NCAA Cannot Legislate Good Character

LSU’s Jordan Jefferson had it within his power to have stopped all the trouble.

Revelations in the past year of Tennessee, Ohio State, North Carolina, Miami and LSU student-athletes running aground are sad examples of the inability of some young athletes to understand that their choices can and will have debilitating consequences on their teams, coaches and universities, not to mention on themselves.

Most of them have grown up as privileged, individual athletes.  Since early on, as far back as middle school, their shortcomings and errors in judgment and behavior were overlooked because of their exceptional athleticism.  They were capable of making a significant difference to a team’s success or failure on the court or field, so parents, adults, coaches and teachers turned a blind eye to their abhorrent, cocky attitudes. This produced young adults possessing no fear of recrimination.  They constantly overreach their boundaries, knowing that someone will let them off the proverbial hook. They failed to fear consequences because there were none.  In short, they emerged as irresponsible and not caring as long as they can continue to have a free rein to act as they please. Then, when their world suddenly, publically and inevitably collapses around them, the disconnect between reality and their view of life is readily and painfully apparent.

The NCAA has typically viewed these and other similar incidents as indicative of a lack of institutional control, but it is virtually impossible for college coaches, athletic directors and school administrators to anticipate when or where a student-athlete will step so far over the line that damage control or recovery is out of the question.

For example, while the details of the bar brawl in Baton Rouge remain unclear, it is beyond belief that a star athlete and supposed team leader like Jordan Jefferson would somehow conceptualize that escaping into the night after curfew to have a few drinks with his teammates at an after-hours bar would make good sense.  Yet, it happened.

A broader view for the LSU starting quarterback was clearly present, but Jefferson obviously could not see it. Think about that – he could not see it.  He and his team were poised to accomplish something extraordinary this upcoming season. All the pieces were perfectly in place for the team to make a serious run at an SEC as well as BCS title. Yet, that real possibility did not register with Jordan. He alone could have stopped it all from occurring had he elected to do the responsible thing and throw cold water on the idea of late-night carousing which had little chance of ending well. As the person on the Tigers football team which everyone else looked toward to steer the ship, he failed them. 

How could an athlete with so much to gain from doing the right thing instead choose to the do the absolute wrong thing? His ignorance of the consequences is the only reasonable conclusion. This was an abject failure of character on Jefferson’s part.

Looking back at the other high-profile examples at UNC, OSU, UT and Miami, it is most likely that one could find a moment in time when one person, a team leader, who could have stepped up and stopped the insane actions of his teammates.  A show of solid character would have stymied the illicit activities.  But, when team leaders are the ones spearheading and condoning the wrongdoing, their disregard for propriety and lack of respect for their team, coaches and school can only result in everyone’s eventual fall from grace.     

The NCAA and no member school can legislate good character or the moral underpinnings of student-athletes whose twisted core value is selfishness. With an absence of individual control, the privileged student-athlete lives and breathes an existence foreign to most other people whose daily lives are ruled by social order and personal responsibility. These coddled few carry on because they have no idea of what normal behavior requires in terms of thinking, reasoning and decision making.  And, in some way, we all suffer from their actions.