How important is football?

I sent the following response to an editorial in the Herald-Sun suggesting that Duke might be wise to lower its expectations for football. If you read on, you will see that I question several of the editorial writer's assumptions. This response was not published. There are several possible reasons for this. First, they had just published a scolding response of mine to a story on downtown Durham . (They have a 30 day rule.) Second, this one like the first was as much an attack on them as an opinion about an issue. Third, it was over 250 words. (I was really hoping for "guest columnist" status, which often dominates their editorial page. They have so far given this status to two other responses to their editorial including one from an assistant athletic director at Duke.)

I don’t know why it drives me a little crazy every time the Herald-Sun starts pontificating about college athletics. The latest example is Monday’s lead editorial “Why is football so important?” which, of course, deals with the possibility that Duke might upgrade its so far unsuccessful program.

But before challenging some the editorial writer’s assumptions, let’s throw the question back. Why, indeed, is football so important to the paper? There have been other leadership transitions at Duke in recent months with potentially much more direct effect on reputation, personnel and students than the football coach will ever have under any circumstances. I don’t recall an editorial about any of these or even as much news coverage as the high school football playoffs get. Does devoting an entire section every day and assigning reporters permanently to sports compromise the integrity of the paper to gather and report other news?

But setting aside any potential hypocrisy in the Herald-Sun’s position, let’s examine some of the assumptions that lead to the conclusion that Duke should consider lowering its goals for a competitive 1-A football program. The first is that there are a limited number of top high school football prospects in the country. Actually, the playing field has never been leveler. By limiting the number of scholarships that a school may offer, the NCAA has prevented the powerhouses from stockpiling talent. It has improved the competitiveness of numerous schools, made the college game more interesting and given more top athletes a chance for playing time.

It is precisely because it makes it tougher for athletes to get admitted that the football program at Duke has suffered. I take exception to the assumption that almost everyone agrees that standards should never be waived. In fact, they are waived all the time for any number of reasons including so-called legacy admissions. Since the number of football players represents such a small percentage of the student body even in a small school like Duke you could virtually eliminate academic standards for them without a ripple in the average SAT or GPA. What is really irksome is the additional assumption that talented and disciplined athletes don’t add something positive to the academic community in the same way equally talented musicians, dancers or theatrical performers do.

I have no idea what is being considered to upgrade Wallace Wade Stadium other than that if would take of “a ton of money,” using the paper’s not so precise metric. I also don’t know how much it is going to take to add the new wing to the hospital or build Central Campus but you can bet it will be a lot more than anything the most ardent football fanatic could dream up for the stadium. Based on the attention the football program is getting in the media you could easily conclude that upgrading the football program would reorder all of the university’s priorities. Does anyone really believe this is the case?

It is far from heresy for Duke to consider competing in football at a lower level, in fact, it’s gospel for some in the academic community. However, to think that upgrading its program puts the university on a slippery slope to academic perdition is ridiculous. Ask Southern Cal or Stanford or Penn State or Wake Forest or Notre Dame or dozens of other competitive schools.

If Duke makes the strategic decision to downgrade its football program life will go on because football really isn’t that important. But it would be a shame. Marketing guru Seth Godin would probably describe a competitive football program at Duke as the “prize in the cereal box” or that added extra something of little consequence that adds appeal and luster to a product. This would be good for the university, good for the community and maybe even good for the hometown newspaper which is struggling like all newspapers to find reasons why people would want to read them every day.