Wrote an article that appears in the current issue of The NCAA News that mostly deals with the lessons that might be learned from the Mike Gandy rant.
A couple excerpts from my article:
While we'd like college coaches to have lofty ideals such as molding young men and women in big-time revenue-producing sports, coaches are hired and retained to win games. The more college athletics programs mimic professional teams (comparable coaching salaries, tricked-out practice facilities and locker rooms, national TV), the more expectation there is to win.
Big-time college football and basketball players live in “bizarre world.” They are part student, part rock star. College athletes know the bargain (those who don’t should be taught it immediately): When they are winning, people heap praise upon them. When teams lose or individual players disappoint, they get criticized. Most athletes and coaches I know are savvy enough to realize that boos and bad press come with the territory.
Dealing with the media is an important component of my latest book, Money Players. A number of sports journalists, athletes, coaches and managers contributed their advice.Connie Mack, Philadelphia A’s manager (1901-1950): "When I entered the game, (sports) received only a few lines as news. These few lines extended into columns and pages. In ratio the crowds in our ball parks grew and grew. News, like advertising, is a powerful momentum behind any enterprise. The professional sporting world was created and is being kept alive by the services extended by the press." (The same principles apply to college sports.)
At the end of my article, The NCAA News included several other opinions. I think most offered a pretty realistic view of the media, particularly Javarris James, a football player at University of Miami (Florida). He said:
"When we're doing good, the media say good things. When we're doing bad, the media say bad things. It's part of life. It's happened since high school; it's going to continue to happen, from college to the pros."
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