When Going Gets Tough, Ventura College Gives Up

Deceit if not outright lies. Bending rules if not clearly breaking them. Finger-pointing. Excuse-making. Whining.

The Ventura College men’s basketball team has had plenty of all that in the past few months as a program that was once the pride of the city has collapsed in an ugly shambles.

What has been missing all along is any talk of such concepts as education, honor, character-building and doing the right thing.

Isn’t there one person at Ventura College with the confidence, courage and class to step forward and teach these kids--and the rest of us--what leadership and victory are all about?

Apparently not, judging by Friday’s decision to give up on fielding a team this season.

The train wreck began in August, when an investigation concluded that Coach Virgil Watson and others had arranged for players to receive free or discounted meals, free rent, loans and access to school vehicles and facilities. Watson was dismissed in March for stated reasons including poor teaching ability and allegations of illegal recruiting.

In October, the Western State Conference stripped the Pirates of 1996 and 1997 championship titles, barred them from postseason play for two years and ordered the school to form an athletic oversight committee.

When the college appealed, the conference upheld those penalties and added another: suspending six players who allegedly received illegal meal subsidies last season.

Meanwhile, two new coaches were recruited but hastily departed, shaking their heads at the chaos. Then Friday, college President Larry Calderon announced he was disbanding the program for one year.

This situation embodies everything that is wrong with sports in America, from the exploitation explored in the movie “Hoop Dreams” to the buck-chasing and lousy sportsmanship that increasingly pollute the pros.

Instead of protesting the sanctions, packing off to other schools or spending the season grousing about the unfairness of it all, we would like to have seen Ventura College:

* Field the best team it could, recruiting walk-on players from the school’s intramural leagues and pick-up courts as actively as it pursues out-of-town hot shots.

* Forget about the playoffs and concentrate on playing the best basketball it could. Take pride in every basket scored and rebound grabbed. The win-loss record will follow.

* Use this experience to give the players--and the rest of us--a lesson in overcoming adversity, one that would prepare them to be better students, career builders, family men and citizens. No governing board can take away the pride of honest success.

By the end of its two-year probation, we would like to see Ventura College poised to grab the championship with a team built on pride and character rather than questionable recruiting practices, shady favors and iffy eligibility.

A long shot? Absolutely. But there is little satisfaction in achieving the easy. Coaches and educators used to preach that gospel louder than anyone. Here was a chance for them to walk the walk. Instead, Ventura College chose to teach a different lesson:

When the going gets tough, quit.