University of Illinois Press

Ronald Smith, author of the new book Pay for Play: A History of Big-Time College Athletic Reform, has contributed an op-ed piece to the History News Network about the influence of college presidents on the reform process.

Following the number of scandals revealed in 1951 that saw the revelation of basketball point shaving by athletes from a number of institutions including Adolph Rupp’s Kentucky; West Point football classroom cheating; and grade changing and other irregularities at little William and Mary, the American Council on Education formed a star committee of presidents for athletic reform.  The report said that presidents must be in control to reform athletics.  Little happened.

By the 1980s, with the depth of athletic irregularities by players and coaches alike increasingly commonplace, J. W. Peltason, president of the American Council on Education, described his college president-led organization as believing that “in athletics, there is no substitute for presidential involvement and leadership” when raising eligibility standards and instituting other reforms needed in college athletics.