Some codes in need of stronger bite

In the latest installment of "Athletes Behaving Badly," two local college players ended up in the news recently for the worst of reasons: something besides sports.

Athletes don't usually make news for visiting schools or hospitals. But they nearly always grab headlines for running afoul of the law. That's what happened when BYU basketball guard Rashaun Broadus was kicked off the team after a DUI arrest and Utah quarterback Brett Ratliff caused a drunken disturbance at a Salt Lake nightclub.

Coaches could get fired — or at least reprimanded — these days for grabbing players by the shirt and shaking the daylights out of them.

But that's what those guys deserve. I don't know what goes on in the private meetings between coaches and players, but I'm hoping it's something like this:

Player: "Sorry about that."

Coach: "I give you a scholarship, teach you the game, treat you like an adult and what do you do? You knife me in the back. Thanks a lot. It's tough enough just to win games, without answering questions about your appearance on 'Cops: Utah.' Stuff like that cost Gary Crowton his job."

The situations were similar only in that each involved the (mis)use of alcohol. Ratliff entered a guilty plea to charges of public intoxication and disorderly conduct after being offered a plea in abeyance.

Though the police report said Ratliff groped a woman in a nightclub in November, sexual battery charges were not filed, only charges of being publicly intoxicated. The investigation dragged out long enough that Ratliff ended up playing in the Utes' final three games.

Broadus, however, was suspended for the rest of his senior season just a day after being jailed for investigation of driving under the influence. The action was a violation of the school's Honor Code, hence a punishable offense. Coach Dave Rose acted swiftly and decisively, rather than stalling or waiting for more details.

It makes you wish every school had an honor code of some sort.

Actually, many do. It's just that they aren't often aggressively enforced. Take, for instance, the Student-Athlete Code of Conduct at the University of Miami. Who doesn't look to Miami when it comes to matters of conduct?

One section of the code states that Miami athletes must "obey all federal, state and city laws."

It continues, "Any University of Miami student who violates the law may incur penalties imposed by civil authorities."