Part of me says, how in the hell do they get blamed for the antics of 18-21 year olds they are already sticking their necks out for in the form of scholarships, room, board and booster handouts. I mean, how much more should these coaches be responsible for keeping track of? I can imagine how hard it is to instill "culture" or "common sense" into the lives of kids who are wholly unfamiliar with either of those ideas. At a certain level it seems to me that coaches should set up a system of plausible deniability where full time babysitters are hired to look after the athletes. Let the coaches coach and recruit, let the babysitters (i.e. HR function) keep the kids in line (and be responsible for the off the field antics).
On the flipside, coaches are being paid well enough to sell their soul, so shouldn't that include taking responsibility for what the team is doing, on and off the field of play? As a taxpayer (and, hence, employer of some major college coaches - I'm talking to you Tubby Smith) I think coaches should be held responsible for who they bring in. Their team represents who they are. That much is clear.
Making this all relevant to last week's news, what should Tressel be responsible for? In my mind, all of it. The reasoning - he knew last April and tried to hide it. Sorry Jimbo, you were clearly made aware via email by an alum lawyer (http://a.espncdn.com/media/pdf/110310/Ohio_State_Letter.pdf), you sat on it and now are trying to play it off. Who would want someone with as low of morals/ethics as those leading young men? The state of Ohio loves class acts like Bob Huggins and Jim Traficant (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQ5Os1400uc) - I shouldn't be surprised.
What concerns me most about Tressel is the fact Dantonio is part of his coaching tree. Makes me wonder what's awaiting my fine Spartans. Hopefully our fate isn't anything as bad as Michigan's self imposed "RichRod" punishment. That was harsh.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.