Much to my chagrin, scandal has overwhelmed the college athletics sphere. The spring is supposed to be a time for love and rebirth, not deceit and decay, yet somehow the end of every winter brings another administrative scandal. With the football season long over and high-profile basketball games limited to a select few teams, prominent individuals with knowledge of transgressions lose at least some of the incentive to keep quiet. The whistleblowers come out for the spring in full force, and whether it's due to a critical mass of overwhelming guilt or the opportunity to mitigate an active role in the offense, their disclosures own the spotlight.
First, to Alabama, the land where football rules all. When it comes to the gridiron, Auburn University has lived in the shadow of the University of Alabama since the Crimson Tide claimed their first national championship in 1925. Since then, 'Bama has claimed 14 national titles, while Auburn has just two. So in 2010, when quarterback Cam Newton led Auburn under coach Gene Chizik to its first national title in 53 years, there was ample cause for celebration.
In the intervening years, the state of Alabama has remained the gravitational center of college football. Not only did the University of Alabama win the national championship in the year immediately preceding Auburn's victory, but they also took home the title in the two subsequent seasons since. This has led many to ask, just what are they putting in the water down in 'Bama?
Turns out it wasn't anything they were feeding those Southern boys, but rather the nondescript envelopes full of cash they were handing out. Even worse, it's been reported that Auburn coaches were using their influence with professors and administrators to adjust players' grades, allowing them to retain their academic eligibility.
What's most disturbing about the firsthand accounts coming out of Auburn and from alumni around the country is that nobody is surprised. In fact, quite the opposite. With each successive college football scandal, the violations become more normalized. They become just another bump in the road for a program, not a starting point for a discussion about the underlying causes of the rule infringements.
Now, to New Jersey, home to the perpetually loud and angry. But if you think of Tony Soprano as violent and Gov. Chris Christie as obscene, then you haven't seen the despicable montage of disgraced former Rutgers University basketball coach Mike Rice. The footage gathered over the span of a few seasons shows Rice verbally and physically abusing his players as if it was as an ordinary method of getting the most from a team. To me, an intense coach is usually a good thing. The occasional "What the hell is wrong with you?" can do wonders for players lacking in mental fortitude, but that's not what we're talking about here.
Rice systematically hurled basketballs at his players from point blank range, bombarded them with offensive slurs, and even resorted to kicking them from behind at his most enraged moments. While this feels like a scandal, it shouldn't be all that scandalous. I mean, clearly Rice was wrong. Clearly, he should have been fired, which he was on Wednesday. And clearly, Rutgers should take a long hard look at the oversight in their athletic department. What's breathing life into this story line, beyond Rutgers' recent history of homophobia, is that university president Robert Barchi learned of the video's existence more than three months ago. Barchi claimed he had never seen the video until it went viral this week.
Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti, a former television executive, did see the video when it was released and, as is his prerogative, punished Rice. Suspending him, fining him and requiring him to attend anger management meetings. But justice wasn't Pernetti's primary consideration. Rutgers hired him to invigorate a middling athletics program, and he was doing just that when he encountered Rice's disgusting methods. Pernetti was in the midst of incredibly sensitive negotiations that concluded with Rutgers being invited to join the Big Ten, a move that will significantly increase the university's athletics revenue. If Rice's loathsome behavior had become the subject of a national discussion, those negotiations may have been compromised.
So, if you're looking to break a story about a college sports scandal, I have two recommendations for you: wait for the spring and follow the money.
