Great Coaches, Terrible Scandals

Published by The Editor at June 13, 2013

Sometimes great teams and great coaches also have great scandals. On the college and professional levels, there have been coaches that have seemed to have it all – excellent players, fantastic records and championships, but then something happens. It turns out that these storybooks rides end up with some ugly chapters. From legends to possible future Hall of Famers, here are the coaches that got mixed up in scandals that destroyed careers or at the very least reputations.

Penn State NE Patriots smu baylor OHIO STATE indiana saints usc

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#1: Penn State. Jerry Sandusky.

In 2012 the college football world was forever altered when The Patriot News reported that former Penn State University assistant football Coach Jerry Sandusky was being investigated for molesting eight children in the university’s shower. The scandal is number one on our list because of the severity of the allegations, as well as the impact and the individuals involved. Sandusky’s actions cost the university in numerous ways. The school has been put on a scholarship reduction, bowl game bans and millions in legal fees. Sandusky was convicted of 45 counts of child molestation. The scandal has forever changed the way history will view Joe Paterno and the on field product at Penn State. Watch Joe Paterno’s final address on YouTube.

#2: Spygate. Bill Belichick Caught.

In 2007 New England Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick was caught videotaping the sideline signals of the arch rival New York Jets to gain a competitive advantage. The league was tipped of by then Jet’s Head Coach, and former Patriot Assistant Coach, Eric Mangini. As a result of Mangini’s statements the Commissioner of the NFL, Roger Goodell, began investigating Belichick’s actions. The league found that Belichick actually was filming the Jets and fined the Hall of Fame coach $500,000, the Patriot’s organization $250,000 and docked the team it’s first round selection in the 2008 NFL Draft. The league’s investigation also found that the Pats may have also tapped the final walk through practice of the St. Louis Rams, New England’s opponent, during Super Bowl week in 2002. The stain of being caught cheating is just as synonymous with Belichick as the gray hoodie he dawns every Sunday. Watch Coach Belichick’s response on YouTube.

#3: SMU Slush Fund

Throughout the 1980’s Southern Methodist University, SMU, was one of the most dominant football programs in the country. The school did a marvelous job of attracting high profile talent, including NFL Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson, and played a very exciting brand of football. The secret to their success was not that they attracted big name talent, but how they did it. SMU attracted talent by paying its players; the school created a slush fund composed of money given from boosters. The school will forever be known as getting the “death penalty” when the NCAA suspended the school’s football program for two years, including scholarship and coaching staff reductions when the ban was lifted. The penalty was so crippling that it took SMU 20 years to return to a bowl game, during that time the school only had one winning season. Watch the trailer for the ESPN Documentary on this scandal, on YouTube.

#4 Dave Bliss’ Cover Up

Dave Bliss was the former Head Coach or Men’s Basketball at Baylor University. In 2002 Bliss found himself in hot water when former basketball player Carlton Dotson murdered his teammate Patrick Dennehy. Bliss was not affiliated with the murder but he did partake in the cover-up. After Dennehy’s death there were many questions about how he had paid for school. Bliss urged his players to lie about Dennehy, concocting a story that he was a drug addict and dealt drugs to pay for his tuition at the school. Bliss did this to cover his own actions because he was responsible for paying for part of Dennehy’s tuition. Bliss also made many illegal recruiting trips, ignored rampant drug and alcohol abuse within the members of the team, bribed Dennehy’s family to lie about who paid for school and lied to school officials to obtain Dennehy’s the financial records. Bliss resigned from Baylor in 2003, leaving the program in shambles. Watch the ESPN report on the story on YouTube.

#5: Woody Hayes Throat Punch

Woody Hayes was one of the greatest college football coaches of the century. He guided the Buckeyes of Ohio State to a record of 238 Wins, 72 Losses and 10 Ties. Hayes was also a five time national championship winning coach; he set the standard of football excellence at OSU. As impressive as Hayes coaching accolades are he will forever remembered by his fiery temper and his actions in the 1978 Gator Bowl. With Ohio State trailing by two points and driving, Hayes called a passing play on a 3rd and 5 play on the Clemson 24 yard line. Freshman Quarterback Art Schlichter was intercepted by Clemson Defensive Lineman Charlie Bauman. Bauman was eventually tackled by the Ohio State sideline, where he was punched in the throat by the manic Hayes. Hayes’s inability to control his emotions resulted in him losing his job the next day. Watch the infamous moment on YouTube.

#6: Bob Knight Chokes a Student

The basketball equivalent of Woody Hayes, Bob Knight one of the greatest head coaches in college basketball history, amassing 902 wins in his career. Knight was known as much for his over the top temper as his on court success. In 2000 Knight was put on a “zero tolerance” behavior policy by Myles Brand, the university president, when an interview featuring Neil Reed, a former Hoosier player, claimed that Knight choked him during a 1997 practice. Later that year a IU student asked Coach Knight, “Hey Knight, what’s up?” prompting Knight to grab the student by the arm and lecture him about respect. The incident was a final nail in the Indiana coffin for Knight, who has spent a lot of his goodwill equity throughout his career in similar incidents. Watch Knight’s career ruining moment on YouTube.

#7: New Orleans Saints Bounty Gate

In 2009 the New Orleans Saints were a national feel good story, a team that played an exciting “pass-happy” brand of football from a city that overcame a tremendous amount of adversity. Then Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams, Head Coach Sean Payton, Assistant Coach Joe Vitt and General Manager Mickey Loomis either encouraged or ignored a bounty scandal in which Saints players were compensated for injuring opposing players. The highest profile example was the$10,000 cash bounty that then Middle Linebacker Jonathan Vilma placed on Minnesota Vikings Quarterback Brett Favre, who suffered a severe ankle injury during the game. The scandal erased any good feelings that the nation felt for the Saints and their magical Super Bowl run, as well as being the centerpiece of Commissioner Roger Goodell’s player safety campaign. Hear the incriminating audio on YouTube.

#8: USC and Pete Carroll

Pete Carroll was one of the most successful college football coaches in the storied tradition of Trojan football at the University of Southern California. Carroll was able to rebuild the program from a struggling institution to the sports crown jewel, including two national championship appearances and one victory in 2004. The Trojans found themselves in hot water when star Running Back, Reggie Bush, received improper benefits in the form of compensation. Bush was stripped of his 2005 Heisman trophy, the only player to ever do so, as well as having the 2004 National Championship vacated by the NCAA. Carroll was not directly caught giving Bush benefits, but his negligence to stop it is just as damaging. Watch a news report about the investigation on YouTube.