Quick thought on NCAA and Agent issue

Marvin Austin created a huge wave in college football. Picture obtained from Espn

 

Marvin Austin at North Carolina twitted he was at the party and that just brought about big wave in college football, because the party was hosted by an agent. I remember that my beloved Alabama crimson tide football team was beat by Utah badly in 2009 Sugar Bowl game, partly because my beloved Left Tackle Andre Smith was illegally contacted by an agent (or Andre contacted the agent, whatever), and had to miss the game. So, I hoped the wave did not reach my sweet Alabama team, again. And, of course, the most influential player in Alabama at this moment was there. Marcel Dareus. Every football analysts predicted him as a first rounder for the next NFL draft. And, now, he is ineligible for now, probably, a whole season. I am feeling pain now as a fan and as a teacher.  

My beloved Marcel Dareus

 

We always have rules to follow. I am from Korea, but, I follow the rules and laws in the U.S., because I do not want to create any problem. That is not because I agree with all the laws and rules.  

If any American citizens go to Korea, they have to follow the rules in Korea. Google had to leave China, because they did not understand what they needed to follow. In my International Public Relations class, my students had a chance to talk with my chinese friend, who also will teach at the university from the upcoming semester, through Skype teleconference. Her opinion about Google was same as mine. They were arrogant to China. Google thought itself so wonderful, and even could change the Nation. Come on~~~. China has been in the world for more than 10,000 years. People’s republic of China was found in 1949. Way to go Google. You were brave.  

Google left China to change the nation LOL. Picture obtained from SEO and Internet Marketing News

 

Well, student-athletes also need to follow the rule, wherever they belong. Not just for student-athletes, every person who belongs to any organizations needs to follow the rule. Even I tell my son, who is 5 years old, “you need to follow the rule”. If I am at the Walmart, I have to follow their store policy, no matter what I like it or not. I learned it from my school. My teachers generously taught me that. So, I, now, can live in the U.S., because I know how to follow the rules. Anyhow, I had to learn it when I was young.  

For student-atheletes, National Collegiate Atheletic Association (NCAA) has a responsibility to teach them. And, schools need to teach them. Nick Saban, who is a head coach of Alabama football team also addressed that.  

Picture is obtained from NCAA website

 

Gentry Estates, a reporter of Mobile Press-Regitster (Al.com), quoted Nick Saban  

“Right now, agents are screwing it up,” Saban told ESPN.com. “They are taking the eligibility of players. It’s not right that those players do the wrong thing. We have a great education process here. We have a full-time worker who meets with players and their families and does everything else.”   

Then, Nick Saban also blamed NFL and NFLPA (Player Association), or, asked them for help.  

“What the NFL Players Association and the NFL need to do is if any agent breaks a rule and causes ineligibility for a player, they should suspend his license for a year or two,” Saban said. “I’m about ready for college football to say, ‘Let’s just throw the NFL out. Don’t let them evaluate players. Don’t let them talk to players. Let them do it at the combine.’  

So, now, it is between NCAA and NFL. I, honestly, have envied their relationship, because no other professional sports organizations require a certain amount of education to players in the world besides NFL and NBA, as I know. I, sometimes, praised NFL about their policies and relationships with players. Their college education requirement was, of course, one of them. OK. This is surely a brilliant idea. Players can get free education, so that, if they cannot make it to the NFL, they, at least, have a college degree. Someone may say the degree is useless, but, I am a college educator and firmly believe that the degree can definitely change one person’s life. At the same time, NFL can have better and mentally prepared players. Especially, student-atheletes have to handle  their time and all the attentions. I usually admire student-athletes, because they put a lot of efforts on their works as well as their future. They are creating their own assets, which they can carry for their whole life. I like it. I hope every student is like that.  

I hope, of course, student-atheletes do not make a terrible choice like Marcel Dareus, who became my new beloved player in last National Championship game, did. Student-athletes should learn the lessons at this time. As Nick Saban said, universities try to educate student-athletes about policies and issues. Well, someone says student-athletes should be paid because they create big revenues for universities. But, I think they are paid with education. That is what universities need to do. It should be about education, not about money. Then, everything will follow. But, still, student-athletes make mistakes, because they are “Student”-athletes. They are still getting an “education”.  

I remember that when I was a student, I, many time, did something wrong. I did not follow rules well. In my freshmen high school year, I was suspended once, because I did not follow one of their rules. I learned from it. I was immature and did not know the consequences. So, I learned a lesson in a hard way. I, sometimes, see the same thing from my students. They just learn from it in a hard way.  

I think Marcel Dareus should be suspended for whole season, if he broke the rule. He needs to learn the hard lesson, because he is a “Student”-athlete. But, there is something more important. NFL needs to listen to what, now, coaches are saying. It is, of course, a responsibility of NCAA, to educate student-athletes, and students should know what they have to do, when agents are approaching. But, remember, NFL. NCAA is one of the most important publics (or stakeholders) of you, if they are not the most important one. I may have a bias, because I am teaching those “student”-athletes. But, I, firmly, believe that NFL is something special today, because it has a special and healthy relationship with NCAA.  

In sports PR, I, personally, believe, and soon research about it, that the core value is understanding players. Not any organization has stakeholders (publics) like players, who are usually richer than their CEOs. So, they are often looked as goods or products. NFL is special, because, they, believe it or not, valued education of players. That, itself, is a good public relations, in my opinion. Agents, who only know (I mean some of them) money, need to understand the value of education. NFL should let them know, they have to follow the rules and understand the importance of education of “student”-athletes, if they want to do a business with them, because that is what the relationship between NFL and NCAA is all about. So, if NFL shows they care, it should mean something to players, who is also one of the most important publics (stakeholders) of NFL. I will surely appreciate that, because they are my students. And, you know what? I teach at least 100 students a semester. I probably tell them the good example of Sports PR. I have twitter. I currently have 300 followers. I probably add 100 followers every semester, since I let my students follow my twitter. Among my followers, some of them are very influential and have more than 10,000 followers. And, I will tell them NFL is a good example of Sports PR, because it considers players as players, not products. I would study this case and try to publish it in major public relations journal (of course, I know it is not easy). My conclusion would be the same. “Players are not products”. And, some scholars, who may be educators, will read my study. It might be good to keep my support. 

And, remember what Nick Saban said,  ” if they are not going to help us, why should we help them?” Well. I’m one of his fans. 

It's me and I'm not kidding.

 

Why, Micheal Vick? What do you want?

Public Relations. I would like to define this as a facilitator of communication between organization and  stakeholders (publics). Publics include employer, employees, legal personals, customers (of course), media, and in sports, players. I firmly believe that PR in any organization is THE department, who handle those relationships, because, first, my students will be in those positions someday and second, it is definitely PR, who will control information delivered to the outside of organization. 

In sports, and any kind of entertainment industry, where PR needs to deal with “celebrities”, PR pros, well, actually, whole organization has a very unique public. Players are people, who usually have high self-esteem and a strong competitive characteristic. Without that, they cannot be in that place. According to NCAA.org, there are 119 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) Schools. There are also 144 Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) Schools. FBS has 85 scholarship limits and FCS has 63 scholarship limits. That number gives me about 20,000 football players. Assuming that one-fourth of them are seniors, we will have 5,000 football players graduating and waiting for being drafted by NFL, if they ever want to make it to the NFL. Then, how many players are drafted in 7 rounds of NFL draft? Approximately, 250 players or less. Just itself gives me this stat. One out of 20 students will be drafted. This is not all. If you want to play regularly and make a good money in the NFL, the situation becomes bit more competitive. Assuming that only first and second round pick-ups will have a shot at the starting position, one out of 85 students, approximately, will have a chance to be rich. Well, considering minimum salary of NFL for first-year players is about $300,000, if you are drafted, it means, your wage is already higher than average people. But, before thinking about college graduates, how good and competitive you should be to be recruited by one of the FBS schools. Alabama High School Athletic Association, which is not the biggest high school association in the state, solely has 401 senior high schools, according to Wikipedia website.  Well, after calculating all these, I would like to tell my son, who wants to be a soccer player, don’t even think about it. He may even need to compete with people in Europe, Asia, South America, well, literally, everywhere. 

Hew… Well, then, What’s the problem, Micheal Vick? 

Why did you work so hard, Michael? Picture obtained from nydailynews.com

I know it is hard to deal with celebrities and I think they deserve it, since they worked so hard to get what they wanted to get. So, it is really hard for sports organizations to communicate with these celebrities, because, very often, they do not have to think about their future, because they already accomplished their biggest dream. 

When Roger Goodell introduced Tony Dungy as a mentor of Michael Vick and even invited Wayne Pacelle, the head of Humane Society, to 60 minutes interview, what he was doing was PR. In one of my research, I analyzed many crisis situations in newspapers, and many of them blamed a person and tried to differentiate him or her from the organization. I know NFL needed Michael Vick, probably, but, not really. I don’t think so. Atlanta Falcons already found their quarterback at Matt Ryan. Which NFL team really needed a player like Michael Vick? Philadelphia Eagles might not need him with Donovan McNabb, who won 132 games for 11 seasons with Eagles as a starter. Then, why did Roger Goodell have to protect Michael Vick? 

I, often, tell my students, PR is a mother nature, well, parent nature, I guess. I have a son and I apologize when he does something wrong in public. Why? Because I love him and I want him to be successful. And, also, he will be my future, someday. He will be my happiness in the future, in my 60s and 70s. So, I would like to protect him as much as possible. Sometimes, I give him a punishment, because I really care of him. That is PR. And, what Roger Goodell did was exactly PR. Anderson William, a scholar, wrote an article about NFL’s PR history in Public Relations Review (2008)’s special issue. He insisted that NFL values PR the most among professional sports organizations in the U.S. Roger Goodell just showed that. So, I often told my students NFL handled Vick’s case much better than other organizations did with their crises, such as Steroid issue in MLB. I don’t really think MLB was supportive to players. 

In this case, though, PR hurt itself, eventually. If you are a business person, you may say, show me the money, and will say, look at Michael Vick. You should just let him go. Well, it was a typical conversation with people in business when I studied for my doctoral degree in communication. Does relationship and good communication bring a profit? Well, maybe not. Or, it may not be measurable at all. 

When my son makes same mistakes over and over, sometimes, he hurts my feeling.  And, I am saying that you just hurt my feeling and are you happy when I am sad? When my students try to fool me, it hurts my feelings so badly. And, I also want to tell my students, if you fool me, you may get a good grade in my course, but, you may not be able to be successful in your life. I just don’t want to see that. And, I really hope students understand that. 

Michael, I know and I hope you are innocent and you are not really related with the shooting the other day. I want to believe in your comments. But, look, what did Roger Goodell do to you? What did Tony Dungy do to you? What about the NFL? What about the fans who accepted you in the NFL again? What about the children you gave a speech to? And, most importantly, what about yourself? Did you really have to be there? 

Well, this is very sad Sports PR issue. I really hope he is OK and Eagles gives him one more chance. But, it is very sad. Michael Vick worked so hard to go to Virginia Tech and competed even harder to be picked by Falcons. In PR, we need to deal with this kind of public. And, the most important thing is to understand them and really try to help them in person. And, that is clearly a job of PR, because PR is a parent nature and PR is a facilitator of communication. 

The day Michael Vick became a son of NFL, Picture obtained from Sports Illustrated