Respect and Integrity

Referee Magazine publishes a supplement to the NCAA Baseball Rules prior to each season.  The 2017 supplement began with a cover story titled "Respect and Integrity."  It was their way to enforce the importance of reducing the number of conflicts within the sport.

The cover included a graphic that discussed the number of ejection/suspension reports submitted during the 2016 season.  Of note from that graphic:

• 38% (264 of 693) of the reports came from Division I baseball, which lead the sport.
  
• The most reports came from head coaches in Division I with 141.  The second most came from players in Division I with 100.
  
• Head coaches and players were almost equally reported in Division II and III.
  
• Division III players actually eclipsed their respective head coaches in reports (98 vs. 89).
  
• Division III assistant coaches lead all assistant reports with 30.
  

So where do we start?

How about with the 693 reports???  That means that 693 times in an environment that is supposed to be promoting the educational experience of the student-athlete did a report have to be filed regarding a disqualification and pending suspension.  If that happened in a nursery school, the local town would be quarantined.

Beyond the graphic, the article discussed how umpires and coaches need to work together to make sure the integrity of the game is met.  However, the graphic discussing the submitted reports shows that this is not necessarily the case.  If there was a handful of issues reported, it would be different.  But preaching this type of relationship when the statistics show differently reeks of the NCAA only paying this idea lip service.

And by the way, it's Referee Magazine that is publishing this article.  How many coaches and players read this?

The fact of the matter is that collegiate athletics still don't understand that they aren't the pros.