Five of IU's football players were arrested for various charges over the weekend. If you would like you can read the story on the Hoosier Scoop by clicking this link: http://blogs.heraldtimesonline.com/iusp/?p=1529
I have mixed emotions on how this should be dealt with, on one hand these are still young men, they are in college, and they are having fun. I remember being that age, doing crazy stuff, even will admit now to some under age consumption. I also think about if these were 5 regular college kids that we would never read or hear about this.
Now out comes the fan, ex-player, and coach inside me. These 5 boys get a free education to play a game. They get to put on a set of pads and a jersey and represent this school and the over 1 million alumni every Saturday in the fall. Rather they like it or not, they are representatives of Indiana University, there are young kids up to high school players who desire to be like them, to get a scholarship to a Big Ten school, to play in College Football's top level. They have to hold themselves to a higher standard than their peers, they have more to lose.
We will see what kind of Coach and what kind of integrity Bill Lynch has. Will this be handled internally (I.E. extra laps after practice 1 day) or will he handle this in the open, show the IU nation that he is serious about building a solid and reputable program.
How would I handle this?
This is where my reputation for being a hard ass comes to light. From now till the end of spring practice, these boys would go through hell after everyone else is done for the night. There are a whole lot of stairs for each one of their feet to touch in Memorial Stadium every night!
That would just be the start. All 5 would be suspend from the first two games of the 2008 season. Not just suspended, but not allowed in the locker room, or on the field with their teammates!
After each of the first two games, all 5 would be brought to Memorial Stadium in Orange jump suits. They would be handed a set of gloves and a trash bag. These five young men would be responsible for picking up every nacho tray, plastic cup and hot dog wrapper left behind in then entire stadium. Once they got every thing picked up, they would be allowed to run every step in the stadium. They could then return home where they would check in with the coaching staff to verify their return.
They would have another option, that would be to choose not to abide by the punishment set forth, forgo their scholarships, and be removed from the roster permanently.
EDIT: After some time to think, I was a little harsh. A single game suspension and clean up of Memorial Stadium without the jump suits would be fine. They would still spend time after practice running, but maybe only 2 weeks.
These are my thoughts on this, now share with me yours!
7 comments:
I'm mixed on this myself. We do not know how many other athletes have gotten in trouble the past year. I don't think you can lump together the offenses. Bailey's music blaring isn't the same as being semi concious in a stairwell. And I don't think you can hold a person accountable for combative behavior when that intoxicated. It is part of that level of intoxication.
I agree things need to be done such as suspensions, but public humiliation would be ineffective with this age group. In all fairness, they have already endured alot more exposure and scrutiny publicly than any other college student would under similiar circumstances.
Suspensions come to mind, I believe demotions can be handed out too. James Bailey is familiar with them all. Guess they don't always work, but should be used as known consequences for such behavior. Scholarships can be removed, can't they? As for the semiconcious player, he needs medical and psychological attention and appropriate treatment should be enforced.
I do believe strongly that you need to get work out of these kids as punishment. Community service can be a wonderful way to humble them. Real community service, not showing up for photo ops and serving a meal, but really working with places like Wildcare that need strong young people to build cages and clean out muck. Work with habitat or a youth shelter to do some necessary manual labor.
I think the individuals as well as IU would benefit tremendously with some good coming from the bad. Not saying they should just do community service, but in addition to the assorted in house punishment which would be individually handed out.
Northsider - Baily and McCray blaring music is not that big of a deal, however lying that they had never had a noise complaint, when police records show they had been issued a warning before, then continuing to repeat the offense later in the evening that prompted another phone call and visit from a different set of officers? That is flat disrespect of their neighbors and the law.
All of those cited for illegal consumption should have to attend alcohol classes, with monitoring, and maybe some additional service working talking with area high school kids and athletes about alcohol abuse and the dangers of it.
If these guys are still making the grades, losing a scholarship is harsh when there are plenty of alternative punishments.
In all fairness they have received more scrutiny than other players, this is true. When I played, I choose to play, I was never forced to play. These kids choose to play a game, they choose to be part of a 100 member (out of 35,000 students) select club. They choose to accept the scholarships and become representatives of Indiana University as student/athletes. Like it or not they choose to be held to a higher standard than their peers when the signed that letter and faxed it in.
Maybe other areas of community service like what you mentioned would be good for them also.
We already know this, they are all 1st time offenders (in the courts). They will be allowed to pay a fine and do a deferment program, and see no real punishment from the legal system. This I have no issue with.
I do hope that Coach Lynch steps up and holds them accountable for their actions. Only time will tell.
Thanks for your reply. :-)
Mike,
I concur with most of your points. The lying about having the police called is probably something this law abiding citizen would have done 30 years ago too. I really didn't think beyond my own circle myself, and although I find it highly annoying now, I am not shocked by such behavior nor do I think it is headline news.
The alcohol diversion program is not tough enough and needs more teeth. The one day of alcohol counseling and sending them home with a "prize" (the BAC wheel) has not proven effective in my own personal experience as a health care provider on campus.
I would say the yanking of a scholarship is a last resort item but one that should be used if it is possible within NCAA guidelines.
This is a big test for Bill Lynch. I'm anxious to see what happens.
Take care Mike,
Yes, it will be interesting to see how Coach Lynch handles this situation. I have mixed feelings about the severity of the punishment for the players. I'll leave that up to the Coach's judgment. Your suggestions seem a bit harsh - especially the orange jumpsuits! Time will tell.
lori - Thank you for your post. The more I think about it, the orange jumpsuits might be over the edge. :-)
As for the rest, depends on your background on how harsh it is. My junior year in high school me and two other players and our girlfriends skipped school, went to the lake and took a boat out that belonged to a parent of one of the players.
We got caught by our coach. As punishment we had to push mow and weed eat 3 full size practice fields and the varsity field and the rest of the varsity complex. When we finished this we then had to lay out and stripe the fields.
This was on top of the extra hour of running wind sprints for a week after practice.
This was for cutting class, no alcohol, no drugs, no police involvement at all.
Where I am coming from, it isn't to harsh.
Again, thank you for the comment.
Ok, now you're being a little more reasonable. Still not sure about the cleaning up of the stadium part. Funny how this will kind of be forgotten now with the basketball news today!
Lori - My reason for picking up the trash in Memorial Stadium is simple. These boys most likely will see a slightly larger fine and a Saturday spent in alcohol class, then, if they keep their nose clean for 6 months to a year the will have a clean record again.
Where is the lesson in that? Pay a larger fine and get off free?
Make them work for their freedom, make the examples to their teammates.
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