Blade article about BG's off-field problems and defections

BGSU33 · Post by **BGSU33** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 10:06 am

Man do I hope we've heard the end of this kind of news this year:

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... /-1/SPORTS

Jacobs4Heisman · Post by **Jacobs4Heisman** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 10:29 am

I don't like to hear excuses from the HMFIC, but he's absolutely right. Tough to gauge character anymore on these kids with the limited time you have with them - especially for a program with very limited resources.

He has to shoulder a little bit of blame just because it happened on his watch, but we can't realistically expect him to prevent this type of stuff. Too many kids to keep track of.

tiznow · Post by **tiznow** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 10:29 am

I hope so as well. If a kid was not in trouble in high school but gets into trouble in college is that a questionable kid? Ryan doesn't go into that. He also lumps all incidents into one. As far as I am concerned there is a big difference in someone who gets arrested for underage drinking and felony drug possession. Barrow's dad is a sheriffs deputy, so would he be a questionable kid during the recruiting process?

Unfortuately, this is more prevelant at all schools. Just go to the main CFB page of ESPN or Fox.

Class of 61 · Post by **Class of 61** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 11:07 am

It would seem that the NCAA would not be happy to see all this stuff too...perhaps "opening up" the contact periods a bit would help? OR "mandate" a "character check" if you will. I know it sounds unrealistic, but think about how many of the kids that BG gets year in and year out who were team captains or recognized leaders at their high schools. And, other than a certain RB at OSU a few years ago, how many HS coaches ever give a negative report on a kid to the college coaches doing the recruiting? I know that the Warren Harding coach labeled his kid as "high maintenance". But how many coaches would do that, perhaps thinking that the kid just needed "another chance" like Greg Brandon said.[/b]

Flipper · Post by **Flipper** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 11:49 am

A few years a go a freshman attacked her dormmate with a clothes iron because she thought she was spying on her with a hidden camera. The admissions process didn't weed her psycho ass out of the mix, so I'm not sure how much we can really expect the coaches to do ...

hammb · Post by **hammb** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 12:18 pm

Flipper wrote:A few years a go a freshman attacked her dormmate with a clothes iron because she thought she was spying on her with a hidden camera. The admissions process didn't weed her psycho ass out of the mix, so I'm not sure how much we can really expect the coaches to do ...

HAHA, that was a funny story.

Seriously, there is not much you can do to prevent these sorts of incidents. As much as I wish there were a way, it's just nearly impossible. The coaches do not get enough contact time with the kids in the recruiting process to really get a good grasp on the character of the individuals.

Even if you DID have a good grasp on their character it's all about winning to keep their jobs. Nobody is going to give them slack for having a bunch of "good kids" who don't win. So even if the coaches did know the type of character they were recruiting, I think they'd have to take the occasional chance on a character guy in order to get the talent, especially at our level. Every recruit we get has some "flaw" that drops him to us.

What a coach CAN do is once the kids get here set up a support system to try to keep them out of trouble. Still, they cannot babysit them 24/7, and all these players are adults who have to be mature in the decisions they make. What it really comes down to is how does it get handled once an incident happens? All we can ask for is swift, fair, and appropriate punishment to any offenders. I think we've seen that in pretty much all the cases mentioned here. The kids screwed up and now they're no longer with the program. Not much else you can really do.

With all the great reasons to dislike the way Gregg Brandon has run our football program, this is just not real high on the list, IMO. If you want to win you have to put up with some riff-raff. He may be a lot of things, but a baby-sitter, he is not.

moneymaker02 · Post by **moneymaker02** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 12:36 pm

Flipper wrote:A few years a go a freshman attacked her dormmate with a clothes iron because she thought she was spying on her with a hidden camera. The admissions process didn't weed her psycho ass out of the mix, so I'm not sure how much we can really expect the coaches to do ...

haha i remember reading that in the paper at the union when i met friends for lunch after classes and just saying, "wtf" but not abreviated and just laughing, haha.

Falconfreak90 · Post by **Falconfreak90** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 12:45 pm

Hammb's comments are right on the $$$. It sux that our program has had these situations lately but the sooner they're dealt with, the better. We have over 100 kids in the program....95% of them are good, solid people working their tails off to be successful.

These coaches simply cannot watch the players 24/7. There must be accountability on the players' parts as well. If a few make boneheaded decisions, they must accept the consequences.

Seeing Nate Brown dismissed is very disappointing but it you can't keep the grades up, I'm sorry. I think we'll be just fine at QB with Tyler, Beam and Pankratz...and don't forget about Mr. Tanski walking on from Mentor.

No way does Coach B run a shaky program when it comes to the players being recruited. I think he and the staff do a pretty solid job.

Someone mentioned if you go on ESPN or CFN.com at any time, HALF the stories are about kids getting in touble and/or kicked off the team. This is a problem for just about every school.

Flip makes a good point as well about that crazy student and the iron.

Less than 38 days!

Jham · Post by **Jham** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 4:28 pm

Fellas/ladies:
Hate to be the voice of unreason here, but it's in my nature. And yes, I'm a BG alum.

I simply hope that, the next time this happens at UT or OSU or anywhere else, we can exercise this same amount of good judgment.

Because in the past, I've seen a lot of threads around here -- I can't remember if they've included anyone on this thread or not -- calling for Amstutz's head and calling everyone associated with the UT program a bad seed when a player ran afoul of the law.

I know the Rockets have had some more serious offenses, but some of these BG offenses are pretty damn serious.

My point: It's easy as hell to jump on others when this stuff happens to them, and when it happens in your house just chalk it up to kids being kids.

TG1996 · Post by **TG1996** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 4:36 pm

Nobody's chalking this recent situation as "kids being kids". And yeah, it's been a slap of reality. But until this, with the possible exception of the rumor-filled Chuck Sharon pizza incident, things of this magnitude all but NEVER happened at BG. Ever. Meanwhile, it was happening at colleges all around us.

As a watered down example...If you have never gotten a speeding ticket, you've got every reason to point and laugh at people that have gotten tickets and drive like idiots. First time you get one, you get a wakeup call and can't talk like that anymore.

From another angle... I think the magnitude of this just hit hard and fast and has a lot of us confused as to "how could this happen here?" and figuring out how to deal.

So, in short, following a BO-esque diatribe... I strongly disagree with your post.

Jham · Post by **Jham** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 4:51 pm

You could be right, TG, re: it just being hard to take.

But, consistency would have folks here screaming to have every last offender kicked off the team and every coach fired for all the problems.

Obviously, that's not happening.

I'll just be on the lookout the next time something goes down at a rival or a hated school, is all.

hammb · Post by **hammb** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 4:59 pm

Jham wrote:You could be right, TG, re: it just being hard to take.

But, consistency would have folks here screaming to have every last offender kicked off the team and every coach fired for all the problems.

Obviously, that's not happening.

I'll just be on the lookout the next time something goes down at a rival or a hated school, is all.

Haven't all the offenders been kicked off the team?

I've tried to refrain from laughing at UT or other schools because I know that it can happen anywhere. If I have laughed at them it's because I thought their "punishment" did not fit the crime(s).

I don't think those that are caught with weed or underage drinking should be immediately dismissed. That's a pretty low level offense which should be dealt with (and to my knowledge it always has been here). The more severe offenses (such as B&E) should result in dismissals...again it seems as though this has been the case.

Nobody expects a team full of angels, it's just not practical. All we can ask for from the coaches is to deal with the offenders quickly & fairly. In that sense, I think that has happened here. It's pretty well known that I'm not a fan of coach Brandon. I just don't think this is a reason to pile onto a coach. Unless the staff has done something to foster an atmosphere where kids think they can get away with anything, what more can the staff do? It's not their job to babysit kids 24/7, their job is to win football games.

tiznow · Post by **tiznow** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 4:59 pm

Jham wrote:You could be right, TG, re: it just being hard to take.

But, consistency would have folks here screaming to have every last offender kicked off the team and every coach fired for all the problems.

Obviously, that's not happening.

I'll just be on the lookout the next time something goes down at a rival or a hated school, is all.

Since there are thousand of people who post on this board you will see that. The people who jump on other schools are not necessarily the ones defending BG and vice-versa.

TG1996 · Post by **TG1996** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 5:28 pm

Jham wrote: But, consistency would have folks here screaming to have every last offender kicked off the team and every coach fired for all the problems.

Consistency would also have people around here screaming about Curt Miller recruiting four PG's to go with GB's five QB's...

As for your original post... I didn't really *strongly* disagree on all points, I guess... you're onto something, but possibly just a little premature.

Flipper · Post by **Flipper** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 5:52 pm

I'm waiting for MACMAN to post some Talibanesque diatribe criticizinng Brandon for a lack of discipline..."If we had beheaded the first kid caught with drugs none of these other kids would have tried anything"...