Unlocking the keys to prestige

by Paul Shugar
THE POST

Prestige is the one thing all universities and sports teams want, but getting and keeping prestige is not easily accomplished.

Prestige is also an objective term– so people differ in how to interpret the label. "Prestige is having the respect of peers and competitors," Ohio Director of Athletics Thomas Boeh said. "It doesn't go along always with the biggest and the best, but is mostly how you are viewed. Winning certainly is important, but sometimes how you win is just as important."

Football coach Jim Grobe said respect is the definition of prestige, and winning is not everything.

Grobe said teams that are tainted by recruiting violations, player violations, low graduation rates and negative coach behavior can definitely lower the prestige of an athletics program.

"Academics, athletics, the whole university are all a part of prestige," he said. "Winning brings a different kind of prestige."

Boeh said the prestige that is built by the university and its athletic department does not change if the team is winning or losing.

"Prestige is not a cycle, but winning is," Boeh said. "The prestige and integrity can only be lost and built. You can’t have a little prestige or integrity one year then a lot the next."

Boeh said prestige could lead to long-term success.

"Any team can get a good recruiting class and just come in and start winning," Boeh said. "If you want to have a long-term winning program your prestige has to be more than just wins."

Building prestige does not start with winning, Boeh said. It starts with a school's values.

"Your values are seen in your mission statement," he said. "We here have to protect the integrity of the institution at all costs and provide the student athletes with the best experience possible. Your values can be broken down from that."

Boeh said the challenge of maintaining prestige is then accepted by the personnel and staff. The staff hires the coaches who recruit the type of athletes that fit the values.

Equipment is another key to getting prestige, Grobe said.

"When young kids walk into your program, they are very impressionable," he said. "They will be impressed by (the facilities) and will want the best facilities."

Cross country and track coach Elmore Banton also said facilities are important.

"I have lost recruits before because we did not have an indoor facility," Banton said. "We have a beautiful campus to run at, though, and that helps gain recruits. You have to emphasize the positives."

The media services for the university are also part of prestige, Banton said..

"We put out some of the best (media guides) in the MAC," he said. "When you send a recruit a sloppy brochure you don't look as prestigious as us."

Banton said his key to prestige is the athletes that are recruited and the leadership they then pass to future Ohio athletes.

"We would win and want to keep winning, and the kids wanted to do that," Banton said. "They were hungry runners, and they would pass on their leadership. Strong senior leadership is key."

Banton said he remembers a member of his team dropping a second-place trophy off the top of Peden Stadium because she was not happy with the team's finish.

"The girl said if the team got another trophy like that she's quitting," Banton said. "The team policed themselves and no one missed any practices, and we were successful. You just can't coach that."

Grobe said good student-athletes are important to a prestigious program, but even with solid athletes, building prestige is not easy, and keeping it also can be difficult.

"Gaining prestige is never a rapid climb, but when teams get up to the top spot it is hard to hold that, too," he said. "Every time a team plays you it is their Super Bowl, and they set their sights on you."

Boeh said prestige can be lost off the field as well.

"Making the wrong decisions and going against your integrity is the quickest way to lose it," he said.

Despite all the keys to prestige, Boeh said it starts with the university and builds.

"Without question, our prestige is built off the university, and we can only hope our athletics program is as good as our educational prestige," he said. "We reflect them, and they reflect back at us."