President's Perspective

Rethinking the Role of Intercollegiate Athletics

by Stanley P. Caine, Adrian College President

The recently issued Knight Commission report, developed by a group of higher education and corporate leaders-including our recent Commencement speaker, Dr. John DiBiaggio-deserves careful attention. Entitled "A Call to Action: Reconnecting College Sports and Higher Education," it describes a variety of ills afflicting intercollegiate athletics at many major institutions: low graduation rates, chronic violations of NCAA rules, uncontrolled spending. An overriding theme is a rising tide of commercialism that has created a "widening chasm between higher education's ideals and big-time college sports."

For the past six years, as a member of key councils of the NCAA, I have spent considerable time working on issues related to intercollegiate athletics. In the process, I have gained great respect for leaders at the NCAA and on college and university campuses who are working hard to maintain the integrity of intercollegiate athletics in a society that apparently has an insatiable appetite for sports. I have also become increasingly alarmed at the kinds of excesses that the Knight Commission describes.

Clearly we are at an important crossroads in college athletics. We must act now to combat the growing public cynicism about the real purpose of intercollegiate athletics and to create a better environment for the education of the many men and women who choose to participate in them.

My thoughts about where to begin are anchored in the philosophy that undergirds intercollegiate athletics at Adrian. They reflect the approach taken by the Commission.

1.Treat athletes as students first. The Knight Commission has a number of suggestions that would help: fewer contests, playing schedules that better fit the academic requirements and calendars of the institutions, reintegrating academic support services for athletes into the regular academic structures of the institutions. I would eliminate financial assistance based on athletics and provide it solely on the basis of need or academic merit, but that may be a bridge too far for many institutions.

2.Coaches should be hired and evaluated primarily as educators. The chief justification for college and university athletics is that they contribute to the educational development of students. If we embrace this philosophy, it is inappropriate to evaluate athletic programs and coaches solely, or even principally, on the basis of win-loss records and/or the number of spectators in the stands. Shouldn't coaches be evaluated and rewarded on the basis of their contributions to the education of students with whom they come in contact?

3.Athletics budgets should be a part of the larger budgets of colleges and universities. Separating the financing of athletics from other financial dimensions of institutions encourages what Cedric Dempsey, president of the NCAA, has called an athletics "arms race" that threatens to bankrupt athletics departments and adversely affect entire universities. Appropriate compensation for coaches or the building of a new stadium belongs on the same agenda as the need for additional faculty in the English Department or a new science facility.

The forces that the Knight Commission describes impact every college and university in the country, although the Division III institutions like Adrian are somewhat less directly affected because of their smaller size and more focused missions. I do not underestimate the leadership challenge facing presidents, governing boards, coaches and athletic directors at major institutions who seek to change the present course of intercollegiate athletics. Their success will depend, to a degree, on the willingness of the public, especially alumni, to moderate their demands and expectations. Managing the media frenzy that surrounds athletics is also a formidable task. It will take time and determination to turn things around, but perhaps the Knight Commission report can become the catalyst for a serious reform of intercollegiate athletics.