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May 2006
Gridiron grads? Yep.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Think about this one, Dawg fans.
D.J. Shockley, as you know, red-shirted as a freshman. After four years of playing behind David Greene, he was finally Georgia’s starting quarterback as a fifth-year senior in 2005. D.J. got his degree in Speech Communications in December of 2005.
But what if Shockley had gotten his undergraduate degree in May of 2005? And what if, in June, Shockley told coach Mark Richt that he wasn’t going to come back to Georgia. What if he told Richt that he was going to graduate school at Florida State and use his last year of eligibility to play for Bobby Bowden?
He couldn’t do that, you say.
You could say that, but you would be wrong.
A new piece of NCAA legislation, one that has been flying under the radar for about a month, will allow an athlete with a degree and remaining eligibility to do exactly that.
The NCAA Board of Directors voted for the measure in April and, from a sheer academic standpoint, it makes sense. If a student has an undergraduate degree and wants to go to a particular graduate school, should he be penalized and not allowed to participate in athletics if he has eligibility remaining?
If I’m D.J. Shockley and the Stanford law school admits me, shouldn’t I be able to use my last year of eligibility there?
Coaches, of course, see the potential for abuse because that’s the way they are wired. They can see developing a player for four years and suddenly, with a degree in hand, he becomes a free agent. A lot of grad schools are certainly going to be calling.
The concerned coaches already have a real life example.
Tyler Kreig, an offensive lineman at Duke, received his degree in Political Science earlier this month. He has enrolled in a graduate program at California, whose team just happened to lose three starters from its offensive line to the NFL Draft.
The American Football Coaches Association, CBS SportsLine reported, is putting together an effort to overturn the legislation.
I think they will lose.
One, this just isn’t going to happen that often. In today’s game there just won’t be that many fifth-year senior players who already have a degree.
Two, and this is the important one, the NCAA under president Myles Brand has made it clear that when it has a choice between what is best for the student-athlete and what is best for the institution, it will bend over backwards to try and side with the student-athlete.
So many of these rulings — most in fact — go against the athletes. This is one they can win. The coaches are just going to have to suck it up.
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Longevity of Bowden, Paterno worth celebrating
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When I was a very young reporter one of my mentors, Irwin Smallwood of the Greensboro (N.C.) News & Record, gave me some very good advice:
“Never be cynical but ALWAYS be skeptical.”
It was a piece of wisdom that has served me well.
But sometimes it is hard not to be cynical about college football.
When a Texas player’s national championship ring ends up on eBay just months after one of the greatest college football games in history, it’s hard not to be cynical.
When coaches cut academic and ethical corners because the money has become so great, it’s hard not to be cynical.
When boosters buy players with no regard to the damage it can do to the institution they profess to love, it’s hard not to be cynical.
When college presidents talk about academic integrity and then fire a coach who doesn’t cheat and who graduates most of his players, it’s hard not to be cynical.
There are times, my friends, when this job makes you want to stand up and shout:
“What the hell are you people doing to our game!”
But then comes a day like Thursday when, for 30 unforgettable minutes, you listen to Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno.
The two most successful coaches in Division I-A history were on a conference call Thursday when the National Football Foundation announced that the two men would share the Gold Medal, the highest award given by that organization. Now this is not an old coaches award. Among the previous recipients are Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and John Wayne. This is a really big deal.
Bowden is 76. Paterno is 79. Both have been head football coaches for 40 years. Both have been coaches for over 50 years. Think of that.
When Bowden was 13 years old, he was confined to his bed for over a year with rheumatic fever. With only his radio to keep him company, Bowden listened to reports of World War II at night and Alabama football on Saturday afternoons. He could have taken his money and gone to the beach a long time ago, but he still wants to coach.
“I stayed in because I finally got to the point where I could help people,” said Bowden.
In 1950 Paterno was 23 years old and headed to law school but needed a job to repay a $2,000 debt. So he became an assistant football coach at Penn State. He’s still there.
“When I told my dad that I wanted to try this (coaching), he told me to make sure that I made a contribution to the institution,” said Paterno.
Not only has Paterno been a part of Penn State football for 56 years, several years ago he and his wife, Sue, pledged $3.5 million of their own money to endow faculty positions and scholarships.
Now I’m not saying that these men are without flaws. Their football programs have been touched by disappointment. Some of their players have gotten on the wrong side of the law. In a world of instant news, there are times when both men seem out of place.
I would submit that being out of place in today’s climate is probably a good thing. For at the end of the day it can be argued that both men care about the game and care about the people who play the game. That doesn’t make them perfect but it does make them unusual.
Today’s game-with all of its pressure, money, and media attention-will never again allow a man to coach at one school for 30 years. Just as surely as radio gave way to TV and TV gave way to the internet, once Bowden and Paterno are gone, the era of college football’s great coaching icons-Bryant, Neyland, Vaught, Osborne, Hayes, Dooley-will be over.
So let’s enjoy Bowden and Paterno while they are still here. Regardless of how many games they win, their continued presence should make us all a little less cynical about the game. And that’s worth celebrating.
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Parents stepping over the line
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Item: The family of Reggie Bush, the 2005 Heisman Trophy winner, allegedly lived in a house for which they paid no rent. Bush’s stepfather, it is further alleged, was in cahoots with the home’s owner to start a sports agency with his son as the star client.
Item: Jimmy Clausen, a high school JUNIOR, decides that he will tell the world that when the time comes he will sign at the University of Notre Dame. Clausen did not make the announcement in his native California. He and 15 members of his family were loaded into a stretch Hummer and pulled up to the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind., where cameras and microphones were atwitter. An L.A. public relations firm handled the press conference.
Item: Josh Portis, a freshman who backed up an All-SEC quarterback at Florida last season, decides to transfer to Maryland. As they head out of town his mother, Patricia Portis, told the Gainesville Sun: “The bottom line is the (the coaches) won’t let his talent be shown on the field. He needs to be at an institution where all of his talents can be taken care of.”
What do these three incidents have in common? In all cases parents of talented athletes have ceased to act like parents and have started acting like agents.
Coaches will tell you that one of the biggest changes to college football in a generation is the advent of parents who see their son not as someone to be loved and nurtured and supported through the college experience. More and more they see the child as a huge financial investment and their ticket to the good life. And when the coach or the school won’t get with the plan it’s time to pull up stakes and go somewhere else.
Don’t get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with using college football as a stepping-stone to get to the NFL. If a guy is blessed with a lot of talent then by all means he should use the opportunity of college football to make his dream come true. That kind of idealism is the province—and the right—of the young and gifted.
But the parent has to know better. The parent has to know that reaching the NFL is the longest of long shots. The parent has to temper the child’s idealism and remind him to take advantage of the opportunity that is right in front of them. The parent can’t afford to get caught up in the dreams of big houses, limos, and fancy cars.
In other words, a parent has to act like a parent. A parent has to live in the real world and not in the one where teenage children give press conferences.
Today’s Cocktail Party is a tame affair these days
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On Nov. 10, 1984 your humble correspondent came very close to an untimely demise. Florida had just beaten Georgia in Jacksonville 27-0 to break a six-game losing streak to the Bulldogs. Gator fans stormed the field, tore down the goalpost and did a victory lap around the stadium. I was one false step from being impaled. The mayor of Jacksonville, as I recall, thought it was pretty cool and said he would gladly replace the goalpost. I also recall that he was a Gator.
A year later Georgia upset Florida when the Gators were No. 1. This time Georgia fans stormed the field, tearing up chunks of sod to take back to Athens. There were more cops because of what had happened the year before. It was an ugly scene.
After that officials at both schools huddled because they knew they had a problem. The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party had gotten out of control. A lot of changes were made.
The point I’m making is this. On the rowdy scale, today’s Georgia-Florida game is a tea party compared to the 1970s and 80s. And that’s a good thing. Back then you could walk on the field at the Gator Bowl and actually smell the bourbon wafting through the stands.
Today the game is played in a nice stadium named after a phone company. The seats are teal. You don’t get in without a full body search. The days of sneaking in a half pint of Jack Daniels by putting it in your date’s purse are pretty much over. (If you did it, I don’t want to know about it.)
But there are still problems as there will be any time that many people gather together and alcohol is involved.
Those problems, however, are not going to be solved by telling the TV guys that they can’t call it “The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” anymore.
Georgia’s president, Dr. Michael Adams, wants the TV guys to knock off the “Cocktail Party” references in hopes of changing the culture of the event. I submit you can’t change the culture of the Georgia-Florida game. Here’s why.
College football is about tradition and I know a lot of people who embrace the “Cocktail Party” label but never drink anything stronger than bottled water when they are in Jacksonville. Like the “Red River Shootout” or the “Backyard Brawl,” the “Cocktail Party” is part of college football’s nomenclature. These traditions make college football the greatest game in the world.
The problems that led to the death of two students during the Georgia-Florida weekend are real and are tragic. But symbolism isn’t going to make those kids safe. Alcohol education and awareness on campus would be a good place to start. Taking a zero tolerance approach to public intoxication would help. And while you’re at it, get the Jacksonville people to get a handle on that Friday night mob scene at The Landing. A lot of problems start — or finish — there.
I applaud the motivation and I believe it is sincere. I just don’t think the frat boys — young and old alike — are going to drink one less beer because Tim Brando can’t say the words.
Bush case highlights serious BCS rules, enforcement gap
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Pac-10 and NCAA are currently investigating whether the family of USC’s Reggie Bush committed a rules violation. According to published reports, members of Bush’s family lived in the home of a man who wanted to represent the Heisman Trophy winning running back. They did not pay the owner fair market value in rent, about $4,500 per month. They moved out of the house when the arrangement became public.
Worst case scenario: USC will have to forfeit all the games in which Bush played while his parents lived in the house. He could also be stripped of his Heisman Trophy. I don’t believe either will happen.
But here’s some food for thought. Instead of Bush, what if we were talking about Vince Young, the Texas quarterback? What if Young’s family had done the same thing?
Like it might in the USC case, the NCAA could make Texas forfeit games and thus strip the Longhorns of their 2005 Big 12 championship. But what about the BCS national championship, which Texas won in the Rose Bowl thanks to Young’s vintage performance? If it became known after the fact that Young and his family were on the take in violation of NCAA rules, could the BCS championship and the $14 million paycheck that came with it be taken away from Texas?
The short answer is “no” and that fact is a problem for the BCS and something the commissioners will have to discuss at their next meeting in June.
Other than certifying the bowls, the NCAA has no control of the postseason in Division I-A football. The NCAA doesn’t award the Division I-A national championship so, logically, the NCAA cannot take it away.
The BCS is really a business structure with no enforcement powers. The BCS, truth be told, really doesn’t want to get into rules enforcement business.
But the BCS may have no choice. The Bush case has revealed a gap in rules compliance and enforcement. If the BCS doesn’t fill it, the NCAA will. And that’s the last thing the BCS wants.
“It is something that we now have to talk about,” said SEC Commissioner Mike Slive, the new coordinator of the BCS.
You better believe they do.
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