And why was the chancellor of one of the premiere public institutions in the United States sitting before the news media last week in a rare press conference offering an apology of sorts to the university's friends and family? Because there now are two investigations involving the football program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. One from the governing body of college sports, the NCAA, seeks information on whether players were having improper conversations with agents.
A university source told The N&O that the other investigation, to be conducted by the university itself, will examine whether athletes got inappropriate help on papers. The N&O's report said a former tutor who had worked for football coach Butch Davis personally (to help his son) may be part of the scenario.
Let's first state that all the facts are not in and investigations are not complete, so the bottom-line responsibility for whatever turns up is far from determined. It would be wrong to speculate.
But in calling a press conference that involves the chancellor, Holden Thorp, officials sent a signal that something important is going on. And the best and only thing those officials can do at this point is to be forthcoming with their bosses, meaning not just the deep-pocket boosters who in effect run the athletics show, but also all of the taxpayers. Thorp at least deserves credit for coming forward at this point; at many schools, that wouldn't be the case.
The academic support setup for athletes at Chapel Hill and on other campuses where big-time, big-money sports have thrown priorities out of whack is extensive. It involves a large support network (tutors, etc.) to help players who have to devote so much time holding up their end of the athletic scholarship bargain. And it is part of what could be called the "athletics industrial complex." At the top are coaches such as Davis, whose compensation runs in the $2 million-plus range annually, and who are charged with winning, which brings TV revenue, and which fills the stadiums, which in turn makes it possible for the boosters to fashion an even grander stadium (which they're doing).
More money is made, more money is spent, and the cycle causes that "complex" to expand like a snowball rolling downhill from an Aspen peak to the valley below. Along the way, a university becomes in effect a sponsor for a virtually year-round entertainment extravaganza.
But it is a hazardous business. And periodically, as we've seen in the last decade or so, schools smack up against a hazard, whether it's an academic problem or another form of embarrassment for a university, and we're speaking of all those who've had troubles, small and large. Most university leaders at such places have told everyone at some point that their athletics programs have been as pure as that mountainside snow in Aspen. We keep things in perspective here, they say, nothing's going to sneak up on us.
Chapel Hill's far from the only place where the rear-view mirror seems to have broken off, or is at least askew.
Surely Thorp, a chemist by trade, would prefer a spotlight to cast a shadow in the shape of a beaker or a book, some experiment or tome by a faculty member engaged in groundbreaking academic research, or perhaps even the shadow of a great teacher in action, inspiring the students with Shakespearean recitations. Instead, that shadow is in the shape of a pigskin.
And now, on the verge some believed of joining the great football behemoths in habitual victory, bowl games, perhaps even a national championship, UNC-Chapel Hill hits the big time with the distinction of being one of a number of schools "under investigation."
As an alum, I hope nothing comes of any of this, and that the university emerges with a clean bill of health. But the truth is, a happy outcome to a couple of investigations is no cure for this chronic illness. Many a university leader has expressed concern about the size of the snowball. But salaries have skyrocketed, the boosters have taken over athletics, the sale of universities' good names to apparel companies has continued and the stadiums, bigger and bigger, are starting to make Old Rome seem modest.
Maybe the most annoying pronouncements of all come in response to questions, asked of many university leaders all 'round the country, as to whether this whole sports thing is out of hand. When problems arise, learned brows furrow and then university leaders intone something like this: "Well, we worry about these things, the money, but this enterprise is in place, is very successful, and we can't put the genie back in the bottle." In other words, we're not about to throw ourselves in front of a locomotive, even one that's on the wrong track.
