Those words come from one of the most famous college fight songs in the land, for a school that was historically held in (often ridiculously) high regard over the decades. So when the news broke over the weekend that four players have been suspended from the Notre Dame football team, pending further investigation, for receiving impermissible academic help, it was huge. That further investigation could lead to them being permanently dismissed from the team and the university.
Cheer, Cheer for Old Notre Dame
Based on the kind of news we heard from some campuses over the summer with regards to players being suspended, this could be big in South Bend. Assault charges? Sexual assault? DUI? Burglary? Robbery? Jacking some crab legs from a supermarket? These are the types of issues we have had to hear about all spring and summer from the college football players of America. Now we have the president and athletic director of Notre Dame holding a press conference and ESPN covering it live. Holy cow! This is going to be the mother of all college football transgressions!
And it was… by Notre Dame standards. The allegations? Academic dishonesty. DeVaris Daniels, Kendall Moore, KeiVarae Russell and Ishaq Williams allegedly turned in papers for a summer school course that they did not write themselves. The allegations were brought forth to the academic department when the summer session ended July 29. The players were interviewed on Friday, August 15 and told they would be prohibited from taking part in any football activities until the investigation was done.
It has been hard to know how to write this and keep the appropriate nuances and contexts. In one sense you almost want to chuckle. Student athletes across the country have been named as suspects in some violent and unimaginable circumstances- these guys (allegedly) had someone write papers, or at least parts of papers, for them. Of course, there are also a number of players who have sinned in much smaller ways, on the assumption that because they are a significant player at a major football power, they can get away with a little more than the rest of the student body- and they’re often correct.
There is a history of academic malfeasance going on in athletic programs at major academic institutions that spans generations. The University of North Carolina, for one, has spent the better part of the last three years dodging NCAA allegations that several basketball and football players did not do their own classwork, or even attend classes for that matter. One of the school’s own academic advisers has testified against the university. These are transgressions that have gone on for as long as most of us can remember, and schools frequently turned the other cheek, until they were forced to open their eyes. It’s not unreasonable to suspect that the Tar Heels are not alone when it comes to players getting more than an appropriate amount of help for their academic work. Heck, it’s not outrageous to assume that plenty of non-athletes turn in work that may not be entirely theirs.
But we get back to nuances and contexts, and here sits Notre Dame. The administration was told of the accusations not three years ago, but three weeks ago and they jumped on the issue. They did not bury their collective heads in the sand, waiting for someone to blow a whistle at the NCAA offices and then obfuscate around what would have been a three-year-long investigation, at which point all of these four young men would be long gone. They are at least attempting to deal with the issues in the here and now. Last year, starting quarterback Everett Golson had to sit out the entire season because the school suspected he cheated on an exam. All four of the young men in the current investigation are juniors or seniors and have played vital roles for the Fighting Irish going back to Notre Dame’s run to the BCS title game in 2012. All four men were expected to be starters on the 2014 edition of the Fighting Irish football team. Now their careers are in jeopardy because they are alleged to have done something overlooked at other programs, but certainly not at Notre Dame.
At the widely-watched and much-discussed press conference last week, University President Reverend John Jenkins said integrity is at the heart of the Notre Dame mission. Jenkins said the school has to be confident that, “the students we admit here have the capacity to succeed here.” Indeed, all students must sign an honor code agreement upon entering the university. The following day, head coach Brian Kelly said, “It’s a privilege to play at Notre Dame, not a right. We hold our players to a very high standard at Notre Dame.”
Say what you want about Notre Dame. They are smug. They are arrogant. They have the Notre Dame Broadcasting Corporation (what you and I know as NBC). They are no longer the powerhouse they used to be. They are not as good as they think they are. They can’t compete with bigger schools in the SEC and ACC for championship caliber players.
All of those things could be true, depending upon your perspective. What is also true, and probably more important, is that Notre Dame set aside its football priorities, at least for the moment, by suspending four players over an allegation regarding academic integrity. That’s a phrase not used often enough in collegiate sports, but it is a phrase that allows Notre Dame to proclaim that they, in fact, are not like so many others.
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