Toxic Culture in College Athletics
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College Football started this past weekend and it's our favorite time of year. It means the air is getting cooler, houses become divided based on rivalry, and our Saturdays are fully booked. However, this offseason has shed some unfortunate light on the current climate in college athletics. With the upcoming "Keystone State Rivalry" game coming up this weekend, this month's newsletter is to discuss the toxic culture, abuse and poor leadership that has run rampant at our alma maters.
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University of Maryland Football Abuse
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A second former staffer said that while he has seen and heard coaches curse at players, he'd never been on another coaching staff with this kind of philosophy. "The language is profane, and it's demeaning at times," he said. "When you're characterizing people in such derogatory and demeaning terms, particularly if they don't have a skill level you think they need to aspire to, or they may never get, then it's rough to watch and see because if it was your son, you wouldn't want anybody talking to your son that way."
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The Indictment of College Sports in Light of UMD
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Jordan McNair died because his humanity was secondary to the egos of the members of the Maryland coaching staff. He died because he was physically abused in the course of what was supposed to be training for the upcoming season. He was a victim of both workplace violence and of domestic abuse.
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Coaching Pressures Likely Led to Toxic Climate
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The coaches at Maryland were likely pressured to win because of the institution’s fairly recent entry into the Big Ten, Smith College's Zimbalist said. While theoretically the Big Ten’s TV contracts would yield Maryland more money, if the football team constantly loses games to powerhouses in the conference such as Ohio State University and the University of Michigan, fans and donors would be turned off, he said.
Creating a credible team would ensure the coaches stayed longer, and eventually likely lead to a better offer from another institution, Zimbalist said.
“Overwhelmingly, there are incentives to win,” he said. “I think that’s what’s going on.”
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The Scandal at Ohio State
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Meyer: "I'm fully aware that I'm ultimately responsible for this situation that has harmed the university as a whole and our department of athletics and our football program. I want to apologize to Buckeye nation. I followed my heart, not my head, and I fell short pursuing information because at each juncture I gave Zach Smith the benefit of the doubt."
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The Mike Rice Scandal
"There will never be a time when I use any of that as an excuse," Rice said, referring to his efforts toward a change in behavior. "I've let so many people down. My players, my administration, Rutgers University, the fans. My family, who's sitting in their house just huddled around because of the fact that their father was an embarrassment to them.
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The Larry Eustachy Scandal
The results of Colorado State's investigation into Eustachy's treatment of players in 2014 included Eustachy admitting that he "crossed the line" and "went way over the line," agreeing to six anger management courses and a zero-tolerance policy in regards to his behavior and vulgar language.
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The Dangers of Tribalism and Callousness in College Sports
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The reality is that the virtues of college football are, more and more, enabling its vices. The passions that stir up loyalties and rivalries also produce tribalism like the type infecting American politics. Enamored with the potential to win, fans avert their eyes from ugliness in their favorite programs and lash out at those who expose it. The result is that today’s premier college sports programs are largely composed of, and surrounded by, individuals with little incentive to uncover or address misconduct. And too often, those individuals have chosen to protect their programs before they protect victims of their programs’ abuse.
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Dave Baker's Take on the Issue:
Somewhere someone said it was ok to have a culture of abuse – that winning matters – not the student athlete. That we’ll develop a winning program but sacrifice our values and our beliefs along the way. It will be OK to treat one class of players differently than another, just because they aren’t as good or as talented as the others.
But where did everything run off track? College administrations that cave to alumni demands, especially those with deep pockets, the expectation that the team will win every year, or else. And then there’s the hype of the media. That can add more than kindling to a passionate fire to win!
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Which Human Capital Advisors' Team Member's Alma Mater will have the Best Season?
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