mark Emmert, commentators have fiercely debated the justification for the NCAA’s intervention in the first place.  Given Sandusky’s conviction and the devastating findings of the Freeh report was the NCAA simply piling on? 

The NCAA typically functions to maintain fairness in college football and is best known for enforcing recruiting violations and academic standards.   In order to avoid NCAA penalties, most colleges now have a staff specifically devoted to compliance.  Yet conventional compliance offices with their focus on the adherence to specific NCAA rules are ill-equipped to address the cultural malaise that overtook Penn State.

The key to understanding why Emmert responded so decisively is in his November 17, 2011 letter of inquiry to Penn State following the allegations of Sandusky’s history of blatant abuse.  Emmert noted that Article 2.4 of the NCAA Constitution holds athletic departments responsible for the “character education” of their participants and that in order to carry out that responsibility, all those involved in athletics should adhere to moral principles in all aspects of their operations.  Emmert went on to point out that because coaches are “teachers of young people,” the NCAA Constitution holds them to a higher ethical standard than most citizens.

In spite of Emmert’s lofty moral vision, the NCAA has yet to require any formal preparation for or credentialing of college coaches.  Yet the rationale for the sanctions clearly broadens Athletic Departments’ responsibility for their coaches. Coaches have extraordinary power and influence over young people.  As such, they have a responsibility to not only protect athletes from exploitation and abuse but to nurture their development. 

In punishing Penn State, Emmert raised the bar for all colleges and sports organizations throughout the country.  Sports organizations from college athletics to knee-high leagues must replace a culture of compliance with a culture of compassion.  Building a culture that protects and nurtures children requires they provide coaches and administrators with the best possible education for their role as moral teachers. 

The Best of Sports: Women on the US Team

It always baffles me how the Olympic Games seem to be the venue for all things “new.” Despite its history and tradition, the Games always seem to be the place for new superstars to emerge, new technology to be unveiled, and new records to be made. Even when the feats of humanity seem like they cannot be surpassed, the Olympics always brings out what was once thought impossible.

This year is no different.

Old records have fallen, the swimsuits are in a new fashion, and there are new athletes stealing our hearts. But something perhaps more subtle, but certainly no less significant has happened this year: the US, for the first time, has more females than males representing our country (269 women, 261 men). To a young audience, this news might seem of little significance, but consider that the last time London held the Olympics in 1948, women made up 9% of all participants, and as recent as 1996, 26 countries were not sending women to the Games.

Just like breaking a record on the track or in the pool, there is no better stage to break this record than on the grandest of them all: the Olympics. Sending a balanced contingent of men and women to the premiere sporting event in the world says that as a country, we have committed ourselves over decades to the advancement of gender equality in sports, and we are proud to show the world of that achievement. Although it might seem as simple as just picking a fair number, it is a reflection of a commitment to a core value that our country is built on: equal opportunity. It’s a value that we have long stood for, but not always exemplified. This year we celebrate 40 years of the Title IX, and we have taken to heart the many heroes and accomplishments that have emerge in these decades, all while recognizing that there is still ground to be covered in our quest for equal opportunity. And this achievement is yet another important milestone on that journey.

As gradual as the change that Title IX has inspired has been, we can lose sight of the magnitude of this year’s gender balance. Especially in recent Olympics, female athletes have always been on the eyes and in the hearts of Americans, whether they are on the balance beam or flying down the ski slopes (in fact it seems the only time of year that female athletes do get equal attention!).  But it is truly amazing to think that young girls around the country and around the globe watching the parade of Americans during the opening ceremony could see something that their mothers and grandmothers would not have been able to see when they were young: themselves.

The Worst of Sport: Punishment, Responsibility, and Penn State

What moral sense can we make of the sanctions that the NCAA levied against Penn State? Some argue that the sanctions are unfair because those directly responsible for failing to protect Sandusky’s victims are no longer at Penn State.  Others counter that the NCAA should have imposed the death penalty for Penn State’s egregious lack of institutional control.  Whatever your view, the sanctions clearly have a symbolic function; they express our shared moral outrage.  NCAA President Mark Emmert noted that the goal of the sanctions was not merely punitive but “to make sure that the University will establish an athletic culture and a daily mindset in which football will never again be placed ahead of educating, nurturing and protecting young people.” 

More than sanctions levied at a single university are needed for the kind of transformation that Emmert envisions.   Recall that up until last November, many regarded Joe Paterno as an icon of integrity in college football, who exemplified the virtues most revered in sports, such as hard-work, excellence, and above all, loyalty.  Senior officials at Penn State from the President to the Athletic Director also embodied those same virtues.  How then could men, recognized for their character, show what Judge Louis Freeh called in his scathing investigation of the Penn State scandal a “total disregard for the safety and welfare of Sandusky’s child victims?”

The Freeh report, while unsparing in its criticism of the individuals involved, revealed the true source of the problem -- a culture focused on winning and maintaining the appearance of institutional virtue but blind to those without power or influence, especially the most vulnerable among us—our children.  Although Emmert called the Penn State situation “anomalous in many respects,” the culture that led to and sustained the cover up is not unique to Penn State or to college athletics.   We have seen this culture thrive in the most revered of our social institutions throughout our country. 

Rather than simply focus on one institution that failed, we need to address a national culture that absolves us of responsibility for other people’s children.  We might start by making sure that all colleges that run sports camps and all youth sport organizations implement the Freeh report’s recommendations for mandatory abuse awareness and reporting programs.  However, we should not stop with policies and procedures that are designed simply to protect children from predator coaches. Creating a culture that nurtures and educates as well as protects demands a comprehensive child-centered approach to athletic programs for children at all ages.   The tragedy that has befallen Penn State is tragedy for all of us and a tragedy we must all address. 

Dr. Clark Power is a developmental psychologist and a professor at the University of Notre Dame. Power's expertise is in moral development of children, and has devoted much of his career to the service of children through the PLACT program, which he founded. Dr. Power will be commenting in a series of Blogs on the effects of the Jerry Sandusky scandal at Penn State University.