Praise For A Politician ?

            I – like many other people – have a healthy disregard for the stereotypical politician.  You know, the kind of person who fits the description of a politician offered by Charles De Gaulle:

“In order to become the master, the politician poses as the servant.”

            Well, today I have to tip my hat to a former politician who left that profession to take up one that attracts even more scorn that your typical politician – – President of the NCAA.  Charlie Baker was formerly the two-term Governor of Massachusetts who now succeeds Mark Emmert as the leader of the NCAA.  All politicians know how to face a problem and kick the can down the road; some recognize that tactic will not work forever and find means of compromise to allow for some creativity to emerge that might resolve the problem via a change process.  As of this morning, I am willing to put Charlie Baker into that latter category.

            NCAA President Baker has sent a letter to the 350+ Division 1 schools in the country proposing that the NCAA create a new and separate class of schools to compete in a different tier of collegiate athletics.  For now, let me call this the “Baker Model Of Competition” or “BMOC” in a new context.

            In the “BMOC”, schools would be required to offer at least 50% of their athletes a payment of $30K annually via a trust fund yet to be established.  In addition, all the Division I schools – – those in the “BMOC” and the others – – would offer unlimited educational benefits to athletes and schools would be allowed to enter into NIL contracts with their athletes.  The “BMOC” does not represent a “tweak” to collegiate athletics; the “BMOC” takes the concept of the amateur college student who just happens to play a sport and crushes it.

            President Baker recognizes and deals with a fact that previous NCAA officials have tried to obfuscate.  Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain …  Here is that fact:

• There exists now a degree of disparity in the resources available to athletic departments and booster organizations at the top levels of collegiate athletics that affects competition. 
• Moreover, there is no indication that this disparity might “resolve itself” to level the playing field.

            Later today, President Baker is scheduled to speak at an Intercollegiate Athletics Forum in Las Vegas organized by the Sports Business Journal.  Surely, there will be a lot more information and commentary out there after he makes his remarks.  I suggest that we need to follow this story closely; it will have twists and turns along the way, but this appears to be a transformative idea for college athletics in the future.

            Switching gears, I want to reset my thinking from optimism to realism.  I will transition my mind from the aspirational “BMOC” to a narrative that has been around for a few years that seems a bit threadbare to me now.  I am referring to the narrative that Eric Bienemy is living proof that Black men are denied head coaching opportunities purely and simply because of their skin color.  Before anyone gets their undies in a bunch, I did NOT say that Black men have it as easy as White men have it when it comes to getting an opportunity to coach an NFL team.  I said, I am growing tired of the narrative that Eric Bienemy is the prototypical victim of “the system”.

            I say that because as a resident of a Northern Virginia suburb of Washington DC I am inundated with coverage of the Washington Commanders, and I get to see every game they play.  Eric Bienemy rode into town last Spring to take over the offense and to demonstrate that with proper tutelage, the Commanders’ offense could transform itself from a ham-and-eggs unit to a filet-mignon unit.  After all, it was under Bienemy’s brilliance that the KC Chiefs were constantly atop the AFC West and serious Super Bowl contenders every year.  The Commanders in 2024 would lay bare the truths of discrimination in head coaching searches in the NFL.

            Except …  Let me compare for a moment the bottom line for an offensive football team – – Points Scored:

• In 2022 – under the guidance of someone the narrative has labeled as an unsalvageable dolt, Scott Turner – -, the Washington Commanders scored 18.9 points per game.
• In 2023 – – under the guidance of someone the narrative has labeled as an indisputable offensive genius, Eric Bienemy – -, the Washington Commanders have scored 20.0 points per game.

            Let me compare the Commanders’ offensive player assets from 2022 to 2023:

• WRs:  Basically, the same cast of characters; good not great
• TEs:  Same guys; mediocrity
• OL:  Sub-standard in 2022 and similarly sub-standard in 2023 with a few new sub-standard guys
• RBs:  Same guys; average performers.

            If you just look at those positions, you might say that increasing point production by 1.1 points per game is all that is to be expected.  But then you must look at the QB position.

• Scott Turner had Carson Wentz and Taylor Heinicke as his QB choices.
• Eric Bienemy has Sam Howell as his QB.

            Now here is a stone-cold fact:

• Sam Howell is a significant upgrade at QB as compared to Carson Wentz and/or Taylor Heinicke.

            So, Eric Bienemy, with a better QB for the entire season and basically the same guys on the rest of the offensive unit, has produced all of 1.1 more points per game than did Scott Turner.  Wow!  Maybe – – just maybe – – it is easier to average 29.7 points per game (as the Chiefs did with Bienemy in 2022) if you have Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce etc. at one’s disposal.

            Should Eric Bienemy get interviews for head coaching vacancies this year?  Probably he should based on his previous success with the Chiefs’ offense.  But if he does not get a head coaching job again this year, the old narrative doesn’t work anymore.

            Finally, I began today by praising a former politician.  So, let me close with a perspective on politicians from my favorite curmudgeon, H. L. Mencken:

“A good politician is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar.”

            But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………