I love the game of football. My natural ability to play the game was very minimal, but that never deterred my enthusiasm.

Watching football is an art in my opinion and can become somewhat of a science if one doesn’t restrain oneself and I don’t.

My preference is college football, but my addiction forces me to watch professional games even though the brazen flouting of money is difficult to swallow. Unfortunately some colleges seem to forget their real purpose is to educate students. As a result, sports of all types now overwhelm one’s senses and the alumni with deep pockets provide lobbying input into athletic department budgets with the exuberance of a Washington lawyer.

Actually, the reason I prefer football over other sports is the effect a coach can have on the activities of the men playing the game and the managerial skills required to provide success to a team of over 60 athletes. My working career in manufacturing management taught me how difficult it can be to communicate a point to another individual and motivate them to perform the task in harmony with the efforts of all the other employees.

My addiction to football actually has roots in a 45 rpm record of Knute Rockne giving a pep talk to the Notre Dame football team and ending with the Fighting Irish fight song.

I had this record in myteens. Knute Rockne tied the game of football to life in a way that nothing else had done. Knute Rockne actually taught me a lot more about motivation than about football.

One of the greatest motivational speakers I ever heard was also a football coach - Vince Lombardi of the Green Bay Packers.

I had one of his speeches on tape and used it to motivate myself while commuting to work until I wore it out. Today one of my favorite sports personalities is a retired football coach - Lou Holtz. He is becoming a regular television personality today with commercials adding to his other talents. He is becoming a very recognizable face. His ability as a football player might help me feel a kinship since he identifies himself as the fifth-string safety in college. Our Air Force football team couldn’t field five players at any position which was probably my salvation, so I didn’t go quite that far down the roster.

The ability of a coach to put together a staff of assistant coaches, guide the recruitment of capable athletes who can handle academic growth, convince the institution to expend money on new “athletic facilities” (sometimes at theexpense of education) and win enough games to keep the alumni pouring money back into the institution, deserves a salary of above average financial compensation. Having had some experience in industry, I know how difficult it was to cover multiple responsibilities on my own rather low level. However, I am aghast at the multi-million dollar salaries being paid to successful college football coaches today. It seems that “winning” is the only game in town. And, when an unsuccessful coach is replaced we see a “domino effect” start, whether it is the college-level or professional ranks. Arkansas’ football coach has a new long-term contract designed to tie him to the university for a long time, not just with the compensation, but with a very expensive buy-out package.

Sounds a lot like an executive employment contract for some of America’s larger corporations.

None of the information I have read indicates the contracts have an incentive for building an athlete’s character or ties salary to graduation rates. If these appear in the contracts, the press ignores them. Just win and we will deal with the details of how later.

Former Arkansas coach Ken Hatfield wins my vote for putting the importance of character on the same level as winning. Bear Bryant at Alabama had a reputation of being a character builder as are many others, I’m sure, that have not caught my attention.

Some issues, such as college entrance requirements can complicate recruiting efforts and frequently that has as a negative effect on the won-lost record. These schools, such as Vanderbilt, Rice and Stanford, however seem to be competitive even if they don’t win division or conference championships.

As much as I love the game of football, and I believe it has been a positive impact, it concerns me that it is no longer just a sporting event, but it has become a business run for the maximum financial return. The athletic facilities at the University of Arkansas are outstanding and they are not even the best in the Southeast Conference, much less the nation.

Their cost is tied to income (revenue) which increases ticket prices, which effects student activity fees, which contributes to increases in the cost of a degree.

I still love the sport, but we don’t go to the stadium since the television set provides better coverage than any seat in the stadium.

However, I wish the game, college or professional didn’t mimic so closely the greed that we associate with Wall Street bankers.

True “winning” can show up in lots of places besides the won-lost column.

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Editor’s note: Leo Lynch, a native of Benton County has deep roots in northwest Arkansas. He is a retired industrial engineer and former Justice of the Peace.

He can be contacted at [email protected].

Opinion, Pages 4 on 01/19/2011