John H Armstrong

College Football’s Most Compelling Weekend

Readers know I love college football. I watch an NFL game now and then but almost never see an entire game, including the over-hyped, much ballyhooed Super Bowl. One reason for my love has to be that I matriculated as a freshman at the University of Alabama in 1967. I enjoyed two seasons of football with Bear Bryant on the sidelines. The two seasons were mediocre by the Bear’s standards.(Yes, I did meet the greatest coach ever and yes football dominates the fall semester on campus in the minds of most students!) I later finished two degrees at Wheaton College, where I now teach as an adjunct professor in evangelism and leadership.)

This weekend college football had the most momentous and exciting group of games in decades. The BCS, which is the formula used to determine the top two teams who will play for the championship, is maligned in many quarters. Most people clamor for a playoff system. (The argument is always about “what’s fair.” Personally, I did not realize that fairness was required in every part of life.) If ever there was evidence for a playoff then this year would be that year.  Shucks, the present occupant of the White House has even used his influence to argue for a playoff system.

I like the BCS system though it still needs a few changes. Why? The present system creates some amazing scenarios that actually make every game count right down to the final regular season games. Think about what happened this weekend, in the space of a mere 24 hours. It is almost a football version of the popular TV show, 24. Every episode was alive with intrigue, suspense, heroes and huge second-guessing. It made for remarkable theater, which is what this is all about.

Going into this weekend LSU was rightly ranked at the top, as one of only two title-game-ready unbeatens. (I admire Houston’s team and they are unbeaten still. But does anyone think they would beat the top four or five teams? We will find out if they go to a major bowl game this year.) The other unbeaten, Oklahoma State, went to Ames, Iowa, on Friday evening to face an Iowa State team that was a four touchdown underdog. And this is an Iowa State team that has never beaten a team in the top six in any poll. What a scene and what an amazing overtime win for Iowa State, all but ending Oklahoma State’s shot at the championship. (There is still enough potential for more chaos should several teams ahead of State falter and OSU soundly beats Oklahoma the final week. But Friday, when the pressure was on, Oklahoma State went down in dramatic fashion to a well-coached Iowa State team.

Then yesterday it all got more chaotic. Oregon, ranked number four with their only loss to LSU, lost at home to USC when the Ducks missed a 37-yard field goal try at the end of the game. And number five Oklahoma, the other serious contender with only one loss went  on the road to play an inspired Baylor team that stunned them. What a great finish in that game with a long pass for a TD by quarterback, Robert Griffin III, who I think is the best overall player in America. In addition highly regarded Clemson got hammered by an undergone team from North Carolina State.

So this weekend had four huge upsets among the top tier teams leaving only two one-loss teams to seriously challenge LSU in the BCS Championship game on January 9. The BCS rankings will be out tonight and it seems quite evident that LSU remains a strong number one. It also seems self-evident that Alabama gets in at number two. If, and remember chaos happens in college football routinely, LSU beats Arkansas on Friday then they win the SEC West. They should beat Georgia the following week, which could be interesting too. But if Alabama beats Auburn on Saturday (no simple guarantee in this intense rivalry) then the “rematch” between LSU and Alabama is very likely. Many in the media hate the idea but it should happen if no more chaos ensues. The point of the system is to match the two best teams, not the two teams people want to see play because LSU has already beaten Alabama once. (If you saw this game you would have to say the two teams were evenly matched.) So, can I use the R word here, as in rematch between the Tide and the Tigers? You bet. That’s what I hoping for in this chaotic season.

Just in case you care the BCS standings will be officially announced this evening (ESPN at 7:15 Central Standard Time). It seems likely that the top three teams will all from the SEC. Even more amazing, and this has never happened, they are all in one division of only six teams. LSU is number one, Alabama is number two and Arkansas is number three, at least as I see it in the BCS Countdown show.

You can make a dozen cases for having a playoff but I like the system that we now have with one possible exception. I believe the system could add a plus-one and match the top four teams so that we get a better sense of who really is the best team. The other formulas I’ve seen all change the  the bowl system in a way that I hope never happens. My guess is that eventually we will get some kind of playoff system with four or eight teams. Money will likely cause it to happen. But remember, if you are my age you lived through the pre-BCS era of entirely human polls determining the best team after the season. Long before we had computers to determine strength of schedule, and television to see the games, plus all the other related data used in determining the BCS rankings, a group of voters who never even saw a team play ranked them. These polls alone determined the number one team. And human bias and regional loyalty (and some dislike) determined the outcome far too often. I still recall a perfect season that Alabama had in 1966 but because they were not yet integrated poll-voters outside the South rewarded Notre Dame and Michigan State with the top spots even though they had played to a tie. And they did not have as tough a schedule as Alabama had that season. If this is present system is chaos then I like chaos better than the old way. It actually made for 24-hours of the finest football I’ve seen in a long, long time.

“Say It Ain’t So Joe!”

This famous line in my title comes from the infamous Black Sox baseball scandal that occurred early in the twentieth century. As the story goes a young lad, who loved “Shoeless Joe” Jackson of the Chicago White Sox, could not believe his hero has cheated. In the movie version of “Eight Men Out” the boy plaintively said, “Say it ain’t so, Joe!”

That’s about how I felt last week as we watched the Joe Paterno story unfold through every news medium possible. In this case even a sports story became a national tragedy. Not only did the actions of a famous coach (or his non-action in this sad case) make global news but it galvanized a whole new conversation about sex abuse. And well it should. But how could Joe Paterno, a decent and good man by every account, have failed to deal with this tragedy and thus allowed children to be molested by a predator? How could he not report this crime when he had clear eyewitness information about Jerry Sanduksy’s behavior? We will not know for sure until we hear from Joe. And we may not hear from him for days if the attorney he has hired tells him to remain silent. That is truly sad because I want to think the best about Joe. I also want to grasp how he could have failed to do what was obviously the right thing to do.

One of my favorite opinion writers, the conservative Ross Douthat of the New York Times, concluded in a brilliant article he penned last week:

It was precisely because Joe Paterno had done so much good for so long that he could do the unthinkable, and let an alleged child rapist continue to walk free in Penn State’s Happy Valley. Bad and mediocre people are tempted to sin by their own habitual weaknesses. . . . But good people, heroic people, are led into temptation by their very goodness — by the illusion, common to those who have done important deeds, that they have higher responsibilities than the ordinary run of humankind. It’s precisely in the service to these supposed higher responsibilities that they often let more basic ones slip away.

For now I believe Douthat has explained Joe’s behavior as well as anyone I’ve read or heard. A good man, but a man just like you and me, had high responsibility and was always on his guard in the big moments he faced. The danger is that he, and we too, could let down our guard and the most basic ones can slip away. The Song of Solomon 2:15 says:  “Take us the foxes, THE LITTLE FOXES, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.” In Joe’s case it seems that what appeared like “little foxes” were much bigger than he knew and his judgment was seriously impaired. The results are tragic.

My Love for College Football and the Game of the Season

It is well-documented that I love college football. I have been accused of choosing to attend the University of Alabama (1967-69) because of this passion. This accusation is not entirely true. But it is a serious partial truth. I went out-of-state in the fall of 1967 (I lived in middle Tennessee) because I wanted to go away to college. I also wanted to follow a friend who was a pastor who had just moved to Tuscaloosa. And I wanted to root for the Crimson Tide, being a big-time Bear Bryant fan. After my growing relationship with Christ manifested itself in a clear call to mission I transferred to Wheaton College to finish my bachelor’s and master’s degrees after January of 1969. But I never lost my passion for all things Crimson Tide. I have more shirts, jackets and hats than most fans. I wear crimson as my color of choice. Hey, I did this even when the Tide was losing and being routinely mocked by ESPN with considerable glee. I love the Tide.

A few of you know that one of the greatest material gifts I’ve ever been given was a ticket and trip to see Alabama win the BCS Championship in Pasadena in January 2010. That memorable season will never be forgotten. I still look at my photos and various other reminders of that great evening in California when the Tide rolled and I celebrated a grand season with all its gridiron glory.

Today is the biggest game of the season! The Tide plays LSU, the number one team in the nation, in Tuscaloosa in the incredible venue of Bryant-Denny Stadium. Alabama is rated number two, just a small percentage point behind LSU. The winner, absent an upset, will make the BCS Championship game and could well be the BCS Champions for 2011 when the big game is played on January 9, 2012. Both schools have won in the past decade. LSU has won twice. In fact, Alabama’s coach Nick Saban won it all at LSU before he then won it at Alabama, making him the only coach to win a national championship at two schools.

After Alabama's last win, over Tennessee on October 22, Birmingham News writer Kevin Scarbinsky captured the humor of Harold Camping's prophetic predictions, in a region of the country where many can relate, and related it to Alabama football and the Tide's early struggles to put away an inferior Tennessee team. Scarbinsjy wrote of Alabama's halftime resolve to win big:

The Alabama players made that decision with authority. They decided not to postpone the Rapture beyond its previously scheduled date. After the Crimson Tide outscored the Vols 31-0 in the final 30 minutes to finish the Vols 37-6, the end of the world will arrive as planned right here on Nov. 5.

Alabama will be 8-0, same as LSU. LSU will be No. 1 and Alabama No. 2, or should be, and not necessarily in that order. The Tide and Tigers will play the game to end all games, and if it plays out as expected, with one team winning on a pick six in the fifth overtime, it will start the debate to end all debates.

To say that I will be in “all out football mode” this afternoon is an understatement. (Ironically I have no great love for professional football. One reason is I could never get into it on Sundays over the years.) The emotion of these few hours is beyond fun at times. It is often nerve-racking. But in the end it is just a sport and the passion is a way to enjoy something that is not truly serious. (A lot of fans for both teams have no clue how to deal with this passion and live-or-die with these events.)

One of my favorite game-day events is the ESPN College Game Day. Coach Lee Corso, who is now 76-years old, remains a fixture on this show with his famous one-liners and funny sense of the moment. At the end of each three-hour show he dons a head-gear of the team he believes will win the big matchup of the day. The award-winning ESPN gang will all be in Tuscaloosa today so the question is which head-gear will Corso wear at the end of the show? I hope it is the one shown in the photo above but either way “Roll Tide.” Corso’s drama makes the whole business a lot of fun but the game will be won on the field. It could be one of the great games of the era. I am not alone in thinking this way. But then how could you beat the drama of Michigan State’s touchdown to end the Wisconsin game two weeks ago? By the way, congratulations to quarterback Kirk Cousins at Michigan State, the son of Don Cousins, former pastor at Willow Creek Community Church. Kirk is a great young man.

College Football Is Back: Roll Tide

Though one game has already been played college football kicks off a new season in earnest today. That means ESPN Game Day and the gang with all the hype and fun of a college football Saturday in the fall. I love it. I plan my days around these events and soak it all in with much fun.

To say that I have marked the days until Alabama begins the new season would be a huge understatement. I follow news from Tuscaloosa daily and read practice reports with real interest. In the championship season of 2009 I ended up getting to see three games in person: Arkansas, Kentucky (in Lexington) and Texas in the BCS Championship Game in Pasadena at the Rose Bowl. Nothing can top that year for me. But every Crimson Tide fan knows that every year opens the door for another crack at the top spot and this year is truly no exception.

Pre-season polls have Alabama ranked No. 1, No. 2 or No. 3 at worst. Some polls have LSU winning out by beating the Crimson Tide. Others have Oklahoma on top, beating either LSU or Alabama in the BCS Championship game in January. The fun is that no one knows. These are kids and the way they will actually play cannot be determined this early. The season will unfold and every game will matter. An SEC team can afford one loss if it wins out but it depends on when and where the loss comes in the season. One thing is for sure, the SEC is the best conference in college football and almost every analyst agrees, though their reasons vary.

But preseason football rankings aren't for college football coaches. They aren't even for players. After a recent scrimmage Alabama’s famed coach Nick Saban added, "I always say that preseason rankings are really for fans."

Some fans, and I am one by temperament, are nervous about the weight of great expectations. But I remind myself this is not the real burden of winning, at least not when it comes to Alabama, who has a bulls-eye on them every single week they play.

What is Nick Saban's reaction to the high ranking in the pre-season polls?

"It really doesn't have anything to do with the kind of team you have, the kind of team you're going to have," he said. "It's nice to be recognized and respected in that regard, but at the same time, how this team does will be what happens on the field.”

"How do we do when we play the games? How much consistency do we play with? How do we compete for 60 minutes in a game? What kind of team chemistry do we have? What kind of positive energy do we have? How responsible are we to do the things we need to do to be successful? How willing are we to work to earn what we want to accomplish?”

"I think you do all that stuff on the field. You don't do it based on any kind of preseason predictions, polls or anything else. So it's pretty meaningless, actually. We're looking forward to the competition and what we need to do to try to have a good season.”

"That's all going to be determined by what we do in the future, not what we've done in the past."

Senior safety, and pre-season All-American, Mark Barron, concludes: "We want to come out and win a national championship, to be undefeated. Every time we step out on the field, one of our motivating factors is to be special."

Yes, to “be special.” I am not going out on a limb but I think this team could be special. They way they manhandled a good Michigan State team in the bowl game back in January spoke volumes about how good this group could be. If championships are won on defense then they have a great shot at it. But they’ll need a break here or there. Good teams miss breaks, great teams seize them.

I have tickets to see Alabama play Arkansas in Tuscaloosa on Saturday, September 24th. This will likely be one of their two biggest games in the regular season. It was one of the three games I saw in 2009. Could history repeat itself? I’m hoping. Either way I am looking forward to kickoff today. And next week Alabama travels to Happy Valley to play Penn State. It only gets better as the season goes on, or so I hope. Roll Tide, Roll.

Why Did the University of Notre Dame Fail It’s Own Christian Standards and Ideals?

Blogging is a rather amazing phenomenon. It has impacted politics, the church and almost everything else in between. When I began to write blogs in April of 2005 I had no idea what I was doing or where this would go. I began blogging because I enjoyed writing and believed I could express my thoughts in this form and thereby help and serve both God and some of his people. My core values were clear: speak the truth in love, always correct my mistakes when they became known to me and encourage people in every way possible to think, grow and change in the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ. For about five years now I have written a blog almost every day of the week.

To this end I soon began to write about a whole panorama of issues and ideas. Now, more than six years later, I write to an audience that includes Protestants, Catholics and Orthodox. I write to non-Christians and I write to people on both sides of issues that divide us; homosexuality, abortion, health care, etc. I generally avoid partisan politics because I have no interest in these debates. I do not think culture is fundamentally altered by politics but politics is an expression of culture, for better and for worse. But I do not avoid big issues that shape culture and life thus there are always political ramifications to things I write about.

Along the way I also decided to write about some of my own personal passions; e.g. college football, baseball, movies, art and literature. This gave a humane color to the tapestry I was painting day-by-day. It allowed friends to see me, warts and all.

As I blog it never ceases to amaze me how the Internet allows people to discover my articles and blogs. Once I wrote a blog about two local persons, both of whom were featured on the front page of our newspaper. I profoundly missed the mark in what I said about one of these two persons and a relative of this brother in another state let me know how I messed this up. I asked for forgiveness and corrected my mistake online. I also made a friend in the process.

Yesterday, I wrote about the football program at Notre Dame University. I was concerned about how the football program was allowed a “free pass” in several recent student related issues that rocked the South Bend campus. I referred to a Northbrook (IL) family that had lost their daughter because of the sexual assault she had suffered because of the actions of a member of the football team at Notre Dame. The subsequent failure of the university to deal with her appeal for help and justice put her life in a state of emotional crisis and resulted in the personal crisis that led to her death. I made reference to a “deal” that had been reached between the Seeberg family, in nearby Northbrook (IL), and the University of Notre Dame. In writing this point in my blog I was wrong. Yesterday, I received a lovely email from Lizzy’s dad, Mr. Tom Seeberg. Here is his appeal to me, which I gladly comply with in today’s post:

I read your blog post this morning (July 20). I want to correct one item that I hope you will change - there has been no deal cut between my family and Notre Dame. In fact, there has been no communication between us and ND since December 2010. I believe the "deal" you are referring to was in my reference in a statement (published in an op-ed in the South Bend Tribune) to the deal ND cut with the Department of Education not having to admit any failure in its policies and procedures.  I have attached a copy of the statement we issued after press inquiries resulting from the ND/DOE announcement on the Friday, just before the July 4th weekend.

Seeberg Family Statement

Notre Dame – DOE Resolution

July 1, 2011

When we read the resolution agreement and related press stories, we saw not words on a page but a face. We saw the face of our Lizzy, a frightened yet profoundly courageous young lady who did everything right when facing a nightmare. Perhaps it will be her legacy that our daughters and granddaughters, our sisters and nieces, may one day soon walk their college campuses with the safety and freedom that they should expect and their loved ones demand.

We are glad to see a professed commitment to change at Notre Dame – changes that may help make pursuing a claim of sexual violence easier for the next woman. Sadly though, the changes announced today do not fully address our concerns about the mishandling of Lizzy’s case. To this day, nearly one year after Lizzy reported being assaulted on the campus of Our Lady’s University, Notre Dame has refused to meet with us or discuss with us the results, if any, of Lizzy's complaint. They also refuse to acknowledge, let alone discuss, the obvious failures and shortcomings of the Notre Dame Security Police Department's efforts to investigate and pursue justice in Lizzy's case.

As respects Notre Dame’s comments on the resolution, sadly, the Notre Dame president and his administration, and the cabal of lawyers and PR flaks who do their bidding, have demonstrated once again that they don't get it--it being their existential obligation to live their mission with grace and integrity instead of protecting their reputation above all else. The spin machine is in full gear at Notre Dame. But the truth will prevail. Notre Dame's lawyers have cut a deal, signing the resolution without an admission of any failure in policy and procedures. However, implicit in the agreement with the DOE is just such an admission. Any truly objective reader of the full, signed statement will come to this obvious conclusion.

Lizzy's case speaks with quiet persistence from every cold and lawyerly sentence of the resolution. Notre Dame is now legally obligated to clean up its house. Regrettably, no person in leadership at Notre Dame is willing to stand tall and say so. But the truth will prevail.

We hope those, like us, who care about Notre Dame, its students, its legacy and its values will demand that the University demonstrates genuine leadership regarding these important issues. What is at stake is nothing less than the University's integrity and the future of the young men and woman lucky enough to call Notre Dame their home. My family and I continue to pray the University can find a path to a just result and tangible improvements that will make life better for the next woman.

Tom Seeberg

Northbrook, IL

I wrote Mr. Seeberg and expressed my concern for his family and my appreciation for his respectful, Christ-centered way of dealing with his pain and the sad treatment his family received from the university. Tom then sent me the following email:

Thank you for your kind thoughts and especially your prayers. Our blessing here is in knowing we have someone close to us who has gone before us and will be waiting for us. We are all here but a short time. It’s not about the time you get here, but what you do with it while you are here to learn Christ's message. We know our Lizzy "got it."

And on that happy note, there are some positive legacy of Lizzy's giving spirit that lives on.  See this link.
http://www.ctkjesuit.org/SeebergMemorialScholarship.htm

 

What an amazing statement of love and faith. I am awed by the Seeberg’s response. It reveals pain, dignity and love. It is a rare model of how good people deal with great tragedy. Pray for the Seeberg family in their grief and their continued response to the way the University of Notre Dame chose to mishandle this tragedy.

Notre Dame and Big-Time Football: Something Isn’t Right in South Bend

It is a widely known fact that I love college athletics, especially D-I football. Why? I grew up watching Alabama and Bear Bryant and then went to the University of Alabama. I am, thus, a die-hard Crimson Tide fan. Having said this I must admit that my alma mater has done more than its fair share of wrong over the course of my lifetime. It has cost Alabama dearly, putting it on probation several times and taking its storied tradition to the proverbial “dog house” of big-time football. So, let it be duly noted here, “The one without sin should cast the first stone.” I am not, however, comparing apples and apples in what I am about to say. I am speaking about a university that is the premier Catholic university in America and one that prides itself on a storied tradition that is supposed to be above the common lot of college football programs. Not so.

In late June the Department of Education handed down a decision that makes Notre Dame look less than golden. The university boasts of its integrity but federal intervention into two episodes related to football, in direct ways, is not a good record to boast about. The word “football” appears nowhere in the nine-page federal document but the obvious is obvious.

The first problem has to do with the episode that led to the death of a Chicago-area student who was filming a practice from a crane over the practice area. The crane was taken down in a gust of wind and the young man died. This was widely discussed last fall.

The second problem, the one that brought the federal investigation, is much more troubling. Lizzy Seeberg received a text message two days after she accused a Notre Dame football player of sexual battery. Her response, in her troubled state, led to her suicide. The university responded to this second episode by trying to keep it quiet. This led to the federal investigation.

Back in December the president of Notre Dame praised campus police for a thorough investigation that was “judicious” and the head coach, Brian Kelly, spoke with pride of the “university process.” HIs player was never charged!

What the DOE found was that Notre Dame blindly defended a sham. The DOE says the “preponderance of the evidence” should have led administrators toward an actual investigation into the allegations regarding the player. The DOE also recommended a 60-day-deadline on internal reviews or change an outdated rule that says the alleged victim must be in the same room as the accused during hearings.

Question: Why should the government need to tell Notre Dame all of this if Notre Dame had openly been doing what is should have been doing all along?

This  is Notre Dame for heaven’s sake. This is not Illinois, Indiana or even Alabama. This is Notre Dame. And this problem is not limited to Notre Dame either. The AD at Marquette, another prestigious Catholic university, resigned in June after the Chicago Tribune issued a report of a sexual scandal related to two sexual-assault allegations against athletes.

Question: Can women who accuse be fairly heard when a male athlete is involved?

Notre Dame cut a deal with Lizzy Seeberg’s parents without ever asking for forgiveness or admitting any failure on their part. The lapses in Notre Dame’s story are huge if you read it carefully.

In the case of the young man who died in the football practice context the university paid a $42,000 penalty to the state of Indiana. And the investigation by the Indiana authorities into this death left more questions than answers.

But it doesn’t stop here. Michael Floyd, a big-time star wide receiver, was arrested in March after his third alcohol-related issue in three years. What did Coach Kelly do? He restored him to the football team so he could resume voluntary workouts. Kelly has said Floyd can play if he meets unspecified conditions. This leaves me cold in light of Notre Dame’s recent handling of serious offenses.

David Haugh of the Chicago Tribune said, in the Sunday, July 3, sport page, “It doesn’t take a federal investigation to see what’s going on at Notre Dame, only a clear view from a different angle.” I have to agree. This is a private, church-related university. They can do better, unless of course football wins are more important than the integrity of this great university. In this case the “Golden Dome” has been truly tarnished!

The Resignation That Rocked College Football

The resignation yesterday of head coach Jim Tressel at Ohio State was “the sports news” of Memorial Day. Rarely do I watch 35-40 minutes of video clips on a sports news story but this story so captivated my interest that I spent a good deal of time last night trying to absorb it. I am truly saddened by the actions of Jim Tressel and pray for him and those who love him.

I wrote about the problems Jim Tressel faced just a few weeks ago. I suggested then that he should resign. I can only guess that it took time to work out the details of his contract for this to finally happen. I have no idea why the announcement came on a holiday. Cynics have made several suggestions.

This is what we know. Coach Tressel made a decision to cover up the actions of five players, perhaps because he cared about the players deeply. He further chose to withhold information from the NCAA and his superiors at Ohio State. One can understand his covering his players, to protect them and (perhaps) to try to help them. One can’t justify, however, his failure to comply with his duty and honor regarding the rules of college football compliance. He not only received emails telling him of the dangers that he faced but failed to accurately follow the compliance forms that he submitted in writing. All he had to do was walk down the hall and tell his superior what he knew and when he knew it and the results might have been very different. But he did not do it. Then, when the facts became known to his superiors, he covered them up. He knows, as well as any one can know, that the consequences of this would be his job. Did his pride precede his fall? I don’t know but he still seems a bit distant from the reality of what he really did, at least from the public appearances he has made about it.

In college basketball we have had 81 similar incidents and 78 of the coaches have ended up resigning. It seemed obvious that Jim Tressel would be forced to resign. Today was therefore no shock to most fans.

Former Ohio State star Chris Spielman rightly said, “You cannot justify playing ineligible players no matter what the reason.” Former Buckeye star Kirk Herbstreit said, “When you withhold information from the NCAA you have crossed the line and you know it.”

The real tragedy is that the legacy and impact of Jim Tressel has been severely tarnished As I have noted before Tressel has a strong statement of faith. He even recently released a book telling about his personal faith. He has appeared to be a honorable and wonderful leader for the past decade in which he has known great success as a coach. But Mark May, my favorite ESPN college commentator of them all, summed it up for me when he said that under Coach Tressel Ohio State had created “a culture of corruption.” No coach is bigger than this sport no matter how many games he wins. Jim Tressel, sadly, had to go. Now he knows how vulnerable he really is. We have to pray that he will also know how powerful forgiveness can really be and that he truly finds that forgiveness and moves on to become a more whole and mature person in Christ. I am praying for him even by writing this personal reflection.

The Sad Actions of a Great Coach

Friends know that I am a huge college football fan. I am especially loyal to my own school, the University of Alabama. The Crimson Tide has had its own trials in the recent past with probation because of serious violations with boosters paying for players, etc. This sad legacy came on the heels of the head coaches moral failure (Mike DuBose). The coach’s lack of attention to his own program landed them in deep weeds. No excuses. Alabama got hammered and deserved it.

Nothing strikes a college fan with more dread than an NCAA investigation. It likely means penalties that will set back the football program for years. The ramifications for the school, the team and the fans are immense. But the NCAA shows no mercy in these instances. (Perhaps on another day I will share my view of the NCAA, which is not all that favorable either. )

Now the school under the investigative microscope is Ohio State University. I am not a Buckeye fan, nor am I an anti-Buckeye fan. I have respected their great tradition for many years, however. The sad exodus of Woody Hayes was a black-eye, at least in the way his career ended with an ugly on-field incident. But the program eventually recovered, after some leaner years under John Cooper. Now the Buckeyes have a highly successful winning program, the best in the Big Ten and one of the Top Five programs in the nation over the last decade, which included one national championship. And they’ve had a coach who is adored by the fans, even respected by his opponents and other fans like me. But that coach, Jim Tressel, has now really messed up big time. We will not know how and why he messed up so badly for some months but the likely result is that it will cost him his job coaching the game he loves at the university he clearly loves. Why?

Coach Jim Tressel, head coach at Ohio State for ten years now, hid information from his university for more than nine months, information that he was required to provide according to his contract and the rules of the NCAA. In the words of the NCAA statement released on Monday Tressel “permitted football student-athletes to participate in intercollegiate athletics while ineligible . . . [and] failed to deport himself . . . (with) honesty and integrity.” Ouch! What does that last sentence mean? Tressel filled out a compliance form in September of 2010 which said that he had no knowledge of any NCAA violations. This was not true. Simply put, he lied to the NCAA knowing full well that he was lying! Maybe he was trying to protect his players like a “good parent” thinks best but he was wrong and he knew it.

The Ohio State University issued a statement saying it had no comment until this investigation is over and the penalty has been assessed. OSU has put penalties on its own players and the coach, suspending them for five games in 2011. It is unlikely this will be adequate for the NCAA. There is one unforgiveable sin with the NCAA and real fans understand it: you lie to the NCAA and you’re history!

What makes this whole episode even more difficult is that Jim Tressel is a Christian brother. He recently authored a book titled The Winners Manual. One of his quotes includes the following: “I’ve seen the positives of setting a goal and pushing a team of players to achieve it, working together and striving for something as a team. But I’ve also seen the destructive force of that kind of ruthless search and what it can do to young people and the coaches who try to win at all costs.” (This quote comes from the first page of the book’s prologue. It grew popular Monday thanks to the Twitter account of Rand Getlin, a lawyer and sports consultant.)

Tressel, in the same new book adds: “The reputation of a thousand years may be determined by the conduct of one hour. Discipline is what you do when no one else is looking.” Discipline and responsibility serve as two of the Big Ten Fundamentals, the core tenets of Tressel's new book. The media has already jumped on these and other quotations.

Jim Tressel had full opportunity to deal with a bad situation in April of 2010. For whatever reason he did not act with good judgment and clear leadership. He knew then what he should do and then later lied to cover it up. The track record of coaches who are complicit in such matters is that 1 in 20 survive. If Jim Tressel is still the coach at OSU next year I will be surprised. How can a family believe in the honor and integrity of what a man promises them on a home visit related to recruiting their son when this news is now admitted to be true. Even Coach Tressel does not deny the charges. It was painful to see two eminent OSU former-players asked on ESPN on Tuesday if Tressel should remain as coach? They love him and did not want to answer but you could see they deeply feel he should simply resign. I agree. He must show moral courage and let the university go forward without him.

Here is the question for big time college fans like me. If this was my coach, Nick Saban at Alabama in this case, how would I respond? I would say, “He has to go, wins and championships or not. He is finished. No man is bigger than the school and its integrity.” The same goes for Jim Tressel. We shall see how honorable Ohio State really is in the coming months. Do they love beating Michigan and winning the Big Ten year-in and year-out more than having a coach who tells the truth when he has been required by the rules to do so?

What makes me sad is this – if you had asked me to name the five coaches with the best programs, and also were men who had real integrity, I would have listed Jim Tressel near the top until a few months ago. I knew his profession of faith and have had numerous people tell me that he was a solid, intensely faithful guy. (The same thing was said about Coach Mike DuBose who led Alabama to probation and rightly lost his job as their head coach, nearly destroying the program and taking it to the brink of the NCAA's "death penalty" probation phase.) It is time for the Buckeye Nation to stop defending their man. Their man is deeply tarnished and cannot remain a leader at this great university any longer.

Perhaps the Most Bizarre College Football Signing of the Day

High school athlete Floyd Raven says his mom was just trying to help when she forged his signature on a letter of intent to Mississippi on Wednesday morning. Instead, she only caused confusion. Floyd had decided to go to Texas A&M but mom had different plans.

"Long story short, my mom thought she was helping me out," Raven said in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday evening. "I wasn't home and she sent it in. I never told her I had changed my mind to Texas A&M. I forgive her for it. It was an honest mistake."

Once Mississippi coach Houston Nutt learned that the letter of intent was forged he declined to get into specifics about the incident. All he would say was Raven's "mom really wanted him [at Ole Miss]. Mom wanted him here in the worst way."

Raven, a highly regarded defensive back who played high school football at East St. John in Reserve, La., said the Ole Miss coaches were "very understanding" during the dilemma.

Texas A&M confirmed on Wednesday evening that Raven signed a letter of intent with the Aggies.

National Signing Day: Coach Nick Saban on College Football Recruiting

The University of Alabama’s head football coach Nick Saban announced on Wednesday that 14 student-athletes have signed national letters of intent to play football with the Crimson Tide, joining nine players who enrolled in January and will compete in spring practice later this semester.

The 23 total players, including nine mid-year enrollees, come from nine states - Alabama (7), Florida (4), Georgia (3), Ohio (2), Tennessee (2), California (1), Louisiana (1), North Carolina (1) and Mississippi (1). The Crimson Tide also went outside the United States to land defensive lineman Jesse Williams from Brisbane, Australia. There are still several more players being sought who may yet commit to Alabama, including the number one rated high school prospect in American, Jadeveon Clowney, of South Carolina. (He will announce his choice, of Alabama, South Carolina or Clemson on February 14th.)

Alabama's 2011 signing class is currently ranked first nationally by Rivals.com, third by ESPNU and sixth by Scout.com.

In his press conference on Wednesday afternoon when National Signing Day had ended Coach Saban had some interesting insights into this whole ordeal that makes the hearts of some fans beat faster in early February.

The challenge for us as coaches is to help these players mature and develop in to all they can be. I’ve commented on this before, just because you pick the best puppy dog with the biggest feet that doesn’t mean he’s going to grow up to be the best hunting dog. A lot of these young players are very good. They are very talented. They’ve had great success as high school players but they are going to make a tremendous amount of improvement, almost as much as the time they were freshmen in high school to the time they are a senior in high school, they’re going to do the same thing in college. I think the challenge for us is to help these players develop so that they can have success not only on the field but in the classroom and to continue to develop personally, academically and athletically. We want to be able to shape these guys into people who can be more successful in life because they were involved in the program and they have a tremendous amount of success here personally, academically and athletically. That’s really the challenge, for us, as coaches and for these players to have the right attitude about what it takes for them to be successful as players, to be a complete player, to do the things they need to do at their position to be a complete player will obviously enhance how rapidly they do improve and develop into very good college football players.

The rankings of various schools with regard to the high school players they signed today are actually pretty bogus if you think about it at all. Whether or not an eighteen year old kid can enter college, prove his skill at the next level of this demanding sport, and then be mature enough to succeed at this level of competition is a huge question and will not be answered for at least two years or more. The goal for Alabama is not just talent, and they get their fair share each year, but whether or not a particular athlete is the kind of young man who fits into their program and philosophy. As the biggest Tide fan in Chicago (my untested claim but what other Tide fan in Chicago went to the BCS championship game in Pasadena last year?) I believe Saban landed the guys the Tide needed to compete at the highest level next season. We will not know how good any signing class really is for several years. I do know the Tide has more mature talent coming back next year than they did from the 2009 championship team! (Remember, if you are a fan, they had to replace 9 of 11 on defense last season and still won ten games!) Further, they should be hungry to win again since they came so close this year and lost to three key rivals in the SEC. They finished 2010 in a big way by beating Michigan State, the co-Big Ten champs, 49-7 so the future looks really good in Tuscaloosa. Roll Tide Roll.