opinion

At ASU, ‘accountability’ is more than just a word

Five-star college football recruits are the kind of players that turn around programs overnight.

Signing a five-star recruit is a coach’s dream come true. For a few, short weeks this year, Arizona State University football Coach Todd Graham had one of his own: the most highly sought-after junior college linebacker in the nation, Davon Durant.

Durant’s brief tenure as a Sun Devil ended Wednesday without setting foot on the field. Graham dismissed him following a May 7 incident in which, according to witnesses, Durant beat and throttled his girlfriend while sitting in an SUV. Durant accepted a plea agreement, reducing felony assault charges to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct.

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“He’s done,” said Graham. “We parted ways. He put himself in that position. It’s a bad deal, but you’ve got to have accountability.”

Indeed you do. And, as opposed to countless other college programs, ASU does.

College football coaches by the score have had to face the “accountability” question. Florida State University Coach Jimbo Fisher seems to spend more time responding to questions about his players’ rap sheets than about their field performance.

Notoriously, coaches have found ways to maneuver around a player’s bad behavior. The urge to absolve, to issue that all-purpose, invaluable “second chance” to a highly valued player, must be tempting. Many coaches succumb to it, even extending fourth and fifth “second” chances to some prized players.

Graham, whose star in this community continues to rise steadily, did not follow that easy path. He has made it clear he doesn’t just mouth words like “accountability.” He and his players live them.

It has been a long time since anyone seriously spoke of college football as a noble undertaking that teaches high-minded virtues such as good sportsmanship, teamwork and respect for the rules. How naïve, most would say.

For Graham and ASU, however, the better angels do exist. Graham’s charges really are expected to carry themselves as student-athletes. As representatives of a respected institution. As men.

Graham lost a five-star recruit. That is no small thing.

But by setting and keeping high standards for his players, he has done so much more for them. And for ASU.