Machiavelli And The Current Crisis In Sports

If you are a football fan, you know that the sports world is scratching their heads after Notre Dame was passed over for Alabama and Miami in the slot for competing for the football national championship. The explanation is convoluted and beyond what I and others could understand. Notre Dame indicated they wouldn’t play in any bowls. Notre Dame is not a spoiled sport as others have indicated. What everyone is worried about is will other teams do the same thing because money is involved going to different entities. Welcome to the world of college athletics. Machiavelli indicated that “the ends justify the means.” Do what’s necessary to win. Nick Saban of all people is strongly indicating that we need to look at recruitment, paying athletes, and the use of the portal. Last weekend I watched a football game where one of the starters had been to four schools over four years.

I was wondering how they translate credits to graduate. The answer is they don’t.

I experienced this by being the counselor to many student athletes who were recruited by high powered programs. When students are recruited by colleges at EA and other schools, parents are ecstatic as well as students and schools as well. That includes me when I forget the ethical guideline articulated in the movie, Jerry Maguire, when a professional football player yells at his agent, “Show me the money!” As elated as my students are, they forget that the colleges are more elated as it is one step closer to winning for a coach to keep his or her job with usually a significant salary with other ways also added to increase that salary.

I have had student athletes who have benefitted by being accepted at colleges. It is a winning situation, but I also have had students who haven’t benefitted. I think Saban is someone who benefitted from this arrangement who now sees the handwriting on the wall. He said that the current situation is unsustainable because of the pay to play issue, alumni boosters giving large amounts of money to support sports programs, having alumni exerting undue influence, altered recruiting, and ADs having to make too quick decisions. Saban is like a reformed smoker who is now passionate about something to correct what he had done. These are not sour grapes. They are the grapes themselves.

As I said, I had student athletes who wanted my counsel in making their decision. The focus changes from student to student. One of my EA parents was a large donor to a college so they would bring him in to show him how well his money was being spent. When he returned home, he called and said, “Rev, I got to talk with you.” We met, and he told me that he visited a coach and a team, and the coach indicated that he had just recruited a student in eighth grade for his program. My friend asked, “Aren’t you afraid that she won’t develop enough as a player over the next four years?” The coach’s response was, “No, she could start for me right now.”

One of my student athletes was recruited to one of the top programs in his sport in the nation. He stopped by to see me between his freshman and sophomore years at this school. I always ask, “What should I tell my students what they should know about a sport in a division one school? He didn’t miss a beat, “Tell them that they will do their sport and do school on the side.”

Some of the students who left their high-profile programs indicated that “they had to fight for an education.”

Another student whose boyfriend attended a university on an athletic scholarship shared with me that he eats, sleeps, does his weight training, practices sometimes twice a day, and then competes in games that keep him on the road. He was also studying a demanding major. She said, “I never see him!”

I know a very successful basketball coach who left coaching early. He never indicated why to the press, but his strengths, ethics, and passion for the sport were based in developing a player over four years taking them from potential athlete to master of their craft. He also took great pride in having his players graduate in four years. Granted some would go to summer school to lighten their academic load during their season of playing, but their focus was on getting that degree in a timely fashion. Because he had the right balance it was not unheard of for his student athletes playing in the pros after graduation.

So, what is the answer? Many of our student athletes at EA worked very hard at their academics because their role as student came first and athlete second. I had a father of three of my students that I personally advised at EA. One went to an Ivy league School and was taking a six course a term academic load instead of doing the regular four course load. He had to petition to do that. He was also doing a division one sport. If he had courses that were scheduled at the same time as practice, you went to class. His dad asked him, “How are you doing it?” The father couldn’t wait to call me when he rattled off reasons for his son, Was it this course or that course?” His son said, “No, I learned how to work hard in a focused way and how to manage my time at EA.” I had a program for students where you forget about traditional weekends. School is seven days a week. You use part of that weekend to have fun, but also to get ahead by doing papers or required reading over the weekend so that you feel in control of your learning going into the week.

EA has sent many students to the Naval Academy and other service academies, but I asked a former student how he was able to do so well at the Naval Academy as you must take a demanding schedule, you do a sport, and you have the additional rigor of what it takes to prepare to lead in the military. This student told me that it is a demanding culture, but what people don’t know is that the professors are there day and night even in their homes to help you with academic issues.

Sure, there are required study halls in a colleges and universities. But Saban is right. There must be a change in the culture. He is like a burglar who is recruited by a college to tell them to see where easy entrance and theft can easily be done and then look at the sports program in the same way.

The first place to look is to underline the role of student first and then look at “Show me the money!” In ethics you must follow the money!