TUNNEY-SIDE-OF-THE-STREET

#101 December 4 2006
Welcome to this week's message from the Tunney-Side-Of-The-Street. You are encouraged to share this with fellow workers, family and friends.

ESPN recently aired a program called "Hall of Fame Football College Coaches" which discussed coaches who certainly typify the characteristics of what college coaching ought to be. The "Billboard" - that's the graphic television uses at the opening of the show - highlighted words like "responsibility", "integrity" and the like. In my 40 years on the field associating with coaches of high school, college and professional teams, I can, with few exceptions, agree that coaches do walk-the-talk of those qualities.

That same week, however, I watched a major college coach take "advantage" of a new (2006) college rule. The NCAA Rules Committee changed the "start the clock" rule on kickoffs to speed up the game. The kickoff rule, for as long as I can remember, started the clock as soon as a member of the receiving team touched the ball. In order to speed up the game, the Rules Committee decided to start the clock when the ball is kicked. Sounds good to me.

The "advantage" came in a Division I college game with 13-seconds left in the half and, the team, who just scored was blatantly offside on the kickoff. The offended team opted for a re-kick. Sounds ok, except that, with the clock starting on that kickoff, 5-6 seconds ran off the clock. Then, the kicking team was intentionally offside again, running another 5-6 seconds off the clock, leaving the receiving team, who was behind, little time put the ball in play.

Was it legal? Yes. Ethical? You decide. The purpose of the rule change was to speed-up the game, not to place one team at a disadvantage. Having studied rules most of my life, I know rules makers try to "balance the game" so that the offense does not have an advantage over the defense and vice versa. Was it "fair" for one coach to take advantage of this rule change? One television announcer called that coach's decision "creative". Creative? Ethical?

There are two sides of a rule: 1) "Letter of the law", and 2) "The spirit" for which the rule was designed. Has winning become so addictive that a coach willingly violates the spirit of the rule? A recent "report" in USA TODAY might give a clue. College coaches are now compensated with "bonuses" for media interviews, promotions, team G.P.A.'s and graduation rates of its players. Gee, I thought that was always their responsibility. Will you abide by the "spirit" as well as the "letter of the law"?

Look for my book
It's the Will, Not the Skill
Principles and philosophies of success
For more information about Jim Tunney, go to www.jimtunney.com
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http://tunney-side-of-the-street.blogspot.com

ARTICLE TAGLINE FOR JIM TUNNEY, Ed.D., CSP, CPAE

Copyright © 2003 Jim Tunney. All rights reserved.
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