Do College Coaches Have a Responsibility to the Community?

The question for the day to ponder is whether or not college football coaches have a responsibility for improving their community or whether or not their simple object should be to win football games at all costs.

In my personal opinion the a college coach is hired to do one thing, win football games. That's his job. Winning football games does two major things for a university. First the more a university ends up on television the more free marketing it receives. So if you look at a state University like UConn and its history of demand from out of state students it significantly ballooned after their basketball team became a national powerhouse. Now multiply the Final 4 hype by 3 because that's how much better ratings college football garners throughout the year.

Next a winning college football program significantly boosts student moral. If you have a top notch football program in the South that is contending for national titles your student body will simply be happier. In addition your alumni will be happier. They will purchase more apparel, more bumper stickers, etc. (again free advertisement). In addition alumni will be more likely to donate to both the school in general as well as the schools athletic teams.

After winning football games everything else is peripheral. Holding charity events and other things that benefit the community will never be a negative but its not necessarily in their job description. Being a mentor to students and getting them to graduate certainly is good pub for the school, but again not completely necessary. Being a good guy and well liked by people, the media, and school officials have its perks, but its never as important as winning.

Again just like the last post, the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year is meant to be for the well rounded coach both on and off the field but is voted on by the fans. So the question is if you are a voter can you actually divide the two equally or will your eyes always be jaded to the results on the field because that is truly their job description.