There was plenty of embarrassment to go around last Saturday as the Crosstown Shootout between Xavier and the University of Cincinnati ended in a brawl with about 9 seconds remaining in the game. Nationally televised on ESPN 2, the ugly incident clearly brought to focus the challenges facing the leadership of college athletics. Coaches Mick Cronin (UC) and Chris Mack (XU) both have been severely criticized for the behavior of their players. Athletic Directors Mike Bobinski (XU) and Whit Babcock (UC) have been accused of not taking swift and decisive action. While there is plenty of blame to go around, to think that individual coaches or athletic directors could stop this behavior by themselves is very shortsighted. Placing the blame at the feet of the coaches and AD'S is mis-directed. This incident from pre-game banter to in game trash talking to post-game inappropriate comments by players is a message that the system of amateur athletics in our country is flawed. Cronin, Mack, Bobinski and Babcock have done what their Universities have asked them to do. They have built programs that are nationally recognized, that build an enthusiastic fan base who buy tickets and make donations and that keep alumni (I have a degree from both Universities) engaged with the University. Yet they walk the tightrope of blending wins with building character in their athletes.
This happens because leadership sends incredibly powerful mixed messages. What is the highest priority? Is it following the core values of the University or is it winning games? By paying winning coaches huge sums of money and giving them long-term contracts, University leadership answers that question by their actions. "Winning is our main focus so you need to recruit players who can win." Are recruits like Allen Iverson at Georgetown, Ron Artest at St. John’s or PacMan Jones at West Virginia the individuals we want representing our University? To make matters worse because of the overly competitive culture of college athletics and the big money opportunity, we spend the majority of time making athletes better players not better people. Very little time in college athletics is focused on teaching life lessons, not because coaches do not want to, but because they have major time constraints and must set priorities based on athletic performance and staying eligible. College athletes’ time is focused on practice, strength and conditioning activities, preparing for games (film and scouting reports), classes, academic advising, tutors and study hall. Blend those time requirements with crazy travel and you have created a model where there is basically no time to work with athletes outside those coach established priorities. There is little or no time for value building or communication about life challenges.
When young athletes watch Jalen Rose talk about the positive value of trash talking or Iverson’s rant on “practice”, aspiring young athletes who are developing their own value system, desperately need influences to mitigate the Iverson-Rose mentality. Instead the system places these adolescents into AAU programs (coached by individuals with no particular credentials) that not only facilitates but encourages (as XU's star point guard Tu Holloway says) gangster mentality. Naturally when the pool of recruits for Division 1 basketball comes from AAU basketball there is a pretty good chance you will get some of the behaviors exhibited in the "Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout". To think that college coaches and athletic directors are going to totally change the behaviors and attitudes of these recruits, who have spent years in the AAU system, is both naïve and unrealistic.
If you want to eliminate situations like the “Crosstown Shootout” knockout, the leadership needs to change the system rather blame the closest individuals. Easy to say but this change needs to affect the entire culture of college athletics, a task about as easy as turning a battleship 180 degrees. Leadership is all about change and significant change. For this gigantic change to happen it will require a leader with incredible passion and a huge reservoir of determination.
In an attempt not to just identify problems, these concepts would be a good start to changing the system:
1. Eliminate AAU and the crazy travel competitions of middle school and high school aged athletes.
2. Allow coaches more time to build relationships and get to know potential recruits in the recruiting process.
3. Change the academic schedule to a 12-month schedule where in-season athletes have less classes so they are not conflicted with major time management problems.
4. Create a different funding model for college athletics so coaches’ salaries do not put them into such a high-pressure situation to win.
5. Mandate a life lessons coach who has access to athletes and head coaches and is given appropriate authority.
