By Steve SilverThe Daily Northwestern

They are the ones behind the headline-grabbing scandals, the ones who write letters to university presidents demanding coaching changes and the ones who create Web sites to complain about anything from quarterbacks to luxury boxes.

But they also are irreplaceable sources of funding that no athletic program in the country could operate without.

They are boosters.

Although often portrayed as pestilent groups of corrupt, rich alumni who scheme dark ways of perverting collegiate athletic programs, most boosters simply strive to “boost” their respective school’s teams with no ill-intent.

“Back when we created our organization, boosters didn’t have a bad name,” said Jerry Kutz, the Vice President of Seminole Boosters Inc., a support group for Florida State athletics. “Everybody was a high school booster and it spoke clearly to what we do – to boost the program. But then in the ’60s and ’70s, some rogue boosters cheated and bought players. And then the term ‘booster’ got associated with bad things.”

No matter how they are viewed in the public, nearly all football fans are actually considered boosters.