At CSUN, a Lesson in Humility

“When in doubt, tell the truth.”

--Mark Twain

*

Few people know the true meaning of those words better than Paul Bubb.

Fewer yet would want to be reminded the way Bubb was.

Not unless they thrive on public embarrassment. Not unless they enjoy getting heat from their bosses. Not unless they like to lose money from their paychecks.

All of which happened to Bubb two days ago.

That’s when Blenda J. Wilson, the Cal State Northridge president, slapped Bubb, the school’s athletic director, with a five-day suspension without pay for his role in the great Matador football fallacy.

With the decision, Wilson effectively put everyone at the school on notice to walk a straight and narrow path or else. The clear message is that similar episodes won’t be tolerated.

You remember the episode. The one in which football Coach Dave Baldwin told reporters that running back Shayne Blakey underwent an appendectomy and would sit out the season, when in reality Blakey was shot Aug. 9 during an argument at a party.

Bubb knew Baldwin’s story was fabricated but didn’t stop the coach from telling it.

When the truth came out, Bubb and Baldwin scrambled to minimize the impact. Suddenly, no one knew where the bogus story originated. At first, Bubb pointed the finger at Baldwin, saying the coach had “exhibited behavior that was not appropriate.”

Baldwin received a letter of reprimand that will be part of his personnel file and Blakey was suspended for the season for violating team and athletic department rules, although his scholarship was not revoked.

Wilson’s action seems to shift the blame to Bubb, who will forfeit nearly $1,800 of his $85,008 annual salary because of the suspension. Perhaps more importantly, his professional armor might have been irreparably dented.

*

Athletic directors just don’t get suspended--and certainly not for things other than major NCAA infractions.

No one at the NCAA News, a publication which documents such things, could remember a case similar to the one which has been unfolding at Northridge.

A quick check on the Internet turned up only LSU suspending former athletic director Bob Brodhead for two months back in 1986 for an ethics violation. He later resigned.

Brodhead left Baton Rouge after LSU boosters bought out the last three years of his contract. Bubb will return to Northridge after his forced leave, which he will take when the athletic department is affected the least.

Maybe by then Bubb’s and Baldwin’s credibility will be somewhat restored. But Bubb knows his suspension will play in people’s minds for a while. Perhaps forever.

*

In his office Wednesday, Bubb reacted to that possibility, saying that there’s nothing he can do to keep people from drawing their own conclusions, based on Wilson’s ruling, on whether he was the cover-up instigator.

Bubb reiterated that he still doesn’t know who came up with the bogus story and that he goofed by implying that Baldwin was the only one with questionable judgment, when a large portion of the blame belonged to him for allowing the charade to continue.

The bottom line, as he put it, is that any repercussion from this nasty incident belongs to him as head of the department. He is the fall guy.

Which is fine and swell but considerably late. This is the avenue Bubb should have followed when the lid first blew off the keg, when the plan called for deception and misinformation under the disguise of trying to protect a player from adverse publicity.

It is quite another thing to assume a brave new posture and accept total responsibility when ordered to do so by his superiors. In fact, he had no choice.

In the aftermath of an event that Bubb hopes will soon be forgotten, he pledged that his department will be upfront and honest in the future.

When in doubt, that’s always a sound policy.