Sometimes You Have to Quit When You're Behind
The football scandal at
Northwestern is a lesson in bad crisis management. If you have an issue in your
business, trying to punt isn't the right call. Keep these options in mind.
BY HOWARD
TULLMAN, GENERAL MANAGING PARTNER, G2T3V AND CHICAGO HIGH TECH
INVESTORS@HOWARDTULLMAN1
Watching the
administrators at Northwestern University shimmy and shake to try to scramble
away from the worst athletic scandal in school history looks as fruitless an
exercise as sitting quietly in the stands at any NU football game on a Saturday
afternoon in Evanston as the Wildcats get their butts kicked by a bunch of
oversized Big 10 teams that prize steroids over scholarship. Northwestern lost
11 out of 12 games last season.
We all know that the
fans and the players are gluttons for punishment, but we didn't know that, in
addition to the on-field beatings, dozens of younger players were also hazed, harassed,
and humiliated by older players, who were encouraged, aided and abetted by the
coaching staff. This took place in practices, in the locker rooms, and at training
camp and eventually led to Northwestern dismissing longtime head football coach
Pat Fitzgerald.
Anyone who thinks that
the players decided on their own-- year after year-- to punish the newbies for
perceived mistakes or just for the hell of it is a bigger moron and just as
complicit as the assistant coaches, trainers, and other enablers who let this
stuff go on for years. Why the school thinks that any of these losers should be
retained is beyond me. Yes, this is personal: I am an NU alum, both
undergraduate and law school.
The abuse wasn't limited
to the gridiron. The baseball team, the cheerleaders, and probably every squad
except the chess club suffered at the hands of a bunch of testosterone-maddened
and insecure bullies. They violated every bit of trust, faith and confidence
that the players, their parents, and the public had placed in them for decades.
Northwestern's
president, Michael Schill, tried at first to bury the whole thing, even after a
six-month investigation, with a despicable two-week suspension of Fitzgerald
accompanied by a bland and clearly mistaken statement asserting that no
one on the coaching staff knew anything about what was going on. The
statement then went on to say that there was more than ample evidence for all
the coaches to have known what was happening right under their noses. (An
attorney for Fitzgerald denied the allegations and issued a statement saying
that he "had no knowledge whatsoever of any form of hazing within the
Northwestern Football Program.")
But the Daily
Northwestern, the student newspaper, wasn't buying the administration's
baloney and published lengthy articles about the true state of affairs. NU's
football team may stink, but its journalism school is top 10. Somewhat
surprisingly, given the arrogance, obliviousness, and reluctance of
administrators worldwide to ever concede error, president Schill was
shamed to his senses and fired Fitzgerald. Schill seized upon the old and tired
rationale that "the buck stopped with the boss"-- even as the
university continued to suggest that the coach knew nothing. The
assistant coaches were retained, and one recent arrival was made interim head
coach.
The lawsuits are
mounting, inflicting reputational harm to the athletic program, the most
immediate impact being the recruiting of players, and the prospect that the
scandal may impair or shut down the school's grandiose plans to rebuild the
football stadium. The fact that Fitzgerald is part way through a massive
10-year contract, which Northwestern may have to pay out, is just icing on the
greed-laced cake that treats bigtime college coaches as economically critical
supermen and fundraisers.
But the most important
lesson for every entrepreneur trying to build a business isn't simply that
hazing is horrible. Or even that it's sickening and sad that -- like everyone
in the Trump White House except the Orange Monster himself -- so many knowing
people in responsible positions claim they knew about it, were unhappy with it,
and still did nothing.
Every business is going
to face unexpected challenges to its integrity and core principles,
disappointments from people you trusted and counted on, and issues that
threaten to impact the business far more broadly than a rogue actor. What
matters more than anything is how you, as the leader, respond.
So far, everything
Northwestern's leadership has done is wrong. Needless to say, they also
share boatloads of blame for years of accommodating chubby old men -- donors --
trying to fondle cheerleaders in skimpy uniforms at pre- and post-game cocktail
events. And they're still doing a half-assed job by trying to retain most of
the people who are part of the problem. They need to dump the whole coaching
staff, maybe give some thought to canceling the season although that seems to
unfairly punish the players, bag the Big 10 and play somewhere where the team
has half a chance to win a few games and won't have to take the losses out on
their peers. That would cost them the Big 10 revenues, which are probably
one of the main drivers and corrupters of the whole program.
When, not if, you face a
similar major and maybe existential problem and risk like this in your company,
there are a few basic rules to keep in mind.
(1) Blaming
the Big Guy is Never Enough if the System Stinks
Big deal: Northwestern
belatedly fired the head coach after being shamed into it; they think that by
swinging the axe, he's gonna absorb all the blame even after they've given him
a pass and claimed that he knew nothing. He built the shithouse that was their
football program and to think that pushing him out without completely cleaning
house is going to offer any comfort or consolation to the victims or convince
anyone that Northwestern is really committed to change is wishful and foolish
thinking. And to be clear, the head coach ain't even the biggest guy-- they
need to dump the athletic director as well.
(2) Slicing
the Salami Instead of Making Deep Cuts is Stupid
Half-assed measures,
slow steps, and hoping that the world will lose interest in your problems are
just as painful and destructive approaches, as is making a series of small
layoffs instead of biting the bullet, digging deep and cutting to the bone. At
least after you do, you're in a position to start effectively rebuilding from a
solid foundation. Northwestern - whether they admit it or not - needs to dump
all the guys involved with the football and baseball debacles and not pretend
that they were ignorant or innocent. Waiting for the "new" guys who
will eventually be hired to do the dirty work and the firings down the line
delays the process, destroys any credibility that might have remained, and
sends the wrong message to the victims.
(3) Play
Offense, Not Defense
There's no explanation,
excuse or justification for the flat-out abuse and other disgusting behaviors
that the coaches and program administrators allowed to go unchecked and likely
encouraged. Forget about saying that it goes on everywhere, that boys will be
boys, that it's just locker room horsing around. That's the kind of Trump talk
that the MAGA morons used to try to justify his genitalia-grabbing gusto and -
as we've seen - it only ultimately serves to encourage more outrageous
behaviors from the same bad actors. The future starts every morning and each
day you spend looking backwards is another day that you fall further behind in
fixing the problem and building a firm foundation for the future.
(4) Don't
Leave Anything Important to the Lawyers
There are already
lawsuits and plenty of advice from counsel, but - whether the audience is
clients, customers, parents and students or the whole world - practically
speaking, matters of reputation are decided in the court of public opinion, not
some dusty courtroom. Having your lawyers speaking to the press for you with a
bunch of denials and "no comments" is the most certain way to put
your worst foot forward. In the attention economy, everyone expects answers. If
you don't get out in front with a comprehensive story, you can be sure that the
vacuum will be filled by media trolls and anyone with an adverse position or a
hostile agenda. Silence is no longer golden, it's an invitation to a further
mess.
(5) Tell
Your Team about The Trouble
The latest reporting
suggests that NU’s president didn’t tell his staff, his direct reports or his
board of directors about the problems or the proposed action he was going to
take before he moved. Apart from the sheer foolishness of trying to bury bad
news on a Friday afternoon - as if the media world went home, like in the old
days - the fact that all the people likely to support him knew nothing about
the plans just confirms his inexperience.
Bottom line:
Northwestern has been inept and badly advised and the situation keeps getting
worse. They needed on Day One to tell the truth and the whole truth and they
didn't do it. The truth only hurts when you don't tell it. Nothing is going to
get easier from here, and nothing will get better without an honest accounting
and a complete break with the past as well as a new plan forward.