Watts powers strong opinions

As a soon to be out-of-work Congressman, J. C. Watts thought he was onto a new gig a couple months ago. Something mixing politics and sports. But chuckling now, the conservative Republican suspects he came across as "too progressive" to lead the NCAA.

You heard right.

Watts told us he fancied himself a serious player for the NCAA job that went to Indiana University president Myles Brand. Watts was among 11 candidates (folks like Indy sports attorney Jack Swarbrick, Cal-Berkeley vice chancellor Horace Mitchell and former Kansas chancellor and American League prez Gene Budig) that were brought to Chicago and interviewed by the NCAA search committee in September before the field was cut to three finalists.

This all looked so perfect. About the same time headhunters took up the NCAA charge last summer, Watts surprised Washington folks with his decision not to seek re-election. Here you had the chairman of the House Republican Conference -- the top-ranking black member of Congress -- suddenly available for hire. Julius Caesar Watts, the wishbone quarterback, who won back-to-back MVP honors after leading Oklahoma to Orange Bowl victories in 1980 and ’81.

So what went wrong?

Well, Watts mentions something about being out of the college loop -- though we doubt that would have derailed the candidacy of someone like ex-Senator Bill Bradley, if he were interested -- and the often-heard pitch of the NCAA’s desire to finally hire a college president to run the association.

Q&A Congressman J. C. Watts [R-Okla.], a former star quarterback at Oklahoma, is stepping down next month from his influential post as chairman of the House Republican Conference. Watts discussed the unique perspective he’s enjoyed as an athlete-turned-politician with CNNSI.com senior writer Mike Fish. CNNSI.com: Do you get the same kind of emotional rush from politics that you experienced as a college quarterback? Rep. J. C. Watts: I don’t think there is anything as good as beating Texas or Nebraska. When you compare the rush of winning a conference championship or a national championship, it is still a whole lot different than a victory on a piece of legislation . . . [But] there are a lot of similarities. I guess the egos are prevalent. They exist in politics just like they do in athletics. As a matter of fact, I think politicians are head and shoulders above athletes in terms of ego. I guess with all the similarities, the real difference is in football you can see the linebackers and in politics you can’t. You know you are getting hit. You just don’t know where it is coming from. CNNSI.com: What unique quality is it that athletes bring to politics? Rep. J. C. Watts: There are certain things that you experience as an athlete that probably prepare you pretty well for the political arena. As a quarterback, I was used to getting booed. So that didn’t bother me a great deal when I transitioned into politics . . . You’re taught as a quarterback to take what you can get, when you can get it. And you find yourself saying, 'OK, we got 9 yards here, 7 yards, 3 yards here, 5 yards here.' And pretty soon you score. So why do athletes get involved in politics? I think we all probably think a little more of ourselves than we should. CNNSI.com: Barry Switzer is a bootlegger’s son and has been cast as having run a loose ship at Oklahoma. Is it a fair portrayal of your former college coach? Rep. J. C. Watts: Yeah, he danced to his own music, no question. I think Coach Switzer would say if he had to do it over again he would do some things differently in the way he handled players . . . Obviously, the players got along with Coach Switzer. He was a great coach, very successful. But I think that probably one of his faults was that he always tried to see young men as they could be and not as they were. And I think he had just an over-sized heart in trying to see people as they could be and not as they were. Giving them sometimes too many chances. Rather than saying 'Three strikes and you’re out,' I think he went above and beyond the call of duty on that from time to time. And in the end that probably haunted him. CNNSI.com: How did the job of NCAA president fit with your career plans? Rep. J. C. Watts: It probably would have been a little too restrictive for me in what I want to do beyond Congress. I probably want to do some consulting and speeches and so forth. That pretty much had to be the director of the NCAA. CNNSI.com: Are there any other sports prospects on your horizon? Rep. J. C. Watts: You look at what my life has been the last 25 years. It has been politics or sports. And I’ve often said I wouldn’t mind associating with some athletic organization in some way . . . We’ve got several folks that have talked to us in the sports arena. They’ve talked to us about a writing a [magazine] column and doing some things. We’re going to weigh those options over the next 45 days.

In a telephone conversation with us, the Congressman was true to his conservative ideology on a handful of jock topics -- all of which we’ll touch on shortly -- but Watts was also unusually blunt in saying colleges aren’t doing enough for student-athletes. He hit on the low graduation rates and also said athletes deserve a financial stipend, in light of the NCAA and colleges collecting billions on TV deals.

Watts suggests establishing a goal to hike student-athlete graduation rates to 75 percent over the next five to seven years, adding: "I believe all young men and young women can learn. And it is up to the universities to put these young men and young women in an environment, and give them the proper support to make sure they stay on campus for four or five years. That they are going to leave with more than just having scored the most touchdowns in a career or rushing for the most yards. That they are also going to leave with a degree that they can go out into the world and do well for themselves and their families."

Sharing the wealth, if only a puny slice, is another idea of his that likely left the search committee with sweaty palms.

"With the TV contracts and with the dollars made on college athletics, I am one that thinks that there should be some type of stipend given to players," Watts says. "I don’t think college players should be compensated with salaries. But I do think they should be compensated or have some kind of stipend to help them with their basic needs. I don’t know if that is $200 a month or $400 a month, but there is a place for that."

But that’s about as radical as it gets. Oh, he raises an eyebrow at mention of the low number of African-American head coaches in the NFL. He even tells of discussing the topic recently with Washington Redskins defensive coordinator Marvin Lewis, who has himself been passed over for a head job. Here again, he says it’ll take care of itself.

Let others stomp and scream. Watts believes that with the conscience level raised -- and he thinks it is within the NFL (FYI: Commissioner Paul Tagliabue has asked him to help promote its youth football program) -- success is ultimately the answer to tearing down lingering myths and stereotypes. He’s banking on the head-coaching success of Tony Dungy and the increased pool of assistant coaches in the NFL.

"The question then would be, ‘Well, no white guy has to be successful in order for a white male to get an opportunity to be a head coach?'" Watts says. "Well, that is true. But as we continue to grow the pool . . I remember when I came out of college, it was a freak of nature to see black quarterbacks. Today, I think the premier quarterbacks in the NFL are black quarterbacks. There was one when I was coming out of high school and college. Today you have several and they are excelling.

"So success is a pretty good bulldozer to tear down a lot of those myths. I think that in the next five years you are going to see more head coaches. I don’t know what the NCAA’s thoughts are on it, but I do think you’ll see it in NFL."

As you might guess by the title of his new book, What Color is a Conservative? My Life and My Politics Watts won’t join the Rev. Jesse Jackson in announcing plans to picket Augusta National. And he tells you it’s "horribly unfair" when prominent African-American athletes like Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan are chided for often not taking a stand on issues of the day.

"In politics, both sides are clamoring for Tiger because he hasn’t been politically correct," Watts says. "So you have some that admire that and they want to embrace him. And then you have others that kick him in the teeth, because he doesn’t make their burden his obligation. I think Tiger needs to be who he is. And the same with Michael [Jordan]. I don’t think they should feel compelled to be outspoken on every issue that J.C. Watts or Jesse Jackson thinks they should be a part of."

Obviously, he wouldn’t dare suggest Woods skip the Masters next year in protest for the club’s failure to admit a woman member, an idea promoted in a recent New York Times editorial. And if Augusta National chairman Hootie Johnson wants to cling to an all-male membership, Watts says it’s fine by him.

What worries him is the bigger picture.

"Consider this, if you say to private organizations that they can’t be gender-specific . . . that men can’t exclude women from men’s organization or men from a women’s organization, then you have to think about sororities, fraternities, historical black college and universities," Watts offers. "You have the Boys Scouts and Girls Scouts. You have Morehouse University that is an all-men’s college. You have Spellman [College] that is all-women’s college.

"I don’t know all the intricacies of that situation, but I think we have to be careful that today’s solutions don’t become tomorrow’s problems. It sounds cute on the face of it to say that you can’t be gender-specific, but there are a whole lot of organizations out there that we have supported and have thought over the years that they have done a pretty good job. This is dealing with more than just Augusta."

Like his politics or not, Watts remains true to his beliefs. It’s just hard picturing the old OU quarterback, Julius Caesar Watts, teaming with Hootie.

Mike Fish is a senior writer for CNNSI.com.

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