Reforming College Athletics
Posted on March 1, 1990Perhaps NCAA President Richard D. Schultz said it best in January at the NCAA Convention in Dallas when he observed:
“I still maintain that the majority of things happening in college athletics are positive, but regardless, we are what we are perceived to be … Today the general public and even our faculties and deans feel that colleges and universities are not doing a good job of controlling intercollegiate athletics.”
Athletic participation teaches many positive things to young people — self discipline, the importance of teamwork, sportsmanship, fair play, accepting defeat, handling victory, and understanding one’s limits. Athletics can also bring an entire university community together — faculty, students, staff, and alumni.
Unfortunately, sanctions for NCAA violations have brought embarrassment and discredit to many colleges and universities. More significantly, public confidence in higher education has been shaken by such reports and by continuing violations.
Understandably, the public, as much as it supports athletics, wants and expects meaningful reform of intercollegiate athletics. Very few argue for maintaining the status quo. To be a college or university CEO and not to advocate reform or not to volunteer opinions on intercollegiate athletics is to subject oneself to collegial isolation and to absent oneself from one of the dominant issues of the day.
Many times, sweeping changes are publicly advocated by well meaning individuals who fail to consult with those who would understand the effects of the proposed reforms. Usually, at first glance, the suggested changes appear reasonable, but the implications of the recommended reforms often are not fully understood. When needed modifications are offered, some respond with cynicism, impugn the motives of those who seek adjustments, and allege that they have succumbed to pressure from coaches, alumni, boosters, athletic directors, and others.
Clearly, significant reform is needed and needed now. But simply stated, many reforms that are suggested are not that simple. Freshmen ineligibility, shortening basketball seasons, limiting the number of basketball games, shortening spring football practice, these and many other needed reforms must be thoroughly examined and understood. Each reform may not be the panacea intended. Among the more than 800 member institutions of the NCAA there is tremendous diversity of size, governance, and mission. Reform will affect these diverse institutions in very different ways.
Against the few faculty zealots who argue most loudly though not always most thoughtfully for reform, there are few colleagues who dare to argue for moderation. This is not simply because they have other interests that they believe are more important but because they do not wish to be scorned as an athletic sympathizer.
Those in the media and on campuses who wish to craft reform or to nudge it forward should apply the same intellectual rigor we expect of scholarly pursuits. In other words, we should seek and respect a variety of opinions, listen, and understand that like other topics, athletic reform brings no single “truth” but many competing “truths.” After all, didn’t we learn in college that very little in life is all black or all white?
We also should avoid concluding that abuses by boosters mean abuses by alumni. While some fans who have brought embarrassment to colleges and universities are alumni, many are merely boosters who never attended the college or university whose athletic program they support. As alumni, we should seek and be permitted a role in helping to shape reform. After all, it is our degree that is blemished if our institution gains national attention for NCAA violations and sanctions. Most CEO’s stay briefly at the college or university they lead as do many faculty, but, once an alumnus — always an alumnus.
Along the way, let us also demonstrate thoughtfulness and balance in our perspective. At Carolina, athletics must be self-sufficient. (Nationally, it is reported that 90 percent of college athletic departments run a deficit.) The budget for all of UNC athletics is roughly two percent of that for our entire campus. It is less than the budget for our Student Stores. The average head coach’s salary is less than that of the average associate professor’s salary. For every $1 given last year by alumni to athletics, nearly $7 were given by alumni to some other area of the University.
No college or university is responsible for the fact that most TV stations report news, weather, and sports or that few daily papers lack a sports section. Likewise, no college or university is responsible for the rapid explosion of sports programs on TV or the continuing escalation in salaries for sports superstars.
What colleges and universities are responsible for — among other things — is providing an educational opportunity for young people. We believe our athletic program is a model for the nation. With a 100 percent graduation rate in the decade of the ’80s, Coach Dean Smith and his players have proven that consistency in winning need not be compromised with classroom underachievement.
As a member of the Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, co-chaired by UNC System President Emeritus William C. Friday ’48 and Notre Dame President Emeritus Father Theodore M. Hesburgh, I will be representing the Council of Alumni Association Executives and drawing upon my observations and experiences at Carolina. I welcome your thoughtful suggestions and encourage you to participate in this important ongoing debate.
We should all recognize that it is unlikely that we will ever really “settle” these issues, for as times change, people change, and society changes. Indeed, perhaps the pace of change has made life so complicated that our continuing absorption with sports is a reflection of our desire to have some place to turn where there are winners and a limited period before a contest is resolved. Unfortunately, we also look to sports as one of the few remaining arenas in which we can find heroes — and there are very few Michael Jordans!
Yours at Carolina,
Douglas S. Dibbert ’70
