Athletic Directors Gone Wild!

Southern University's Greg LaFleur
ponders how he's going to top his recent
arrest for soliciting a prostitute to win
Worst Athletic Director of the Year
next year.

Think of all the bad athletic directors in college athletics. Some – like BYU's Tom Holmoe – take championships away by enforcing silly rules. Others see previously earned victories vacated by letting players and coaches run amuck without any consequences for their actions.

But the award for Worst Athletic Director of the Year goes to a dark horse – Mr. Greg LaFleur of Southern University.

That's right folks, this is not another Mike Alden bashing – as you would expect from a University of Missouri alumni after the recent hire of Frank Haith as the new men's basketball coach for the Tigers.

No, the former NFL tight end topped the wishy-washy and often misinformed Alden by being arrested for soliciting a prostitute Sunday in Houston. Turns out the prostitute was part of a sting operation put on by undercover police officers.

Prostitution seems to be running rampant in the sports world these days. Just a few weeks ago, Kevin Provencher, an award-winning sportswriter in New Hampshire, was sentenced to two years in prison for running a prostitution ring. If only LaFleur would have called him instead of browsing the streets like he was in a grocery isle.

Generally, the athletic director position is reserved for one of two types of people. The hoity-toity snob who can barely walk and chew bubble gum or the former jock who is barely smart enough to figure out how to use his office computer. My guess is that LaFleur falls into the latter column.

But it isn't just LaFleur who is acting out as an athletic director. Debbie Yow, NC State's athletic director, has also made recent headlines stating that Maryland basketball coach Gary Williams – whom Yow worked with for 16 years – sabotaged Yow's quest for a new men's basketball coach. Yow-za!

So look out, world. It appears that athletic directors across the country are through with being the ones to uphold the standards at their respective universities. Summer may not be here yet, but as you can see, some athletic directors have already let their hair down.