Lynch Pen: Pride restored in university

— Wasn’t it former President John F. Kennedy that frequently used the phrase, “Let me say this about that,” when asked for a comment on something? Actually no one asked me, but I want to comment anyway.

The University of Arkansas’s athletic director, Jeff Long, went a very long way toward restoring my pride in the university when he put character and the integrity of the athletic program ahead of winning when he made his decision to fire Coach Petrino last week. As a student in the late ’50s and early ’60s, I saw a much different atmosphere on campus than the one portrayed on television today. Football was the predominate athletic event then as now, but more emphasis was placed on student attendance and much less merit was given to alumni fund raising. The football stadium held half the crowd and moretickets were sold to students as a percentage of total seats.

Tailgating was as part of “game day,” but was modest by modern standards. Frank Broyles came in 1958, my first year, if I remember correctly, and Arkansas competed in the old Southwest Conference against arch-rival Texas.

It has been almost 50 yearssince my graduation, but my enthusiasm for football has not changed. My respect for the athletic program has changed over the years as more and more emphasis has been placed on winning and fund-raising. And, everyone in the fund-raising profession can tell you they go hand-in-hand. As more and more of the university’s graduates have been financially successful through careers, more money has flowed into the athletic program by way of corporate and individual’s gifts. To compete in the Southeastern Conference, you have to meet certain facility standards and other criteria, and Arkansas has succeeded in all areas.

Like every football fan in Arkansas (and every loyal fan of any school anywhere), I prefer to win. But, from the day I walked on campus, my first desire was to graduate from a college that I could be proud of and know that my degree would be from a respected institution. WhenI started my working career, it was from one of those institutions - the University of Arkansas. No one asked about our athletic program, it only mattered that my degree was from the highly regarded Department of Industrial Engineering.

This is strictly my observation, of course, but over the years, the university’s emphasis on winning athletics seems to have overshadowed the achievements of the educational programs.

Athletic director Long took a giant step forward (again, my opinion) in re-establishing the priorities of the university. As a student and as an alumni, I have always enjoyed winning. More important to me, however, is how our student athletes do in life, in the class room and on the field. If they do well in all three of those areas and the score board indicates the other team had more pointsat the end of the game, I can take pride in their effort and their future.

As thousands of others, I’m sorry for Coach Petrino and his family and wish them every success in resolving their personal situation. However, based on the findings of Long’s investigation, the university is probably better offwith him elsewhere.

And speaking of getting priorities in order, it was a very good period in politics as well. When Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum chose to drop out of the campaign for the nomination to keep his family life in its proper perspective, my regard for him went up several notches. He was not my choice of the final four in the race and the lack of finances may have been a very large part of the decision, but the emphasis on family was reported to be the final factor. At the level the multimillionaires play, a former senator with limited funds has little chance of getting the nomination. It doesn’t matter about ability as much as other things likecontacts, the ability to raise money and name recognition at that level. But it is nice to see someone at that point in their campaign remind the world of politics that family really comes first.

◊◊◊

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 04/18/2012