Sep 122013
 
Texas vs. Oklahoma State at Boone Pickens Stadium, Stillwater, Oklahoma.

A friend of mine recently emailed me about the Oklahoma State scandals that are breaking. With his permission, I’m publishing his missive and then my response.

So what are your thoughts on this whole Ok State issue? So far I haven’t read anywhere that the NCAA is even looking into it, which is laughable in my opinion (if these allegations are true). That being said the NCAA’s outdated and draconian practices for meting out punishments is absurd at best. I’m sorry but punishing the current athletes and students for things that people that aren’t even with the university anymore did is just wrong on so many levels. There has to be a better system in place or at the very least, a way to punish those responsible. I just see what has happened at PSU as a wakeup call because the people who were responsible for the horrific actions that took place are either in jail or about to have their day in court, so why then, are the current players and coaches being penalized for things that happened when they weren’t even at the university. I guess what I’m getting at is the currently players/ coaches at Ok State should not have to deal with the possibility of the death penalty when they weren’t even there for when the alleged pay for play was happening. Just curious to hear your thoughts on this.

Here’s my response:

To your question, it may not seem fair that current players at PSU or Okie State would seem to be punished for things they didn’t do. If Okie State is punished in any tangible way, its players should be allowed to transfer immediately without sitting out just as PSU’s players were allowed to do.

However, justice cannot be tempered because of collateral effects. It does matter at the institutional level. We don’t fail to prosecute rule-breaking institutions in the ‘real world’ because of downstream effects. Enron shouldn’t have escaped punishment because its lower level employees and/or its employees’ families, who had no knowledge of its illegal activities, would’ve been adversely affected. Okie State football, as an institution, fostered an environment that led to these transgressions.

Texas vs. Oklahoma State at Boone Pickens Stadium, Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Texas vs. Oklahoma State at Boone Pickens Stadium, Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Yes, they can try to punish the individuals responsible (primarily Les Miles, I guess). But the idea here is also to punish the institution so that it doesn’t get lax about controls in the future. If Okie State (or SMU back in the 1980’s) isn’t punished because it would negatively affect current players and administration, it sends the message that they can do almost anything they want. If Miles was still at Okie State, they could just fire him and disassociate from some boosters and keep on making payments to players. The lesson would be just don’t get caught! I would be ok with punishing Les Miles (via suspension or a show-cause penalty), but that hurts LSU football, which as an institution hasn’t done anything wrong that we know of, and its current players who are even further removed from the Okie State scandal. The Okie State football institution still has to learn a lesson.

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Sep 092009
 

One of my main interests in college football is watching the rise and fall of programs that don’t belong to the normal big dawgs’ club. Occasionally one of the top tier programs will fall on hard times but you can’t keep a Texas or an Oklahoma or a PennState or a Southern Cal down for too long. You can see the downturn today at Notre Dame and Michigan but don’t count those programs out for long. (If you’re short-sighted enough to point out that ND hasn’t been factor since the early 90’s, please keep in mind that college football has been played for over a hundred years. A decade is a blip on the radar).

The pursuit of consistent excellence at schools below the high historical threshold is a fascinatingly excruciating exercise. What combination of coaching, recruiting, facilities and plain old luck would it take to engender year-in, year-out contention. Can these schools really dare to dream of being consistent top-10 programs.

The big dawgs have institutional advantages that continually pull down their lesser cousins. Michigan steals Rich Rodriguez from West Virginia, his own alma mater. Alabama lures Nick Saban from the pro’s after a short trip thru the wilderness of coaching mediocrity. Once upon a time, Johnny Majors left Pitt after winning a National Title in order to go home to Tennessee.

picture - Pitt is it

Other times, it is the lure of extended history that lays waste to a school’s attempts to climb up the ladder. On signing day 2003, Pitt lost the jewels of a top-25 class when its top QB recruit de-committed to sign with Pennstate and its top RB recruit de-committed to sign with Miami instead. That neither player lived up to his reputation is not the point. The recruiting losses so gravely affected Walt Harris’ faith in his own program that his agent publicly downplayed Pitt’s  absolute ability to ever rise to the top. One year later, Harris was pushed out after leading Pitt to the Fiesta Bowl.

You can almost hear the nervous chattering at Cincinnati, a school with less history than Pitt or Cal or Wisconsin. Here you have a program newly arrived on the big stage with a dynamic young coach, Brian Kelly, who could very well give Ohio recruits a second legitimate in-state destination. But like Mark Dantonio before him, most pundits feel it’s only a matter of time before Kelly jumps to a “big” program, leaving the Bearcats to hope they can strike gold with a third coaching hire. Yeah sure. Tell that to Louisville which weathered the departure of John L. Smith by hiring Bobby Petrino but have so far failed with Petrino’s replacement, Steve Kragthorpe.

Sometimes, geographical disadvantages contribute to a program’s uneven performance. Clemson and South Carolina come to mind. Both have had or presently have fine coaches. Neither have really sniffed extended 1st-tier success. The biggest and best of the Palmetto State probably aren’t numerous enough to construct a powerhouse program given that two large programs exist in the state and many of the top prep stars may long to play at Rocky Top or Between the Hedges instead of Death Valley or Williams-Bryce stadium. Is it too much of a coincidence to note that Cal’s rise and Oregon’s steady success has coincided with Washington’s fall from grace?

Steve Spurrier

The upshot of all these considerations is not to excuse Pitt or Louisville or South Carolina from failing to consistently reach the big time. In the end, these programs have only themselves to blame. If a shizzle hole like Norman, OK can become a destination for the best prep stars, the Steel City or even Corvallis shouldn’t be too far behind.

Photo Credit: Sports Illustrated

Feb 102008
 

Don’t let all the Super Tuesday primary headlines fool you. February 6th – National Signing Day is one of the most anticipated days on the collegiate calendar. The masses quiver as they read the write-ups on some 17-18yr old who faxed a Letter of Intent to their favorite team.  There are no Red or Blue states for us.  There is only Maize & Blue, Scarlet & Grey, Burnt Orange or whatever ridiculous color scheme Oregon chooses this year.

While recruiting rankings are not but so much detritus, they’re still fun. So let’s dive in.

The big surprise this year has to be Clemson.  The Tigers made huge waves in recruiting, ranking #2 overall according to ESPN and #12 according to SI/Rivals.  Despite being wooed by the likes of Georgia, Florida State and Virginia Tech, Clemson managed to keep homegrown superstar DaQuan Bowers (DE; #1 ESPN150, #12 SI/Takkle) from leaving the Palmetto State.

Alabama came on strong with a class of 32 commits are ranked #3 by ESPN and #1 by SI/Rivals.  Landing Julio Jones (WR; #2 ESPN150, #1 SI/Takkle) was huge.  Miami (#1 ESPN, #4 SI/Rivals), also pulled in a stellar class for Randy Shannon.  Nick Saban is a proven big-time recruiter and Randy Shannon will not let south Florida fall to the Gators without a fight. Expect fortunes in Tuscaloosa and Coral Gables to rise in the next couple years.

The usual suspects also appear near the top of the rankings as well.  Florida, Georgia, Texas, USC, Oklahoma and Notre Dame all locked down top-10 classes.  Wait, Notre Dame?  The same Notre Dame team that lost to Navy and finished 3-9?  It’s a simple truth that the University of College Football in America (self-named) will always be a major player.  The Genius Charlie Weis pulled in the #9 class according to ESPN and #2 according to SI/Rivals, addressing much needed team speed.

Every year some player is viewed as the next coming of Vince Young or Dan Marino or Fred Biletnikoff. He generates loads of accolades, awards drama and HYPE.  This year, the soap opera comes to us from tiny Jeannette, PA where all-everything recruit Terrelle Pryor (QB/ATH; #4 ESPN150, #16 SI/Takkle) is holding hostage such coaching lumninaries as Joe Paterno, Mike Bellotti, Jim Tressel and Rich Rodriguez.  This kid (yes folks, they’re still KIDS) has been tearing up southwestern PA defenses for 4 years and has generated serious discussion whether he might be the best ever high school player to come out of the southwestern PA.  That’s no small feat for a region that has produced the likes of LeVar Arrington, Joe Montana, Danny Marino, Major Harris and Tony Dorsett.  I remember Arrington’s days as a RB/LB for North Hills high school.  Pryor deserves to be part of the conversation.

All in all though recruiting isn’t an exact science.  Antonio Bryant was rated a 1-star player coming out of high school.  Leon Washington was once viewed as a can’t-miss prospect for Florida State.  Not only do some players never develop but some coaches may ruin potential star careers through position switches.  Jim Kelly grew up dreaming of playing QB for Penn State.  Joe Paterno wanted to switch him to linebacker.  Kelly went to Miami to play QB and the rest is history.

Photo Credit: Pittsburgh Post-Gazzette

(Originally written for Deepslant.com)