Ethical behavior

Jay John, head men's basketball coach
Oregon State University
East Valley Tribune (Mesa, Arizona)
Discussing the image of Division I men's basketball coaches:

"I don't know how you legislate morality. Yeah, we have to do something. But I do something every day in my life trying to do the right thing, the way I treat people, and maintaining dignity along the way.

"We need to change the way some things are done. We've got to make some decisions on how we want to be perceived. We have to try to do it the right way, otherwise people are not going to see us as people with integrity. ...

"For the 95 percent of us to take the hit for 5 percent is not right. But what's not right sells papers. I don't feel the negative image on a daily basis of what I do.

"I can't control what people think. I'm not going to be held hostage by that."

William C. Friday, co-chair
Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics
San Jose Mercury News

"For the very first time, the will is there to say: 'Here are the standards, and anyone who breaks them is going to pay.' When lawyers violate the legal code of ethics, they get punished by the profession. Why can't this happen with the coaches? It certainly can. And I hope the basketball coaches can set the example for the football coaches."

Marwan Hage, football student-athlete
University of Colorado, Boulder
USA Today

Discussing ethical behavior in football:

"As a lineman, usually you're under the pile. You always have dirty shots when you're under there. Guys get up and put their elbow in your back. If you're on the bottom and say, 'Slow, slow, my knee is tweaked,' if the guy doesn't like you, he'll kind of tweak it on the way up.

"You always remember who gave you (a shot), and you give it back to them in some way. Guys have poked me in the eye, scratched my neck. You get hits and tweaks, everything you can imagine. The pile is not fun, especially on the bottom."

Academic standards

Dick Farley, head football coach
Williams College
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"If most kids are getting in here with college board scores of 1,500, we might be dipping to 1,300 for football players. But those tests are just one indicator of how well somebody will do. I'm a blue-collar guy who never could have gotten into Williams, but I work hard enough that I sure as hell could have gotten out of Williams."

Athletics and higher education

Lucius T. Outlaw, associate provost
Vanderbilt University
Chronicle of Higher Education

"If you want to pursue the path of athletics being a huge, money-sucking enterprise -- with a promise that it's going to be a moneymaker but generally isn't -- it follows logically that to be successful, you have to build this world over there. OK, fine, but don't try to lie to anybody that what you've got going on over there is an academic enterprise. What you've got is an entertainment enterprise."