Characters vs. Character

BY: Michael A. Aun, FIC, LUTCF, CSP, CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame

When asked whether discipline and character were keys to winning football games, the great coach and philosopher Bobby Bowden once said, "If they were, Army and Navy would be playing for the National Championship every year."

It just ain't so folks!

Fans would far rather win with "characters" than with "character." Some athletes today can do everything with a football but spell it. They aren't in college for an education. It's a stepping-stone to the pros for a few and a waste of time for the great majority, as they will never see the inside of a professional football stadium unless they buy a ticket.

An even greater hypocrisy is the fact that universities aren't recruiting them to build character or to necessarily help them earn a degree, despite what they would have you believe. Universities are filling their coffers with the money these kids generate when they help put 85,000 people in the seats on a Saturday afternoon.

Every year championship rosters are littered with players that, at best, have a soiled background and, at worst, are outright criminals. Some of the illegal behavior is hurried along by the likes of unscrupulous agents like Tank Black, who is now doing time in the big house. The Tank Black's of the world wouldn't have the opportunity to take advantage of these kids if the NCAA wasn't so hypocritical with its own rules and regulations.

Black isn't alone in the slammer. One of the highest profile athletes in America was Ohio State's Maurice Clarett, who is also doing time in another penitentiary.

I read recently where Coach George O'Leary's University of Central Florida team had 41 players that posted a 3.00 or better GPA, and nine players graduated ahead of time. Bully for them, but don't be surprised if O'Leary doesn't get the ax if he keeps going 4-8. Sadly, Universities don't hire coaches to graduate athletes; they hire them to win football games.

South Carolina Coach Steve Spurrier once commented on why he didn't play all his athletes. "This isn't Pop Warner," he said. "We put the best players on the field." Spurrier gets it. He's there to win football games, not to play all the kids.

Is this right? It's not for me to say. I'm just a humble columnist, but I can't help but note the hypocrisy of the situation. Fans and columnists like yours truly verbally embrace the concept of "student-athletes" but the reality is the teams must win.

Let's be fair… if we climb down from our lofty perch and agonizingly admit the truth, the truth is that great teams are filled with great athletes, not necessarily great people.

Bobby Knight recently admitted in an interview that great coaching is about great athletes. "I don't have to be a good shooter," he said on ESPN. "I just need to recruit good shooters."

To his credit, Knight graduates a higher number of his athletes than most college coaches, but make no mistake, he's there to win basketball games, not graduate athletes.

When asked if we should be keeping score on how coaches or doing, his response was typically direct: "Yeah, and by the way, let's start keeping score on how many doctors lose a patient."

The bottom line IS the bottom line. It's more about money than it is anything else. Why do you think the zillions of bowl games that are played every year are full of mediocre teams that barely have winning records? Money…pure and simple.

I frankly wonder if we shouldn't be paying kids for playing college ball. After all, they are bringing in millions of dollars in gate receipts and donations from good givers who want 50-yard line seats. But that would be less than ethical. Why? It could jeopardize their amateur status. We couldn't do that.

Lend me a hand as I get back up on my pedestal.