February 23, 2012
When Good People Make Bad Choices: A Catholic Perspective on Jim Tressel’s Resignation
By Jim Berlucchi
It pains me to admit it, but many people here in Ann Arbor were exulting last week when Jim Tressel was forced to resign due to ethical lapses. For those of you who don’t follow college football, Tressel was the head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes, one of the nation’s perennial top teams. In his tenure as coach, the Buckeyes won nine of ten games against the Ann Arbor-based Michigan Wolverines. As a lifelong Michigan fan – I once led a weekly bible study with Coach Bo Schembechler and his staff – I could understand the temptation to take pleasure in Ohio State’s embarrassment.
But frankly, I was saddened by Tressel’s departure. From all I had heard about the coach, he struck me as a man of exemplary character. An avowed Christian and a devoted family man, he was both a promoter and doer of many good works. He wrote extensively on integrity and right living, and he truly seemed to practice what he preached. But despite these positive traits, he apparently had some serious ethical blind spots as well.
In college sports, there are strict rules against providing money or gifts to student athletes, or allowing them to profit in any way from their status as athletes. Some people have claimed this system isn’t fair, but it’s still the rule, and every player and coach in the college ranks must agree to observe it.
Last year, the Department of Justice learned, through a separate investigation, that at least six Ohio State players had been trading their football memorabilia for cash or free tattoos at a tattoo parlor in Columbus, Ohio. The university was informed of the problem in December. When the details became public, Coach Tressel claimed he had no previous knowledge of the infractions. He changed his tune this past March when evidence emerged that he had been warned about the problem a year earlier in an email from a lawyer. He was obliged to disclose these violations as soon as he learned of them, but he did not. He kept school officials in the dark, and he pledged in writing to the NCAA that he was unaware of any rules violations by his players. In short, he lied, which allowed several key players who might otherwise have been suspended to play the full 2010 season.
I can’t read Tressel’s mind or his heart, so I don’t know what motivations drove his behavior. Perhaps he was simply trying to protect his players and their future football careers. Perhaps he just wanted to win by keeping his best players on the field. But while I can’t see or judge his motives, I can see his actions, and those actions leave me wondering, how did it happen? Why would a man of character and faith risk his reputation and be forced to resign in shame from one of the best jobs in college sports?
An explanation emphasized in the Spitzer Center’s curriculum comes to mind: Even if you have deep faith and even if your intentions are truly good, it’s still possible to make large mistakes unless you cultivate the Cardinal Virtues.
Aquinas and the enemies of prudence
The Cardinal Virtues were first articulated by classical philosophers, but they have also been embraced and “baptized” by the Church. The virtues are Temperance, or self-control; Fortitude, or courage; Justice, or fairness; and Prudence, or wisdom. To be a great leader and your best possible self, you need all four virtues. A lapse in any one of them dramatically raises the risk of a personal failure. Tressel’s actions suggest he may have suffered lapses in all four virtues, but he most certainly ignored two at critical moments.
As a coach, Tressel demonstrated great self-control and iron discipline. He is renowned for his patient, even stoic demeanor on the sidelines, and his crisp shirts and trademark sweater vest bespeak Midwestern moderation. But perhaps he had an intemperate need to win at any cost. He wouldn’t be the first coach seduced by that outlook, but that’s speculation.
One can also speculate about a possible failure of courage. He could have been afraid that disclosing his players’ bad behavior would tarnish his image, or afraid of losing too many games by fielding a weakened team. Again, I can’t say.
In objective terms, however, his actions failed the demands of justice. Justice means giving each person or institution their fair due, and he failed to give Ohio State what he owed them, which was honesty and integrity. But here too, he might have mistakenly thought he was serving his school and players by staying silent when he needed to speak up.
It’s more likely that the failure in justice reflected problem with prudence, which is the virtue most closely connected with the truth. A deficiency in prudence reflects a failure to see the reality as it is – the truth of real things, which doesn’t vary according to opinion. I suspect it was a deficient grasp of the truth and the full realities of his situation that caused Coach Tressel to stumble.
According to the Catholic Catechism, prudence “disposes the practical reason to discern, in every circumstance, our true good and to choose the right means for achieving it.” But knowing the true good in every situation is quite a tall order. Good discernment can be undermined by a variety of defects. St. Thomas Aquinas identified eight enemies of prudence:
1. Thoughtlessness
2. Rashness
3. Indecisiveness
4. Negligence in fact finding
5. Agitation. The inability to contemplate
6. Unchastity. Surrender to sensuality
7. Covetousness. Immoderate straining for possessions and status
8. Cunning (astutia). Opposition to public disclosure
If the lawyer who sent the email warning to Tressel also included this list from St. Thomas, I suspect he would have recognized the particular threats that were undermining his judgment. It’s easier to see a defect if it’s staring you in the face (or when you have the luxury of analyzing somebody else’s mistakes). The whole rationale for contemplating the virtues and seeking to live them is to be prepared for the critical moral crossroads we all encounter throughout our lives.
In Tressels’ case it would seem that “negligence in fact finding” could well have played into his poor handling of the infractions made by his players, and star players at that. Perhaps “opposition to public disclosure” was another factor. Clearly he was not forthcoming in disclosing shameful information to the rightful OSU authorities. And the irony, as always, is that the eventual public disclosure ends up being much more damning when it finally comes to light.
The point of these observations is not to single out Jim Tressel for disapproval. In fact, it’s to say that if even someone as admirable as Tressel can make large mistakes, how susceptible are the rest of us to stumbling as we seek to fulfill our duties? The Church understands how easy it is to err, which is why she has always promoted the Cardinal Virtues as a critical adjunct to faith.
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Last changed: Jun 08 2011 at 12:07 PM