If the horrifying events surrounding the Penn State football program have taught us anything, it is that the "tail has been wagging the dog" for way too long.
And, all of us share an equal part of the blame.
I can't help of thinking back in the very near past when The Ohio State University's president G. Gordon Gee was asked at a news conference if he would fire then-head football coach Jim Tressell.
The entire world laughed when Gee announced that "he hoped the football coach would not fire him.'' But, the truth in his words are becoming more and more evident.
Ask any fan who the head football coach at his favorite college is and he, or even she, will spout the name out without a moment's hesitation.
Ask that same fan to name the school's president and you might as well ask that person to name the capital of the state of North Dakota - that would be Bismarck.
And, it may not be the football coach that wields the most power at the school. It could just as easily be the men's, or women's if you are at the University of Connecticut or at Tennessee, basketball coach that holds all of the cards.
The point being the individuals responsible for making the day-to-day decisions involving the behavior of the student-athletes rarely are the same people handling the discipline for the thousands of other students on the campus.
Is this the right way?
Obviously, the answer to this question is no seeing the situation at State College as well as in Columbus and on numerous campuses across the nation.
And, it is not only a collegiate problem. It has filtered its way down to the high school level and even below.
Just look at the most "high-profiled" job of the summer - the head wrestling coach at Parkersburg South. Sad is the only way to describe the scenario surrounding this position and the amount of dissension that has followed its process.
No teaching job, or for that matter administrative hire, has stirred these kinds of emotions.
For one moment remove the rose-colored glasses that we all wear as fans and ask yourselves if your school is doing everything it can to treat all of its students and employees equally.
Sadly, the answer will be no more times than yes.
As sports writers our job revolves around writing about sports - both on-field and off-field. Unfortunately, it would appear that the latter has been making more headlines these days.
Fans want to put the lion's share of the problem on the powers that police athletics, the NCAA on a national level and the Secondary School Activities Commission locally.
While these groups are not void of responsibility, it becomes almost laughable to believe that an SSAC made up of four individuals can police more than 120 high schools and thousands of athletes. Numbers that are just as preposterous on the college level.
And, we, the fans, still sit back and wonder why the "tail is wagging the dog".
Contact Jim Butta at jbutta@newsandsentinel.com
