Promises, Promises

You made me, Promises Promises,
You knew you'd never keep.
Promises Promises,
Why do I believe?
-- from the 1980's song by Naked Eyes

Since the week of the NCAA men's Final Four basketball tourney there have been an unending stream of coaches leaving one college and going to another. Right behind has been the stream of players that had signed scholarshi offers with school A, but changed their mind when the coach left, and now want to play for school B. Of course, some of this is going on in my own backyard at the University of Iowa. Steve Alford was under contract to coach the Hawkeyes for another 5 years. Several high school seniors signed up to play basketball for Iowa. Word today is that at least one player is asking to be released from his commitment, presumably because Alford is no longer the coach.

There are a lot of promises in college athletics that people know they are unlikely to keep. Will new Iowa coach Todd Likliter stay at Iowa for the full eight years of his contract? He will until he gets a better offer. How about the "lifetime" contract that is reportably being offered to USC football coach Pete Carroll? Will he really never coach anywhere else before he dies? Hmph. And what of these high school seniors who don the cap of their chosen college, only to leave when the coach does, or to bolt early because they've got a shot at professional athletics? Iowa probably spends $60,000 on a four-year athletic scholarship. Other schools, like USC or Notre Dame, are surely three times that amount. And for what? To be the temporary stepping stone for a kid in expensive sneakers?

Some would say that in "today's world," we can't expect these kinds of promises to be kept. "That's just absurd," said one radio sports analyst today.

I can see why he would say that -- the value of a promise certainly isn't what it used to be. Take marriage, for example. Till death do you part? Um hmm. I guess that sounds better than "Until you get fat," "Until you get old," "As long as you make good money," or "As long as I 'love' you." Half the people who say, "Till death do us part," break their promise. (Now, I'm not condemning those who divorce. I understand that things can happen. Though God clearly does not condone divorce except in certain circumstances, neither do I believe it is an unpardonable sin.)

What is the solution with these coaches and players? Well, I think accountability has to start with the coaches and the universities. If a coach signs a six-year contract for $1 million a year, he/she should stick to it. If the coach is fired after four years, the university owes him $2 million. If the coach leaves after four years on his own accord, he owes the university $2 million. How can we penalize the kids breaking scholarship promises, if the adults aren't setting a better standard?

The bottom line is this ... as naive as it surely is, we shouldn't be satisfied to live in a world where a promise is empty. How did we get to this place, and why did we allow our values of honesty and integrity to be chipped away over the decades? Shame on us for not keeping our end of the bargain.