9001040062
DETROIT FREE PRESS
900124
Wednesday, January 24, 1990
METRO FINAL
1A
MITCH ALBOM
SEE ALSO METRO EDITION page 1A
Copyright (c) 1990, Detroit Free Press
GEORGE PULLS THE OLD SQUEEZE PLAY
AGAIN ON TRUSTEES, ALMA MATER
Wait a minute. Am I missing something? Since when did George Perles become Mr.
Desirable?
The way people are acting, you'd think Perles came complete with a winning
lottery ticket. The New York Jets were prepared to make him a rich man, a
head coach in the National Football League. For the life of me, I can't figure
why.
But that was nothing compared to Michigan State University. In a
pitiful display of jockitis -- the fear that losing football games will
somehow affect one's self-worth -- MSU chose Tuesday night to hand over the
reins of its entire athletic department, not just football, but basketball,
baseball, swimming, Ping-Pong, in exchange for Big Daddy George agreeing not
to leave us alone in the dark.
And he said, "Well . . . OK."
Can you believe this? The Board of Trustees ignored the wishes of MSU
President John DiBiaggio and effectively said, "The pen is mightier than the
sword -- but the whistle beats them all."
And now Perles is his own boss, complete with desk, secretary and nearly
free rein to conduct his football program any way he wants. Beautiful. If he
asked for the English department, would they have thrown that in as well?
Why bother? George got what he wanted. He pulled the old squeeze play as
if he'd been raised in a dugout, instead of on the sidelines. Is it his
cologne? Is it his witty conversation? Why on Earth did anyone feel held
hostage by this man? It can't be his college football record, which is a
good-but-not- phenomenal 46-33-3. What's the attraction?
I can't speak for the Jets. No. Wait. I can speak for the Jets. Here is
what the Jets should be saying this morning: "Whew." They could have been
stuck with a coach who has never run a team in the NFL, would have been
brutalized by the New York media, and has so far proven that on defense, he
is a whiz, but on offense, he is a . . . what?
MSU's trustees are not so lucky.
They can only pray their decision won't come back to haunt them.
Jockeying for job Now before Perles boosters out there start deluging us
with mail, let me ask you a question: Why is it so important for Perles to be
his own athletic director? The job stinks. At least for a football man. Ask
Bo Schembechler. It's a lot of paperwork and administrative detail and
frustration (or have you forgotten Penn State being admitted into the Big Ten
last month?).
Schembechler -- whom I don't think should have been given the job, either
-- turned it down twice before reluctantly agreeing to share the load with
Jack Weidenbach.
And yet Perles has been jockeying for this job since it became available
when Doug Weaver announced his retirement. He played the Jets' offer to the
hilt, he held it out there like a mysterious other woman, until MSU, in a fit
of either jealousy, panic or both, caved in and made George AD. They say it's
for a "one-year trial." Yeah. And I wrote "Hamlet."
Now, unless Perles has a fondness for paper clips, the only reason he
would want this job is power. Control. Not having to answer to anybody else.
Given the temptations in college football -- steroids, recruiting violations,
academic cheating -- would you want any one man so autonomous?
It's a lousy decision. In a way, it frightens me. The way I see it, you
get a handful of moments in life where the naked spotlight shows your true
character. Perles had such a moment a few years ago, sermonizing at the 1988
Rose Bowl how he was "a Spartan forever, I've got the best job in the world. .
. . I bleed green and white. . . ." He then almost bolted to the Green Bay
Packers to be their head coach. He parlayed that into a 10-year contract at
Michigan State.
He had another such moment this week. Tell me something: If Perles loves
MSU so much, wasn't the job of football coach good enough? Was he so afraid
of a new athletic director that leaving was his only alternative?
Moments. Character. Did Perles come through this with flying colors? It
seems to me, his colors kept changing.
Words ring hollow now So he may promise a "new era" in MSU athletics. But
I can't say I trust George Perles any more. A few years ago, I was in love
with the guy, I bought into his humble speeches about "I'm just a former
phys-ed teacher with the greatest job on Earth."
The words ring hollow now. Perles may think he is honoring the tradition
of Duffy Daugherty and Biggie Munn by assuming both coach and AD jobs, but
that's not how you honor tradition, by holding up your alma mater.
Still, Perles is less to blame than the trustees, who showed all the
conviction of a rubber band. Any time you make a man his own boss, you are
running a risk. And, no doubt, this is precisely why DiBiaggio did not want
his football coach to be his athletic director.
Forgive DiBiaggio. He foolishly thought that a university president should
have some authority over elements of the school. Apparently, when it comes to
football, at least according to the MSU trustees, the piece is bigger than
the pie.
Why did they vote to give in to Perles' power play? Who knows? Perhaps it
was fear of being deserted, as happened with Darryl Rogers. Perhaps it was
because recruiting is in high season. If you ask me, it was mostly a fear of
losing. The Spartans have certainly improved under Perles, and with
Schembechler now out of the picture, perhaps the trustees felt this was the
time to strike in the Midwest, to get those recruits who used to choose
Michigan automatically, gather power and -- can you hear the trumpets? --
become a powerhouse in the Big Ten!
You know what I say? Who cares? If that's how you get there, by your
coach holding you at gunpoint, by delivering the ransom, by turning control of
all the other sports on campus over to a guy who has been a gridiron man all
the way, then what do you stand for? What are you winning for?
MSU better pray it never develops any scandals. It better pray that
students still think of their school as a university, not a sports factory.
As for Perles, I don't know what he has left to pray for. Personally, I wonder
if he has stopped laughing yet.
MSU; GEORGE PERLES; APPOINTMENT; COLLEGE