The Argo Playback...
Geoffrey Farrer
Issue date: 12/7/06 Section: Sports
- Page 1 of 1
After cutting away all the ancillaries, it becomes clear that college sports are about winning. Although the benefits of collegiate competition are great, all the developed skills - on and off the playing surface, the physical advancement of the players and the inherent growth of school spirit and image don't mean a thing if the team doesn't win.
Just ask recently dismissed Stanford football coach Walt Harris. His 1-11 record this year which followed a low winning percentage last year made his firing all but guaranteed. However, in the age of big money college sports booster clubs and wealthy sports-crazed alumni, college coaches now fear for their job security if their team slips from greatness to a dreaded .500 season.
Larry Coker was just fired at the end of a 6-6 season from Miami (Fla.) after leading the Hurricanes to a National Championship, a 3-0 record over hated rival Florida and an overall record of 59-15 in only six years as head coach.
So no one's surprised there is no collective gasp when Lincoln University (Penn.) crushed Ohio State University-Marion 201-78 in a NCAA Division III basketball game. You would think the sports community would be outraged with such an excess display of unsportsmanlike play. Yet, with coaches constantly being asked "What have you done for me lately?" by the institution they work for, can you really blame Lincoln coach Garfield Yuille for allowing his team to run up the score?
To Yuille's defense, he did play every member of his team during the blowout in an effort to constrain some of Lincoln's most productive players.
But all the same, in a game where Division III records were set for most field goals attempted in a game (141), most field goals made in a game (79), most points in a half (104), and largest margin of victory (123 points), he could have at least told his players to hold onto the ball a little before they threw up one of their 141 shots.
Sadly, this is what it has come to.
Producing players who graduate university with great promise and valued experience and relationships from intercollegiate athletics is no longer enough.
Just win.
Just ask recently dismissed Stanford football coach Walt Harris. His 1-11 record this year which followed a low winning percentage last year made his firing all but guaranteed. However, in the age of big money college sports booster clubs and wealthy sports-crazed alumni, college coaches now fear for their job security if their team slips from greatness to a dreaded .500 season.
Larry Coker was just fired at the end of a 6-6 season from Miami (Fla.) after leading the Hurricanes to a National Championship, a 3-0 record over hated rival Florida and an overall record of 59-15 in only six years as head coach.
So no one's surprised there is no collective gasp when Lincoln University (Penn.) crushed Ohio State University-Marion 201-78 in a NCAA Division III basketball game. You would think the sports community would be outraged with such an excess display of unsportsmanlike play. Yet, with coaches constantly being asked "What have you done for me lately?" by the institution they work for, can you really blame Lincoln coach Garfield Yuille for allowing his team to run up the score?
To Yuille's defense, he did play every member of his team during the blowout in an effort to constrain some of Lincoln's most productive players.
But all the same, in a game where Division III records were set for most field goals attempted in a game (141), most field goals made in a game (79), most points in a half (104), and largest margin of victory (123 points), he could have at least told his players to hold onto the ball a little before they threw up one of their 141 shots.
Sadly, this is what it has come to.
Producing players who graduate university with great promise and valued experience and relationships from intercollegiate athletics is no longer enough.
Just win.
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