Beware When Coaches Become Deities
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By DERON SNYDER
We’ll never forget that line last March, as the Ohio State football program was unraveling, when president E. Gordon Gee was asked about possibly firing Jim Tressel. “Are you kidding?” he said. “I’m just hopeful that the coach doesn’t dismiss me.”
Tressel was getting reverential treatment after a mere 10 years at Ohio State. But he would’ve been a peon at Penn State compared to the great and mighty Joe Paterno, who became the Nittany Lions’ coach when Lyndon B. Johnson was in the White House. JoePa acquired so much sovereignty over the ensuing four decades, he was nearly impossible to get rid of until the current child-abuse scandal swept him out.
Hero worship of virtually mythic coaches is a valid criticism of big-time college sports. It’s an example of the skewed priorities that help create the problems plaguing schools and athletic departments.
The reaction from some Paterno supporters and Penn State sycophants was disturbing, whether you call it a riot or unrest. Protesters flipped over a news van, tore down lampposts and threw rocks and cans, prompting police to respond with riot gear and tear gas.
Students at Indiana University were just as angry in 2000, but not quite as violent, when Bobby Knight was (finally) fired for boorish behavior during a 29-year run. Protesters knocked over light poles and burned effigies, including one of president Myles Brand near his on-campus home.
This isn’t to suggest that longtime, larger-than-life coaches are destined to go down in scandal-laced flames like Woody Hayes (23 years at Ohio State) or Lefty Driesell (17 years at Maryland). Dean Smith was known for running a clean program during his 36 years as men’s basketball coach at North Carolina and then left on his own accord. Frank Beamer has spent 25 seasons at the helm of Virginia Tech’s football program with nary a hint of trouble.
Like Beamer, Paterno also had steered clear of controversy, which is fairly remarkable for national powerhouse programs. But if the right combination of wrong circumstances comes up, no coach is bigger than his program or school.
