As a proud alum of an NCAA Division III liberal arts college, I do treasure my opportunity to have dabbled in the varsity sports experience there, and to have rubbed elbows with some who actually were accomplished athletes (and students at the same time).
I am an admirer of the Division III's model for student-athletes (no athletic scholarships; jocks are expected to be students first), and as you note, it is far removed from what goes on at Division I "sports factories." Now with NIL, portals, bloated greedy conferences, and such, I hardly see a distinction between big time college sports and the professional variety. This is obviously a perversion of what was probably the original motivation of having athletic teams at colleges.
It's a shame that Penn caved to the pressure to try to compete in the insanity and greed that have captured Division I sports. Your story boosted my regard for Brown University immensely.
Of course, a few individual coaches manage to avoid most of the taint of the big-time college sports scene, and remain educators at heart and in practice. Bob Knight, Tom Izzo, and Mike Krzyzewski come to mind. Sadly, these are rare exceptions. I endorse the NRCAA !
In “The Red Blaik Story,” Coach Blaik, a former Dartmouth and Army football coach, answered President Griswold of Yale's speech regarding scholarships at Johns Hopkins. He points out the hypocrisies of the Ivy League. All I know is, college sports have moved away from amateur athletes, and I don't like it. My solution would be to make those pompous billionaires who own NFL teams operate minor league football teams and return colleges to amateur status
Steve was not a good coach. His decision-making, which you alluded to, was random. He was consistently outcoached.
During the season, I continually asked myself why would any good player want to play for us under Steve. His incoming freshman class, I understand, is weak.
It would be inconsistent with Penn ideals to retain a non-performing coach. It sets a bad example. If there were a way to assess and then dismiss a non-performing professor, we would do it. A great school should not have to endure bad teachers.
Steve and I were friendly, but I felt he was inadequate. One example: He asked me to find a summer job for a star high school player in Baltimore. I got back to him in five minutes with a high-paying job. I asked him to keep me in the loop regarding the recruiting process on this kid. Not only did he fail to keep me in the loop but, as it turns out, the kid was just a junior in high school; we are not allowed to get summer jobs for juniors. Surprisingly, Steve did not know that. And, BTW, I called and left messages twice for him to respond to my inquiry about this kid, and he did not reply.
Another example: I found myself recommending kids to him. That in itself is bad; I shouldn’t know about kids he doesn’t know about. He thanked me. I asked him to get back with me about the recruiting process with them. One of them is on the team now as a freshman. He never got back to me.
Loved this piece, Dan. And I agree with you, except for one point.
All the other Ivy League schools have long recruited against Penn by claiming that it's not really an Ivy. "No matter how you slice it," they would say, "Penn is twice as large as any of the others. So half the students there wouldn't cut it at the other Ivies." I doubt they can still claim this, now that Penn is harder to get into than most of the others. But that was the story when I was getting recruited back in the early 80s.
The recovery of the school's prestige, which many attribute to John Fry's leadership in creating University City, which made attending Penn safe again, has been great for alums and the community. The firing of Donohue tells me that your sentiment is spot on, and the school's ethos is wayward.
From reader Terry McDaniel:
As a proud alum of an NCAA Division III liberal arts college, I do treasure my opportunity to have dabbled in the varsity sports experience there, and to have rubbed elbows with some who actually were accomplished athletes (and students at the same time).
I am an admirer of the Division III's model for student-athletes (no athletic scholarships; jocks are expected to be students first), and as you note, it is far removed from what goes on at Division I "sports factories." Now with NIL, portals, bloated greedy conferences, and such, I hardly see a distinction between big time college sports and the professional variety. This is obviously a perversion of what was probably the original motivation of having athletic teams at colleges.
It's a shame that Penn caved to the pressure to try to compete in the insanity and greed that have captured Division I sports. Your story boosted my regard for Brown University immensely.
Of course, a few individual coaches manage to avoid most of the taint of the big-time college sports scene, and remain educators at heart and in practice. Bob Knight, Tom Izzo, and Mike Krzyzewski come to mind. Sadly, these are rare exceptions. I endorse the NRCAA !
From reader James Dal Pezzo:
In “The Red Blaik Story,” Coach Blaik, a former Dartmouth and Army football coach, answered President Griswold of Yale's speech regarding scholarships at Johns Hopkins. He points out the hypocrisies of the Ivy League. All I know is, college sports have moved away from amateur athletes, and I don't like it. My solution would be to make those pompous billionaires who own NFL teams operate minor league football teams and return colleges to amateur status
From reader Barrett Freelander:
Steve was not a good coach. His decision-making, which you alluded to, was random. He was consistently outcoached.
During the season, I continually asked myself why would any good player want to play for us under Steve. His incoming freshman class, I understand, is weak.
It would be inconsistent with Penn ideals to retain a non-performing coach. It sets a bad example. If there were a way to assess and then dismiss a non-performing professor, we would do it. A great school should not have to endure bad teachers.
Steve and I were friendly, but I felt he was inadequate. One example: He asked me to find a summer job for a star high school player in Baltimore. I got back to him in five minutes with a high-paying job. I asked him to keep me in the loop regarding the recruiting process on this kid. Not only did he fail to keep me in the loop but, as it turns out, the kid was just a junior in high school; we are not allowed to get summer jobs for juniors. Surprisingly, Steve did not know that. And, BTW, I called and left messages twice for him to respond to my inquiry about this kid, and he did not reply.
Another example: I found myself recommending kids to him. That in itself is bad; I shouldn’t know about kids he doesn’t know about. He thanked me. I asked him to get back with me about the recruiting process with them. One of them is on the team now as a freshman. He never got back to me.
From reader Mark Naples:
Loved this piece, Dan. And I agree with you, except for one point.
All the other Ivy League schools have long recruited against Penn by claiming that it's not really an Ivy. "No matter how you slice it," they would say, "Penn is twice as large as any of the others. So half the students there wouldn't cut it at the other Ivies." I doubt they can still claim this, now that Penn is harder to get into than most of the others. But that was the story when I was getting recruited back in the early 80s.
The recovery of the school's prestige, which many attribute to John Fry's leadership in creating University City, which made attending Penn safe again, has been great for alums and the community. The firing of Donohue tells me that your sentiment is spot on, and the school's ethos is wayward.