National Collegiate Athletic Association |
CommentApril 21, 1997
Guest editorial -- CEOs direct athletics locally and nationally
BY EUGENE M. HUGHES I have read the guest editorial by Lori McQueen, vice-president of the Collegiate Consulting Group of Executive Sports, in the March 17 issue of The NCAA News. In it, she argues that presidents need to become more involved with athletics at the local level, having achieved some success nationally. The lack of involvement at the local level, she indicates, is a matter of "serious concern." I can assure any reader that college and university presidents cannot write a rebuttal editorial every time a little criticism comes their way. I am responding to Dr. McQueen because I feel her position is out of touch with the reality of most presidents and needs to be addressed. As a university president, I meet regularly and participate substantively in the business of the athletics department's board of directors, attend conference meetings with other presidents, discuss all pending NCAA legislation, hold regular meetings with the director of athletics, consider faculty concerns as they arise, assume overall responsibility for the budget, attend men's and women's sports events, go to as many booster luncheons and breakfasts as possible, and meet key recruits and their parents. In addition, I served as a founding member of the NCAA Presidents Commission and have annually attended and participated in meetings of the NCAA and of our athletics conference. Division I presidents get a great deal of mail about athletics. Fire the coach. Keep the coach. The cheerleaders are dressed too skimpily. The cheerleaders are frumpy. Eliminate the cheers with "hell" in them. Stay the hell out of the cheers arena. The observations people make about athletics are unending and each is strongly felt. A president must respond to all credible letters from concerned persons. Our NCAA certification exercise has just been completed, and we are happy with the result. As part of the process leading to certification, however, the NCAA advises university presidents to stay abreast of the process. I created assignments out of our review process that will improve our functioning. This is required time and effort. When I came to Wichita State four years ago, the university was responding to gender-equity concerns raised by the Office for Civil Rights. I used this issue to bring the university into a gender-equity position generally. The final tally was a base budget increase of $800,000 for athletics, but before it was finally adopted (unanimously) by the student senate, I had to speak to protest groups and argue the university's position successfully with the board of regents. I derive some enjoyment in knowing that the university soon will have achieved gender equity, in law, but continuing attention will be needed to maintain that position. The university dropped football in 1987, and since then the decision has been controversial. I cannot in this brief piece adequately convey the time this matter has consumed, but it has been considerable. Advice is plentiful and the combinations and permutations of solutions people have offered have been enthusiastic and creative. I have a task force working on this issue right now. Every president reading this will know that no matter what view prevails, the issue will remain. This is not a lament, but it is a fact of life for presidents at the "local level." This past year, I kicked off a large facilities renovation campaign for intercollegiate athletics. If successful, it will substantially upgrade all of our sports facilities and create a limited amount of new space. A president does not call a news conference and then walk away from a major project. The expectation is that I will be right in the middle of the fund-raising activity. I believe that will be necessary if the millions of dollars needed are to be raised. Finally, I want to point to the subtler worries presidents think about: ever-rising costs, periodic faculty concerns, public pressures, changing cultures, the submission of true sports to big dollars, new federal and state legislation, the role of the NCAA in directing institutions, and the quality of the undergraduate experience for student-athletes. No Division I president will differ from his or her behavior much from that what I have described. Yes, individual presidents have their campus issues of the moment, but there are common themes across the nation. I can assure Dr. McQueen that presidents are very involved with athletics on their home campuses. This is as it should be because at its best, intercollegiate sports remain a source of institutional pride and an asset of enormous worth. Eugene M. Hughes is president of Wichita State University. Comment -- Sportsmanship counts in Corning, Iowa
BY RAINBOW ROWELL Vern Keerbs was sick of all the booing. He was tired of mean-spirited cheers and parents who yell, berate and challenge referees Dennis Rodman-style. So the Corning, Iowa, superintendent drew a line, and now all who cross it -- be they students or graduates or parents -- are out. "It is zero tolerance," Keerbs said. The first time Corning spectators behave outrageously, they are out, suspended from all activities, for the season. The second time, they're out for a year. Other Iowa and Nebraska educators and sports officials say they have never heard of a school policy quite like this. But they recognize Corning's problems. High schools throughout the Midlands are trying to keep the poor sportsmanship that has become common at the professional and collegiate level out of the high-school bleachers. Shouting at officials Keerbs and the Corning school board drafted their policy last month after some especially troubling incidents. A basketball player's father repeatedly crossed the floor to shout at the referees. After he tried to follow a referee into the locker room, Keerbs said, the board decided to take action. That parent was suspended for one calendar year, setting the precedent for future incidents. A few students -- including a basketball player -- who tried to confront referees have been kicked out for the rest of the season. They received a letter, warning them that one more offense would keep them out for a year. It doesn't matter if the offenses take place in the same month or even the same school year. It's two strikes -- period, Keerbs said. The year-long suspension includes any activity with an audience, from football games to school plays. Academic events, such as conferences and graduations, are not included. Like most schools, Corning used to handle rowdy fans on a case-by-case basis. Seeking consistency But the poor behavior was becoming more common, Keerbs said, and the district wanted to be consistent. "This was the straw that broke the camel's back," he said. Keerbs, the camel, describes himself as a man in the twilight of his career. He spent three decades as a basketball referee and also officiated baseball, football and track. Every year, he said, he has watched the crowds get a little ruder and heard more curses and negative remarks. Keerbs puts much of the blame on professional and college athletics. People see poor sportsmanship on television and bring it home, he said. The problem reaches beyond athletes, said Jim Riley, executive director of the Nebraska School Activities Association. "Another factor," Riley said, "is the overall disrespect for, shall I say, authority." Parents and teachers are less likely to correct young people, he said, and the latter are less likely to listen. Most high-school spectators still behave perfectly well, he said, but in general there are more people standing, more people shouting, more people getting impatient and abusive. "You blame manners, I guess," Riley said, "when you get right down to it." School officials can't tell professional athletes to behave, and they can't order parents to teach manners. Yet they are far from helpless, said Dave Harty, assistant executive director of the Iowa High School Athletic Association. Sportsmanship, ethics and integrity. Those three things above all, above competition and even athletics excellence, must be the focus of every high-school athletics program, Harty said emphatically. "If you don't believe that," Harty said, "there's little justification for high-school athletics." First, coaches and teachers must show students that there is a difference between what they see on television and what they can do at the school games. "That's a different ballgame they're playing," Harty said. "They're getting paid for their efforts. It's an entertainment world. We're an educational world." Schools must be vigilant in their stand against poor sportsmanship, Riley agreed. "I think it's got to be a year-long emphasis," Riley said. "I don't think you can wait for a basketball game to do it, or a football game or the state tournament." New strategies The Nebraska and Iowa principals interviewed said they might adopt a policy like Corning's if pushed far enough. But for now, they prefer to handle incidents as they arise. The schools have developed their own strategies to promote good sportsmanship. If he has to, Cozad, Nebraska, athletics director Bill Israelson writes letters to adults who get carried away or are overly critical at games. He tells them they are setting a poor example and embarrassing their children. Most schools use pep rallies and cheerleaders to promote sportsmanship. "You try to get cooperation rather than sit on them," said Dan Lowe, the Audubon, Iowa, high-school principal. Simply getting students to sit is the first step, said Duane Haith, who coordinates physical education and athletics for the Omaha School District. "There's less rowdy behavior from the students if they're not standing," Haith said. The important thing, Harty advised, is to make it a priority. "You take it off the front burner, it will get bad," Harty said. "And it will get worse quicker than it took to get good." Opinions -- Shock harder to achieve, shame more difficult to find
Calvin Hill, former football player "There was plenty of rude behavior when I started playing. But the public saw it less. "However, society has changed. We tolerate more. We accept what used to be considered deviant behavior. "Take Dennis Rodman. He still has some shock value, but lots of people walking down the street look like him -- guys walking around in drag. You didn't see that 20 or 30 years ago. I'm worried that we've lost our ability to be shocked. "I'm appalled by declining respect for authority. Referees and umpires aren't treated well nowadays. We didn't always agree with how they ruled, but we always respected them. Generally, we respected anyone older or in a position of authority. There's less of that now. "As a kid growing up in Baltimore, when one of my friends used bad language near a grownup, someone would say something like, 'Don't say that in front of Mr., or Mrs., So-and-So.' Now you hear kids using foul language in front of anybody. "With less respect for authority, I'm not surprised that referees and umpires catch more grief now. "We need to stop blaming others. We should get back to responsibility. Back to civility. Back to having some shame about certain behavior." >h2>Women's ice hockey
Cammi Grantee, women's ice hockey player On the effect of the inclusion of women's ice hockey as an Olympic medal sport: "With the Olympics, people will know women play hockey and they will be shocked to see that we can play at that level. We're not trying to play a men's game. What we're trying to do is be recognized for our own game and respected for it, too. We don't have to be 6-4, 220 pounds."
Erin Whitten, women's ice hockey player Whitten has played goalie in several men's professional minor leagues: "Playing against men, you're at the bottom rung of the ladder and you scrape to get playing time and respect. There's a lot of satisfaction when you gain that respect. "But people look at me and some say I shouldn't be there because I'm a girl. Or, 'She's doing the best she can, but she's still third string.' With the women, I'm one of the elite players. It makes a big difference when we all have that respect. Winning an Olympic medal with the women's team would be way more satisfying than simply being part of a men's team."
Turning pro early
Chamique Holdsclaw, women's basketball player "I think what the (women's professional) league needs is mature young ladies who have their degrees and who want to go farther than play basketball as a career. And I think also by playing college basketball, you develop your name. Then, by your graduation or going pro, it does a greater good for the sport of women's basketball."
Out-of-season athlete employment
Mark Dienhart, men's athletics director Discussing 1997 Convention Proposal No. 62, which permits out-of-season employment earnings for Division I student-athletes, up to the cost of attendance: "I think as time has gone along (since January), people have come to realize what cumbersome legislation this really is. This may provide impetus for getting back to the discussion of whether a scholarship should include something beyond tuition, room, board and books. It may be easier for presidents to swallow (a stipend) than the allegations of cheating that will go on with this.... "This legislation may just be a transition. When everybody finds everything that's going to be involved in administrating and overseeing this legislation, the idea of a stipend may not seem like such a bad idea." |