Leadership

At this moment, I am humbled and awed by Joe Paterno.

I am a huge college football fan but I have been embarrassed by the off-the-field behavior of players for years. Many act like nothing more than thugs with scholarships. But I am even more appalled by the weak, unprincipled, self-defeating responses of the head coaches involved.

For example, star linebacker Juwan Simpson of my very own Alabama Crimson Tide was arrested for illegal firearm and drug possession a little more than a year ago. What was then-coach Mike Shula's response? He suspended Simpson for a few games - but Shula cherry-picked the games so that they were against (supposedly) pushover teams and Simpson's absence wouldn't be as sorely missed.

Shula said he "didn't want to penalize the rest of the team." WHY NOT? Did that not miss the whole point? Shouldn't Simpson have missed consecutive games regardless of the opponents? Wouldn't that drive home the point that his behavior effects the whole team, not just his stats? Wouldn't that bring pressure on the other players to hold each other accountable and learn, oh, I don't know, leadership, maybe?

Well, Penn State head coach Joe Paterno hasn't missed the point. Or the opportunity to demonstrate it. One of his star players instigated a brawl and called up some of his teammates to "back him up." The word spread among the players and more than a dozen showed up to fight and some were hauled into jail.

Paterno did not hole up in his office mulling police reports or press acoounts or interviewing players to see who did and didn't participate in the melee. Instead, he wanted to know why the other players - some of whom knew about the call for brawlers - didn't step up and try to intercept the others before they embarassed the team and the university. Why did they not act like leaders and shut the thing down before it began or at least try to break it up once it had?

His response? He IS penalizing the rest of the team. He IS reminding them that the actions of one or fifteen effect ALL of them. He is making the entire team clean up 107,000 seat Beaver Stadium after each home game this fall. They will spend every Sunday morning picking up hot dog wrappers and used diapers, scraping up chewing gum and crusty nacho cheese, washing beer and ketchup off the surfaces, and sweeping up used straws. In the meantime, they will build a home for Habitat for Humanity and serve as volunteers for Special Olympics this summer.

I say I am humbled because - as a leader - I'm not sure I would have the guts or presence to execute this gargantuan bit of discipline. But I sure hope I will learn from Joe Pa's example.

I know Bear Bryant would love it!

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