A successful college athletic program is a socially responsible athletic program.
The winds of change are blowing briskly in society. The public is seeing with fresh eyes.
Although we’re reacting to issues that are anything but new, we are responding with serious intent. America’s historical problems are America’s problems to solve.
But a huge question looms: Despite living in a time of transformative possibility, will deep and abiding social change take root?
That question isn’t one sector deep, either. A triggering event—George Floyd’s death—has opened a vault of oversights, grievances, and offenses. In addition, public concern/outrage extends well beyond police brutality.
While the topic I’ll address here may seem trivial given the broader sweep of things needing attention. It’s how America’s major universities operate ‘big money’ sports programs—college football and men’s basketball, specifically.
For the first time since I’ve been studying and writing about this topic, I’m witnessing a heightened level of concern, including calls for reform coming from within the system. That’s important because, up until now, the ‘inside game’ has been mainly about denying guilt and deflecting blame. “All’s fine here. Move on!”
Courtesy: gse.upenn.edu
In just the past week (as colleague Roger Barbee has chronicled), a successful men’s basketball coach called out White peers for being generally silent in the wake of Floyd’s death. The NCAA’s Chief Operating Officer said that Division 1 hiring practices in college football are ‘not acceptable.’ And a reporter summed up the circumstance in this way: “There are a lot of people who never had to confront the idea of systemic racism before who are now finding it unable to avoid, and for some, it is a difficult concept to absorb.”
And, as they have before, students have spoken out, including multiple generations of African American football players at the University of Iowa. They say the program there has exhibited a culture of mistreatment.
What’s it all mean? We know that social change of any serious kind begins with elevated social consciousness. Awareness then translates into calling out the status quo and taking a stand. But at that point, social change can ‘hit the wall.’ That’s because protests alone—though necessary—aren’t sufficient.
Making the transition to a new reality requires leadership exercised by those in institutional leadership positions. The problem, though, is clear: the kind of leadership needed to reform the system isn’t always in place. And it’s lacking for good reason. With an emphasis on business operations, America’s institutions operate more like corporations than as ‘for the public good’ organizations. It’s that way because corporate-style leadership is the form of leadership that governing bodies prefer. And what I’ve just asserted applies far beyond corporate America; it applies equally well to public and nonprofit institutions.
Courtesy: Voyager
It’s not that leadership to compete and run a business effectively is problematic. It’s just incomplete. Social responsibility needs to be added to the pallet of executive and organizational expectations.
What’s more, social responsibility isn’t a separate category. We don’t need a VP for Social Responsibility. Instead, socially responsible leadership, management, and governance need to be infused across institutional domains. If that’s done effectively, then the outcome will expand the answer to what it means to be ‘successful.’
Here are two examples in college sports. A successful athletic program has a diverse head coaching and athletic administrative staff. A successful athletic program doesn’t rely on a high percentage of subsidy income to operate sports (i.e., subsidies from general university funds and student fees). Why are those two issues important? In college sports today, most athletic programs don’t have diverse head coaching and administrative staffs, and most athletic programs cannot function without high subsidies.
America needs more than college teams playing games. It needs more than wins, inflows of money, and upgraded facilities. That’s because sports aren’t apart from society. They are a part of society. Today, society is demanding more.
Courtesy VICE
How might we achieve social responsibility in sports? Make it an NCAA priority with conferences responsible for ensuring that member schools comply.
Set goals. Report results. Monitor/evaluate progress. Identify issues. Address issues.
It’s that simple. It can be achieved if we care enough to get it done.
Reform. Now. Leadership is required.
