When Todd Turner was dismissed Tuesday after just 31/2 years as athletic director at the University of Washington, he wondered aloud about the win-at-all-costs culture of big-time college sports.
“I have to look at that after 32 years of doing this and say, ‘Wow. Is this really what we’re all about? Have I been that naive all this time? …”
Apparently, yes.
It shouldn’t come as a news flash to a veteran administrator like Turner that when your football program is losing more games than it’s winning, everything else you do — no matter how positive the results — is secondary. And despite UW President Mark Emmert’s insistence that Turner’s departure isn’t tied directly to the football team’s disappointing fortunes, it’s hard to believe Emmert would have pushed him out if the Huskies were currently preparing for the Rose Bowl.
Big-time college sports is big business. It’s about logo licensing and television deals, and the bottom line is winning. If you can have a winning program and successful student athletes, good for you. But if you only have one, it’d better be the former.
Turner was hired by Emmert in 2004 to repair a department rocked by the gambling-related firing of football coach Rick Neuheisel and a drug scandal involving the softball program, and by all accounts had done a remarkable job of cleaning house and restoring integrity. But the football coach Turner hired, Tyrone Willingham, has won just 11 of 36 games in three years, a record that left boisterous boosters demanding the coach’s head. Turner stood behind Willingham, further fueling their anger. Turner, many boosters concluded, didn’t care about restoring the football program to its former glory. The threat that posed to future financial support, as much as anything, likely forced Emmert’s hand.
Emmert understands the dysfunctional world of college sports. Louisiana State University won a national football championship in 2004 while he was its chancellor, and will play for another title next month. He knows that the route to a major upgrade to aging Husky Stadium goes through the wallets of well-heeled alumni who demand results on the football field.
To a degree, though, we all share the blame for the backward values of college sports. We tune in and buy licensed gear when our team is winning, and we complain when it’s not. Few fans care as much about the quarterback’s GPA as his completion percentage.
Is that the way it should be? No. It’s the way it is.
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