One of the few truly iconic figures of American sport — the coach who restored Ohio State football to glory, who was expected to head the program for at least another decade — fell on his sword Monday in response to allegations of NCAA rule-breaking, and I can’t help but think there was a better way “out” here.
A sad day in Ohio is made sadder because we have to ask whether Jim Tressel, as valuable a natural resource as there was in the state, was unnecessarily sacrificed in his prime for not being perfect.
“He lied. He had to go,” is much too simple here, not least because the same thing will continue to happen until the sun burns out: When a set of rules lacks fundamental integrity, people will systematically break those rules as long as they’re in place. And we really don’t have to split hairs when we’re talking about a billion-dollar industry that runs almost entirely on free labor. At least not when we’re talking about rules that prohibit the indentured servants — in this case, college football players — from trading their own possessions at market value (swapping team-issued equipment for tattoos is the substance of the crimes that Tressel allegedly covered up).
It’s not just the fact that anyone who has played any sport at a junior-varsity high school level knows that a varsity sport at any level in college is more than a full-time job. No matter what you think about the importance of the NCAA’s cash cow maintaining a veneer of amateur idealism, there’s not a more relatable narrative in this drama than the one spun by former Buckeye defensive lineman Robert Rose, quoted in a so-called “bombshell” Sports Illustrated report this week:
“I knew how much money that the school was making,” Rose said. “I always heard about how Ohio State had the biggest Nike budget. I was struggling, my mom was struggling … [Other] guys were doing it for the same reasons. The university doesn’t really help. Technically, we knew it was wrong, but a lot of those guys are from the inner city and we didn’t have much, and we had to go on the best we could. I couldn’t call home to ask my mom to help me out.”
Why bother Mom anyway when you’re surrounded by people who are falling all over themselves to give you things? Former Buckeye receiver Ray Small explained, in a separate SI report: “You go out and you just, people show you so much love, you don’t even think about the rules. You’re just like ‘Ah man, it’s cool.'”
Or at least that’s what you were like. The glorious tribalism of big-time college football being what it is, parties to transactions such as those described by Small do tend to be just the kind of folks who take these secrets to their grave. Nobody believes that the same deals aren’t common with every major program. But the emergence of internet communication — like the e-mail trail that was the proximate cause of Tressel’s undoing — and the 24-hour sports-news cycle have created systemic critical breaches in these ancient circles of trust. Now we’re in a place where the infractions aren’t just impossible to police, but also impossible to hide. Tressel is a man caught between eras in the worst possible way.
Whatever else one might say about college football today, nobody trusts much of anything about the rules that are supposed to govern it — and that was true well before the Tressel scandal surfaced. It’s long been easy to see that times have changed, and that new circles will have to be formed. What’s not clear at all is why Ohio State couldn’t have been more upfront about this, or why the university and college football at large aren’t better off with The Vest more invested in this process.
This article appears in Jun 1-7, 2011.
If the NCAA tries to make an example out of Ohio State, Ohio State needs to try to make an example out of the NCAA by emptying the silos with whatever they have. Certainly, Gene Smith, who is probably about to be out of a job, knows a thing or two about how this organized band of white-collar criminals is conducting business. I’m serious: If the NCAA is going to sacrifice OSU at the altar of its own greed, OSU needs to go nuclear and just make this the landmark event that overthrows the corrupt system for good.
I absolutely do not understand the logic behind comparing slavery with college athletics. Here’s the thing, these kids are being paid. They are being paid in education and room and board. It’s when the player decides that those means are not sufficient enough is when rules are broken. Sure, these universities are raking in billions of dollars on their sports (mainly football). When you sign that letter of intent, the rules are clear. Just as when you sign any other contract the rest of your life. To play the slavery card is an excuse. Tressel was ignorant and without excuse.
I dunno, Vari. Maybe it’s hard to understand until you’ve had somebody make a few million almost exclusively on your work, break you off a few grand for it, then ruin your life when you try to trade a pair of pants for a tattoo and a few cups of whiskey.
“They signed the contract” really doesn’t mean anything when there’s no meaningful alternative.
Justingying the rules just by saying they’re the rules doesn’t quite hold up. The simple fact is that college football generates hundreds of millions of dollars. That money is going to end up in SOMEONE’S pocket. Should that someone be an NCAA suit, a university suit, a network suit, a corporate suit, a mercenary coach, or subsidizing other students’ educations? Or, should at least a substantial portion of it be used to compensate that 18-22 year-old kids who are being exploited. And make no mistake, they are being exploited. They are neither old enough, smart enough, nor organized enough to be able to stand up for themselves; thus, this ridiculous charade will continue for eternity. Should these kids not be able to fly their parents in for games, get cars, buy new clothes, or do anything else a normal student who can get a job may have the opportunity to do? I understand the concept has problems. How much should they get paid? How do you control it? Do scrubs make the same thing as stars? These are all valid questions, but instead of just ignoring the problem in the face of these questions, we should be working to find answers to them. Because the fundamental fork-in-the-road question of who the SOMEONE should be is quite simple. It’s the kids whose talents are being used to make everyone but themselves quite wealthy.
That’s asinine. College education is not cheap. In addition, most player whom play at Division 1 schools are aspiring to become pro athletes. They will certainly be paid there. But I forgot, all the students in college make money for the respective owners of their employers but they should be paid exorbitant salaries because the owners are making money. If that is the general idea then there’s plenty for the believers of that ideology to learn about life. Look, you are being paid in education. Ultimately, if you are not good enough to become a pro athlete, then you should have captilized on the education provided. Tressel sacrificed important life lessons that these kids should be learning in order to win. To grease the gears of the machine. That’s not a coach.
@vari, if the slavery analogy seems like hyperbole, that’s probably why pete didn’t employ it preferring to be more precise with the term indentured servitude. the difference being the workers are free to leave, but in both cases room and board are provided by the enterprise profiting from their labor.
“When a set of rules lacks fundamental integrity, people will systematically break those rules as long as they’re in place.” this is the key passage for the whole mess. and yet, i feel uncomfortable using the argument because it wasn’t like OSU/Tressel was sounding the alarm on behalf of aj green last year. the Niemöller quote about the nazis applies here. unfair as the rules are, coach showed outwardly a willingness to play by them. ultimately the cause of his demise rests with his own decisions.
Vari, who said anything about exhorbitant salaries? Stop trying to justify what is nearly a year-round job that generates hundreds of millions of dollars with $20,000 a year in room and board. That argument completely ignores the supply and demand principles of division 1 athletes. It’s not like the kid with 20 scholarship offers can just decide to let the schools determine his value by bidding against each other (unless he’s Cam Newton). Normal people’s salaries are determined, at least to a degree, by free market principles. If you don’t make a lot of money while your boss or owner does, it’s probably because your skills are replaceable. It’s supply and demand. Further, your argument ignores the fundamental unfairness of these kids’ likenesses being used with no compensation. How is it that a kid is entitled to NOTHING when his image is used to sell a jersey or placed in a videogame. You can’t justify this just by saying that tuition makes up for everything.
“when there’s no meaningful alternative.”
This, I believe, is the point. If you are a top football player and want to play professionally, your only viable option after high school is to play in college for three years. The NFL of course bans you from the draft and there is no professional minor league from which the NFL sources talent. As boneheaded and hypocritical as the NCAA looks most of the time, a large portion of this is on the NFL for forcing players who want to play professionally into college and not providing a meaningful alternative.
OK Biff, so how would you propose that kids get paid in college? Would this be determinant on the players level of skill, such as in the NFL? So colleges would sell themselves on the ability to sell a jersey or a their endorsement of a video game? Not the quality of education their specific institute provides (the whole purpose of college)? You see, your skill is determinant upon your skills but you’re foolish to believe that the owner of your business isn’t paying you a fool’s ransom compared to the amount of money he/she would earn. How these colleges determine where that money is spent is entirely up to them. Obviously coaches are used as pawns just as the players are. The athletic directors and so on. The purpose of college is to get an education. I agree with Tim, the NFL is equally as responsible for their specific rules which in turn fuels the greed by the colleges. But ultimately these kids should be there to learn. If the college wants to make exceptions for dumb kids who are athletically gifted then that’s an indictment completely outside what we’re debating.
“These are all valid questions, but instead of just ignoring the problem in the face of these questions, we should be working to find answers to them.”
Agreed, and the point is that we don’t have to have perfect answers to these questions to know that in the meantime a program (or even a season for that program) shouldn’t be endangered every time one of these kids trades or sells one of his own pair of pants.
We pay graduate students stipends for providing a service to the university. How is paying an undergraduate student essentially the same thing for an extremely lucrative service any different at all?
Tressel did everything for the players, for the kids. What kind of rules keep a good coach from doing his job? Any boss will tell you: when you are attaining a goal, the rules have to be as flexible as you are supposed to be. It’s for the good of the company. He lied because he knew some people wouldn’t understand the sacrifice, the need to accomplish, the quest for glory he had to go through. He was being paid for one reason: to win games! He was told to “get it done” any way he could. Just like your supervisor tells you. So why should he be the scapegoat in an organization that changes its own rules in a fickle industry? Believe me, you will remember this comment: there will come a time when we will say “Look at our record! Why did we ever get rid of the winningest coach we could ever want? What jerk forced him out?”