As many of you know, BYU has been having an amazing year in basketball. However, we just lost our starting forward (and we only run two tall men in our offense with three guards--so losing that forward really hurts) due to his violating the school honor code. Consequently, we lost a game this week to crappy University of New Mexico, and questions loom about the Y's ability to compete this year. Similarly, last year's rough football season was made worse by the unexpected loss of the senor star running back who (along with his girlfriend) broke the honor code. Check out this video of ESPN sports pundits assessing the question, "Can schools win championships while upholding strict standards?"
I think it is nice to see these sports pundits supporting the idea of moral and educational standards for athletes. Sports illustrated and CBS recently did a in depth study of the top 25 football teams and found that quite a few are composed of violent criminals. The University of Pittsburgh led the nation in criminal teamates, and the report found that 1 in 14 athletes on these top 25 teams had a criminal past. Only TCU and Oklahoma had any system of assessing criminality before offering scholarships to students.
If we don't hold students accountable in college then what makes us think they'll be responsible adults?
