Winning at Any Cost
By Julianne Malveaux
Under ordinary circumstances, I wouldn’t know a Tony Cole from a hole in the wall, or a Jim Harrick, either Junior or Senior, from a lamppost. Regular readers know me as a sports skeptic, not a sports fan. But I happened to be flying through Atlanta after Cole, a former player on the University of Georgia’s basketball team, gave ESPN an explosive interview, alleging that his coach had broken the rules by giving him cash and paying his bills before he enrolled at the university, and also giving him grades for classes he never attended.
I couldn’t miss the story — it made the front page of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution — but it morphed into more than a minor scandal. As I write, the University of Georgia (UGA) has decided its basketball team won’t participate in post-season play, even though they had a shot to win. The coaches have been suspended. And the president of the university has found his reputation smeared by the mess.
