It's no stretch to assume that a considerable majority of us in Big Orange Country are more than a little disturbed, frustrated, and/or embarrassed by the last few years of poor individual decisions and systemic failures of 2 of our 3 most dominant athletic programs.
The one shining example of discipline and success is routinely delivered by our Lady Vols and Coach Summitt. It may be too easy credit her success to just her ability. Reality and facts offer that she works with and mentors the more sensible gender. There's no arguing the fact that a disproportionate ratio (93 percent) of our prison population is male ( http://www.hoover.org/research/factsonpolicy/facts/16615876.html ), which is a great indication of gender-specific, decision-making capability. Pat Summitt's skill and expertise is unmatched, but greatly complemented by individuals and groups of better judgement and real-time consideration of consequences.
Now, on to just what we CAN do for Coach Pearl, Coach post-Kiffin, and all who each man leads, coaches, and recruits.
This is a management issue, pure and not-so-simple. As with any management challenge, there are uncontrollable and controllable factors. The two glaring, uncontrollable factors here are our student-athlete's upbringing and youth experiences (tough neighborhood, single-parent challenges, etc.) and, beyond college, the moral/ethical behavior and standards set by professional athletes and other so-called role models (personal excesses, criminal behavior, guns in locker rooms, etc). We just cannot work around and change what has happened before each Coach brings a new kid to campus and we certainly cannot have everyone behave like Peyton Manning or Derrick Jeter past their most formative years.
However, on the bright Orange side, there's one huge controllable at each Coach's fingertips. Rally Volunteers, real Volunteers, like never before to transition these literal "kids from all corners" into their college and new life experiences. Let's not take the latest violation of trust and the law and just move on again. Let's live up to our teams' brand and really put "Vols" out-front in areas that are under each Coach's control.
Let's bring our athletic, academic, alumni, and professional worlds together to design, implement, and require a transitional "Volunteer Boot Camp" for every new college recruit. An effort to expand the efforts of others who are serious about this systemic responsibility around the country ( i.e. www.indiana.edu/~rcapub/v19n3/p20.html ) Indiana University and Eli Lilly may be targeting specific student populations. However, why can't we target all student athletes for transitional training, education about system-wide behavioral standards, and, most of all, assign "Real Vols" who each mentor one student athlete, who is on-call for that kid 24/7, and who helps each student athlete with their accountability, management of expectations, educational inspiration, and consideration of life after college?
Let the Coaches do just that - coach and lead each team to maximum performance and success. In addition, complement each Coach's energy and effort with "Real Vols" stepping up to build a marquis Volunteer Mentorship program that starts with an intense boot-camp, carries forward one-on-one with trained mentors, and sets the standard for others to attempt around the country. Nice headlines for UT wouldn't hurt recruiting, retention, and image, as well.
Google "college athlete mentor program" and you will find many student- or faculty-driven programs, plus alumni-networking mentor programs like the one at the University of Louisville. There are smaller mentor efforts already in-action in the UT system. However, UT has one of the most passionate, educated, and engaged alumni networks and considerable resources to make even bigger results happen....especially with thousands of us who just want our Big Orange to convert these latest, negative experiences into the most positive, long-term solutions for the benefit of generations of students, athletes, and those who are are part of their higher-education and athletic experiences.
