God loses

My biggest hobby is following college football. And the biggest story of college football the past six months has been the allegations of wrongdoings at Ohio State University, one of the most bitter rivals of my favorite team—Penn State. Attention first was on five players who sold football memorabilia for cash, tattoos, and marijuana. Then, it turned out that OSU’s head coach—Jim Tressel—knew about the illegal actions for almost a year, didn’t punish his players, and then lied to the NCAA by claiming his program was infraction-free. While the NCAA’s investigation was just beginning, Sports Illustrated went in and did some digging. Depending on who you’re talking to, what they found was either enormous or tiny. Whatever the case, the allegations were enough to cause Tressel to quit and to allow OSU to distance itself from the wayward coach.

As I read the Sports Illustrated article, the thing I found most galling was Treseel’s bold proclamations of faith. Since he was a rival coach, I certainly didn’t want to give him the benefit of the doubt at first. I had Christian friends who were OSU fans, and they told me about the “legend” of Jim Tressel—a father-figure for struggling youth, a Bible-reading mentor of men, and an honored figure by Athletes in Action and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. On the other side, I had heard of rumblings about Tressel’s checkered past at Youngstown State and his laissez faire attitudes towards unscrupulous boosters and greedy players. With few hard facts behind me though, I chose to believe the best about Tressel. As his team beat Penn State seven of the past nine years, all I had was my jealously of OSU’s success under a man I thought to be a solid leader in a difficult profession for integrity.

But it turns out that Tressel was a hypocrite. He didn’t walk the walk. His success was built on lies. SI laid out nearly three decades of past transgressions by Tressel and made a strong case for his greatest successes being built on immoral athletes (who were enabled if not assisted by an immoral coach). His championship QB Ray Isaac at Youngstown State, his championship RB and WR/CB Maurice Clarett and Chris Gamble at Ohio State, his Heisman Trophy-winning QB Troy Smith, and his #1 recruit and two-time bowl winner Terrelle Pryor—all found guilty of NCAA infractions involving money under Tressel’s watch.

Christianity isn’t just about morals, but Christ does ask us to follow a higher standard when it comes to the way we act. And while there are plenty of coaches and athletes who can keep a low profile regarding faith, Tressel was one who built his image on his faith. He wanted to be a bearer of the high standards of Christ. He wasn’t shy. But he should have been. Or else, he should have pushed rule-breaking boosters away from his players in the 1980’s. Or kicked his free car-receiving player off of the team, thus losing his team the national title in the 90’s. Or made his star RB go to class and empty out his pockets in the 2000’s, which probably would have cost him another national title. Or made sure no one was giving the nation’s top recruit cars and money to get him to attend OSU in 2008 (instead of PSU, Michigan, and Oregon).

It’s not that Tressel never did anything good. He surely impacted players positively in various ways. But if he had acted with complete integrity from the beginning, he would never have won. And it was winning that led to Tressel to the pinnacle of both fame for his coaching prowess and notoriety for his impeccable Christian character. But it’s hard to win with integrity in sports. Sad to say, but God lost one this week.