Back in 1924, Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana, was denied accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools because the school placed an “undue emphasis on athletics.” The primary evidence of Centenary’s misplaced priorities was that the college paid its football coach more than its president. The next year the football coach was gone and the college gained accreditation.
A version of this article appeared in the September 2010 issue of Harvard Business Review.