Wednesday, March 09, 2011

Ethics and student athletes: BYU v. Ohio State

An interesting contrast, two ethics issues at two universities in two weeks. BYU suspended its star basketball player for the rest of the season, this by a ranked team just before the tournament starts! The player had sex with his girlfriend, violating the team's code of conduct at this Mormon school. Whatever you think of the rule, the player knew it and the university owns up to it.

In contrast, the football coach at Ohio State was caught lying to the NCAA and received a slap on the rest, missing two games next season, this for a violation more flagrant to the game itself.

Conclusion: at Ohio State, winning matters more than ethical behavior, and at BYU the opposite.

I'm not a big fan of Mormons, or any organized religion for that matter, though Benedictines impressed me when I did a story on their seminary once, impressed me with the rigor of their high school classes, but despite this I plan to root for BYU as far as they can go without their superstar. I like how they walk the talk.

1 comment:

Terry1960 said...

Nice assessment of the BYU/Ohio State matter. However I propose being a "fan" of all humans, apart from religious perspectives or world views.

Terry