The Wall Street Journal posted an interesting article today about the high number of college football coaches who seem to be devoted G.O.P. followers. While some, like University of Southern California’s Pete Carroll and San Jose State University’s Dick Tomey, are openly Democratic, most others seem to run with the red side of the spectrum. Twenty coaches donated to Republican candidates during the 2008 election cycle, while only three gave to the Democrats.

This practice has even crossed over into political action: Legendary Nebraska coach Tom Osborne served three terms as a Republican representative in the U.S. Congress, and Lou Holtz – former coach at six schools, including a ten-year stint at Notre Dame – has also entertained the idea of running for office as a Republican. Holtz has some ideas on why the conservative stripe and the sideline overlap:

“You aren’t entitled to anything. You don’t inherit anything. You get what you earn—your position on the team,” Mr. Holtz said. “You’re treated like everybody else. You’re held accountable for your actions. You understand that your decisions affect other people on that team…There’s winners, there’s losers, and there’s competitiveness.”

Those words sound like they could be thrown into an argument on the welfare system. Hmm…must be why those hippies in the Ivy League (and Boulder, Colorado) won’t win a national championship anytime soon.

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