‘Higher’ education is going low.
“F— Alleva!” LSU students chanted Saturday in Baton Rouge last Saturday. “Joe Must GO!” they hollered. “Free Wade!” “Free Javonte!” read signs at the Maravich Center.
LSU’s Joe Alleva (photo, Tigers Rag)
Those outbursts came before, during, and after LSU’s season-ending, conference title-clinching men’s basketball game against Vanderbilt. (Watch the video here, courtesy, WBRZ.com.)
Why were the students so agitated? And who are Alleva, Wade, and Javonte?
Joe Alleva, LSU’s Athletics Director, was in the fans’ crosshairs. He suspended head coach Will Wade and starter Javonte Smart.
An FBI investigation is the reason.
LSU is implicated in an alleged pay-for-play scheme that has already sent multiple assistant coaches to prison. As the investigation continues, former and current head coaches are in the FBI’s sightline. The list includes former NC State coach Mark Gottfried, current Arizona coach Sean Miller, and Wade.
Evidence for Wade’s involvement comes by way of an FBI wiretap.
“I was thinking last night on this (Javonte) Smart thing,” Wade reportedly said in a taped conversation with Charles Dawkins (as reported by CBS Sports and quoted here). Dawkins, a go-between, has already been convicted of arranging payments to players around the country.
Photo courtesy Baton Rouge Advocate
“I’ll be honest with you,” Wade continues. “I’m [bleeping] tired of dealing with the thing. Like I’m just [bleeping] sick of dealing with the [bleep]. Like, this should not be that [bleeping] complicated.”
“Dude,” Dawkins responded, “I went to him with a [bleeping] strong-ass offer about a month ago. [Bleeping] strong.” Dawkins was referring to a third party, likely one of Smart’s family members or a family friend, who is also allegedly involved in the pay-for-play transaction.
It’s disturbing evidence, at the very least, so Alleva decided to suspend Wade and, then Smart, “in an abundance of caution” until allegations can be adjudicated. Those moves were endorsed by the commissioner of the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
No matter. Alleva’s move upset LSU students and other fans. And that’s a matter of concern.
Despite concrete evidence of criminal activity, the overarching issue–it seems–is winning. And ‘winning’ hasn’t been a byline of LSU basketball recently … that is, until now.
Second-year coach Wade, who came to Baton Rouge by way of Virginia Commonwealth, has turned around the team. The Tigers were 26-5 overall this season and 16-2 in the SEC. Season highlights came by way of two-point road wins, first at Kentucky and, later, at Tennessee. It’s only the 11th time in nearly 90 years that the Tigers have won the SEC regular-season title–the first solo title in over a decade.
LSU’s Will Wade (photo, Sporting News)
Next up for LSU is the SEC tournament. With a bye, LSU will play an early-round winner on Friday afternoon. Whether Wade will be on the bench–and Smart will be on the court–is another matter. And not having one or both will hurt the Tiger’s chances of winning.
That’s the end-game–winning. And it’s also about using the means necessary to win or (in other instances) protect a school’s brand.
At LSU, the end-game included a public display of hypocrisy. By behaving as the students did, they contradicted the university’s mission: “CHALLENGING…STUDENTS TO ACHIEVE THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF…PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT.”
It would be easy to single out LSU and leave things at that. But LSU’s malaise isn’t a one-off. Far from it. It’s a pattern.
And we’re not talking about misconduct taking place at lower-tier schools in out-of-the-way places. That would be bad enough. But time and time again, bad behavior is taking place at big-name, high-end schools–including my own, Michigan State–schools that play for all the marbles, including all the money involved.
The Drake Group
I’m not alone in expressing concerns like these. The Drake Group, for example, is a coalition of concerned academics and collegiate administrators. The Group’s purpose is to defend academic integrity in higher education from the corrosive aspects of commercialized college sports–15 words that apply forcefully to the state of revenue-generating college sports in America today.
But sadly, in America today, integrity in sports doesn’t seem to be a priority–even among people I know who speak out about integrity issues in other areas of society. Time and time again, I’ve run across college sports fans with compartmentalized attitudes, that is, folks who are activists and fans, but without connective tissue, especially when it comes to their schools. Repeatedly I’ve witnessed behaviors associated with what I call “The Three D’s of Collegiate Sports Fandom“–Deny (any wrongdoing), Defend (your school), and Deflect (blame to others).
In my years of speaking, writing, and just plain conversing with fans, this is the typical reaction when the topic of sports integrity comes up .
That’s right, blank. The vast majority of students, alums, and fans either don’t care about integrity in college sports or don’t care enough to take a stand, speak out, and organize for change—especially when it applies to their schools. But make no mistake about this: when it comes to integrity issues at other schools, the Three Ds’ disappear in exchange for engaging a flat-out frontal assault. The ‘other side’ is bad.
Photo courtesy of Stephen Dunn/Getty Images
I laugh when I hear it called ‘school pride’ because that’s the kind of ‘pride’ the Bible cautions against: “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.” Proverbs 16:18.
But heck with the Bible, especially at this time of year. For the better part of the next month, nothing matters more than getting into the Big Dance with the highest possible seed and, then, advancing.
Still, though, lurking in the shadows is something else–the ‘something’ that propelled those LSU students to chant “F-Alleva!” and “Free Wade!”
It’s angering because what happened at LSU is part and parcel of a pattern of behavior that characterizes revenue-generating college sports. Even when an athletics administrator seeks to do the right thing–as Alleva did–the fan response is swearing and boos.
There’s another dimension to this pattern. Just when you think it can possibly get worse–surprise!–it does. An AP story came across my desk on Tuesday just as I was finishing this article: “College coaches, others indicted in admissions bribery case.”
The situation this time extends to non-revenue producing sports at elite universities. Millions of dollars changed hands as parents conspired with middle-men and coaches for the purpose of getting kids admitted to ‘name’ schools. The conspiracy included fraud. The parents of some applicants presented their children as ‘athletes’ in sports they had never played. That way, prospective students would have an easier pathway to admission.
Want more? Just as I was about to hit the publish button last night, another story came across the sports wire. Former Penn basketball coach, Jerome Allen, admitted in an unrelated Fed criminal trial that he had taken $300k bribe from a Florida businessman. Allen used a basketball slot to enable the applicant’s admission–even though the kid measured 5′ 8″ and “isn’t too athletic.”
What’s the takeaway message? Higher education has gone low, and the bottom isn’t in sight.
