The honor code of the military academies - and that includes The Citadel, the esteemed military college of South Carolina - goes something like this: "We will not lie, cheat or steal, or tolerate those who do." Think about those words. While most of us would understand the first part - even in today's permissive society, who wants to admit to lying, cheating, or stealing? - the second part is the one that catches your attention: "or tolerate those that do."
It's one thing to accept to hold yourself to a high standard. But to agree to hold others to that standard? That flies in the face of the "live and let live'' culture in which many of us have grown up. It's judgmental. It's imposing your standards on someone else. Doesn't that go against everything we have come to believe a free society is supposed to be about?
Which brings me to now former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel.
Tressel, arguably the second-most successful coach in the history of the very successful Buckeye football program (behind, of course, Woody Hayes), resigned from one of the most sought-after positions in coaching under NCAA pressure.
Tressel's crime?
He tolerated.
Depending on who you believe, either Tressel didn't know that a number of his players were allegedly trading merchandise and autographs and services for benefits the NCAA deemed illegal, or else Tressel knew about it and decided not to tell his superiors - an easy enough oversight, given that so many football coaches from power football programs like The Ohio State University don't seem to recognized having any superiors.
So Tressel was brought down by something called "unethical conduct." He is alleged to have failed to act when tipped off about players trading goods for tattoos; then he signed a standard form given to all NCAA coaches declaring he knew of no violations within his program; and finally he failed to admit to school officials he was aware of possible NCAA violations by his players.
All who know Tressel say he is a man of character and principle, who leads Bible studies and supports the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. There are countless stories of his helping out kids from bad situations, standing by them and enabling them to change the course of their lives.
Yet, like so many in his profession, either he compartmentalized his life into "career" and "personal," meaning he justified operating in a way that violated his personal principles in his professional life in order to be successful; or else he just didn't really care.
Either way, Tressel was wrong.
He was wrong because for whatever reason, he was afraid to hold his players to the same standards he said he held dear to himself.
Do you blame him? Really - who wants to tell other people who to live their life?
Aren't we supposed to live and let live? Live life with the goal of minimizing the possibilities of being personally disturbed?
But the military academies hold to this idea that not only will individuals not lie, cheat, or steal, but they won't tolerate those that do.
In other words, they are willing to disapprove of other people's actions, if those actions violate the honor code. Instead of believing in karma, that if you lie, cheat, or steal then somewhere along the way you'll pay for it, the honor code says if you lie, cheat, or steal then you pay now by losing your standing in the community, maybe even losing your place in the community.
That's a far cry from the "live and let live'' most of us live by. It's a lot more difficult, because if I'm going to hold you to a standard, then I have to not only accept that you will hold me to the same standard, but I have to expect and even perhaps encourage you to hold me to that standard.
And if Jim Tressel and others in his profession did that, they would really be changing lives.
Unfortunately, when too many college coaches talk about changing lives they mean changing external situations - giving players a shot at an education, providing them the opportunity to make money and improve their standard of living.
They don't understand that the only way to really change a life is to change it internally, to affect the values that determine who we really are.
If you're a fan of college football, you know the name of Cameron Newton, the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback who was the key to Auburn's BCS National Championship.
Perhaps you don't know that Newton started out at the University of Florida, but a series of off-field problems ended his career with the Gators. He went to a junior college and returned to a very successful season at Auburn where, by all accounts, he was a model citizen.
I know enough about college football not to suggest that the Florida athletic department should be looked at as a model of values and high standards. But it could be that at Florida, for the first time in his life Newton's pure, phenomenal athletic ability wasn't enough to keep him from facing consequences for his actions.
And that may have done more to change Newton's life than all the money he'll earn as a Heisman Trophy-winning football player.
At least I hope so.
Unfortunately, it's not a standard that is often held in college athletics. Why, even in the case of Jim Tressel, the same Ohio State administration that touted Tressel as a high character, education-oriented, role model will likely now paint Tressel as a huge problem that has been eliminated in order to make the argument that The Ohio State University should receive leniency from the NCAA because the school "did the right thing'' in getting rid of Tressel.
In other words, the school is doing exactly what Tressel did: whatever it takes to win.
And there isn't much honor in that.
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