University of Virginia Hockey Team: Personal Reflections
Ronald J. Stupak, Ph.D.
RonStupak@mac.com
“Having a problem is no problem; denying you have a problem is a problem.”
Kenneth A. Rashid
Not only am I an avid and positive sports enthusiast, in addition, I’m a former professional athlete, college professor, university executive, and have served as a member of boards of trustees. My affiliations with college sports range from Miami University (Ohio), The Ohio State University to the University of Southern California to Moravian College to the University of North Carolina at Asheville to Mount Vernon College for Women. In effect, I’ve covered the waterfront of collegiate athletic programs.
This range of experience has led me to conjecture that there are three critical dynamics that seem to lead to the dislocation, misrepresentation, and corruption of major sports programs at colleges and universities: first, the greatest driving force is a misalignment of intent with behavior; next, is the inability to make meanings as important as making money; and finally, there is the inability to understand that sports programs do not by their nature have a right to exist, they must demonstrate a commitment, responsibility, and opportunity to serve the goals and values of higher education.
From my perspective, the three aforementioned stumbling blocks have led to (1) the diminishing of intramural, club, and minor sports endeavors; (2) questionable academic adjustments to admit marginal (even unqualified) students; (3) the glorification (and premature exits) of star athletes at the expense of both teams and college supporters; and (4) a misplaced emphasis on the immediacy of winning the game at the expense of the longer term meanings of the sports programs to the universities’ educational goals. Clearly, the quality of college sports programs has less to do with how much on has than how much one can do with whatever one has in pursuing the goal of higher education.
Maybe I’m too old, or too naive, or too inflexible to appreciate what has happened, culturally and economically, in the world of college sport , but I’ve regained my deep respect and satisfaction of college sports by watching and reading about the University of Virginia Hockey Team. The value of non-scholarship, high academic standard athletes playing in a program that prizes the individual but celebrates the team and which is led and coached by individuals who love the game and who do more than anyone else thinks possible with less than anyone thought possible warms my heart, my soul, and my mind.
Ideally, I believe that colleges can do anything, but realistically I also know that in today’s economic environment, they can’t do everything. The trick is having the wisdom to know the difference so that choices that must be made in athletic programs are anchored in the strategic educational goals of the college. Consequently, with the issue of college athletic reform squarely on higher education’s agenda, we must make certain that as much as we love sports, we must value education more. It is clear that college and university leaders must initiate actions that begin the process of restoring a balanced collegial and cultural consensus on the proper relationship between sports and education. And, I am personally convinced that club, non-scholarship, intramural, and cross gender programs must be essential elements of the dialogue… and I am absolutely convinced that the University of Virginia Hockey program can serve as a case study and an operational model for helping all of us fashion a framework for the needed transition of college sports away from simply chasing the money.
References:
- John R. Gerdy ”A Sporting Change for Civility,” Trusteeship, (May/June 2002) pp. 24-28.
- Mark Saunders ”No Rinky-Dink Operation,” C’Ville Weekly, (January 28-
February 3), p.35. - Ronald J. Stupak ”Perception Management: An Active Strategy for Marketing and Delivering Academic Excellence at Liberal Arts colleges,” Public Administration Quarterly, (Summer, 2001), pp. 229-244.
- Ronald J. Stupak ”The Challenges to Teachers, Teaching, and Post-Secondary Teaching Institutions…,” International Journal of Public Administration, (Fall, 2002), pp. 121-133.
- Ronald J. Stupak, ”The Good Teacher,” The PA Times, (October 2001), pp. 10.