Splinters: College Football's Problems Apparent After Disturbing End to '04 Season

Since Tyrone Willingham was fired from Notre Dame, columnists, commentators and fair-hiring counselors across the country declared this the darkest day in Division I-A football. That’s because currently there are only two black head coaches. Ladies and gentlemen, if you look at the state of college football right now diversity among its head coaches is the least of its problems.

In the past week, Willingham was fired despite three successful seasons and a win this year over chief rival Michigan, a head coach actually begged others for their votes so his team could be fourth, a classy California coach was ousted from its well-earned BCS bowl bid for not running up the score with victory already in hand and despite the fact that there are five unbeaten teams, only two will contend for the National Championship while the other three won’t even face each other. Unbeaten Boise State didn’t even make it into a BCS bowl, while Pittsburgh (with three losses in a pathetic conference) did.

Just looking at all that leads me to believe that there’s no justice in college football. And the reason that there’s no justice in college football, is because there’s far too much money in college football.

Each team that qualifies for a BCS bowl game automatically earns $14 million. Notre Dame has its own TV contract with NBC which garners an estimated $7 million. That’s some serious change flying through the air, especially since we’re still talking about college athletics, not the pros.

With all that money at stake it’s no wonder that colleges are treating this once-great sport like it’s a business. That’s why teams like the University of Miami bring in players who still have pending criminal charges. Such was the case this year when they signed 19-year old linebacker Willie Williams despite recently being arrested for violating his probation. Yes, violating his probation, meaning he’d been arrested before (a 2002 burglary beef) and had broken the law again. But what’s a two-time felony when looking the other way can provide the missing link your team needs to earn a $14 million BCS appearance?

You see, with big time bowl game profits and TV contracts at stake, losing doesn’t mean “Go get them next year,” but rather “You lost us $14 million.”

That’s why Willingham was ousted, because the Irish thought they could upgrade by getting Urban Meyer. They weren’t concerned with developing young men to be leaders after graduation. They were concerned with maintaining their TV contract and making it back to the BCS. The only diversity the administration at Notre Dame was concerned about was the different types of bills in their wallet.

But the major football universities would rather have their coach out groveling for votes, turning a great coach in Mack Brown into some kind of low-grade K Street lobbying firm. And he wasn’t begging to get into the title game. He was just begging to be fourth. Fourth! Where’s the pride in that? Here’s a clue. There is none. But there is $14 million dollars.

But dignity doesn’t pay that well. Just ask Cal coach Jeff Tedford. In the Golden Bear’s last game of the season, with the ball just outside the red zone and the score standing at 26-16 with less than a minute remaining Tedford was in a bind. His team had struggled to blow out a Southern Mississippi team who had played with a fire and tenacity that actually made me watch that game over the more heralded

Oklahoma-Colorado game or the Auburn-Tennessee contest. Now, he could be a jerk, throw the ball on every down to get into the end zone to secure a few more votes in the Coaches Poll, and in the process really grind his heal into Southern Mississippi’s throat . Or, he could elect to take a knee, knowing that he’d beaten a very underrated team and hope that the voters in the poll would also realize his opponents as such. But just as with Willingham, justice did not prevail.

The coaches voted for that sniveling Brown, who I’ve lost all respect for, and pushed Texas into a Rose Bowl matchup (and $14 million) over a noble Cal squad.

I value winning as much as the next guy. But what does this win at all costs attitude say about the state of things in what’s supposed to be “amateur athletics?”

The coaches, athletic directors and presidents at Division I-A schools need to make a decision. Are collegiate athletics going to be about teaching young athletes how to make themselves better as people? Are student athletics really going to be about the students? Or are Division I-A football teams just going to serve as universities’ best fundraisers?

It seems to me that more and more universities are choosing the latter every year, and by punishing noble moves like the one made by Tedford, the system seems to be endorsing that avenue as well.

Mike Hume may be emailed at mhume@fcnp.com