Cleaning up the program; what would you do?

[DDOTT]

What can be done to not only clean Ohio States football program but all of college football?

[LloydSev]

There is nothing you can do to get rid of this stuff as long as you don't pay them.... as long as you create a need for someone to get money somewhere else, someone will.

[Sdgobucks]

I'm not sure what you mean by cleaning up college football, but I guess you mean eliminated NCAA infractions, and clean up the image of the NCAA being full of a bunch of thugs.

1. Remove scholarships from any player that violates NCAA rules. Not necessarily kick them off the team, but if they want to play they have to pay. If they continue to violate rules, then kick them off the team.

2. Impose a admission standard for all schools.

3. Impose a rule where anyone convicted of a violent crime loses their scholarship, anyone conviced of three misdemeanors loses their scholarship, and anyone convicted of a felony loses their scholarship. If they want to pay their own way then let them.

[hotrodr123]

I don't think NCAA football is any worst than society in general. We just have to face it that their are alot of immature , cheating, whining thug like kids anymore. The Payola and $100.00 handshakes have been around forever. It is the Thug Life mentally, nothing wrong as long as I don't get caught that has increased.

[OH10]

It is the Thug Life mentally, nothing wrong as long as I don't get caught that has increased

I don't necessarily disagree, but I think to put all the blame on a certain culture is underestimating the problem. We treat them like Gods and they act like it. It's natural. I'd like to see more stories like AJ Hawks being told, and people will understand how good these kids really are. A lot of them are being corrupted by their friends, by their stature on campus, and by those who desire to be close to the program.

1. Remove scholarships from any player that violates NCAA rules. Not necessarily kick them off the team, but if they want to play they have to pay. If they continue to violate rules, then kick them off the team.

2. Impose a admission standard for all schools.

3. Impose a rule where anyone convicted of a violent crime loses their scholarship, anyone conviced of three misdemeanors loses their scholarship, and anyone convicted of a felony loses their scholarship. If they want to pay their own way then let them.

These are excellent guidelines. However, there ought to be some sort of mandatory punishment for those that commit even first-time misdeamoners. Maybe a scholarship reduction, or minimum game suspension of 3. Something that will really send a message.

[JXC]

As long as there are 100,000+ people paying 50 bucks a pop to see a game, and millions more watching on TV...then the game will never be clean. I think the NFL needs to be cleaned up first. I'd like to see NCAA violations mean loss of NFL elegability. Or how about half of whatever contract you sign in the NFL goes to the NCAA if you commit violations. Taking away money and the NFL would scare them straight, not taking away college playing time. Cuz lets face it, very few kids are going to have the passion for their school like players used to. There are very few A.J. Hawks left in college football.

[MililaniBuckeye]

It depends on what you mean by "cleaning up the program". What would you do, DDOTT?

[coastalbuck]

By cleaning up the program you must assume it is dirty. I dissagree. As an institution you do have to address issues, that's the issue that counts the most. Balencing the best interests of often mis-guided young people with those of the university with the rules and regulations of the NCAA cannot be an easy task, and, in fact, may be almost impossible! So far, I think tOSU has done a credible job at that but the story is not finished. We all will see how it turns out. Unfortunatly, when the issues now are addressed and laid to rest, there will be others that come to the forefront. A continuing process, constantly evolving, with, IMO no ultimate solutions.

[funman]

The core of the problem is that NCAA rules are primarily concerned with defining and maintaining the amateur and student status of the athlete. There aren't a standard set of penalties for criminal behaviour. If an athlete lost eligibility for doing stupid things like DUI, you would see DUI's end throughout college football. If the school lost scholarships because of it, they would slow to a trickle. The NCAA needs a standard rule of lost eligibility for specific misdemeanors and felonies. The players crave the eligibility and won't do anything to jeopardize their playing time.

[IrontonBuck]

I don't think the program is "dirty" so I don't think it needs to be "cleaned up." A dirty program is one that participates in, encourages, knows about and does not discourage, or discovers but does not disclose, NCAA infractions within the program. There is no evidence that OSU has done any of these things. In fact, they have acted swiftly and decisively upon discovering infractions. That's what the they are supposed to do.

The issue as I see it is, if OSU is technically "clean", what more can they do to keep the "dirty" influences away from the program?

That is the challenge that OSU and all college football programs face. Perhaps the reason it is coming to the surface so much at Ohio State is because Ohio State is the biggest college program with the biggest base of support. There are lots and lots of avid "boosters" who have access to the players. The other programs are facing the same challenges, but perhaps they 1) don't recognize it yet, or 2) are chosing to ignore it. But you can be sure that it is a problem for every single program.

One solution would be to limit the amount of official, sanctioned contact there is among the players and boosters. I personally think that it is strange and kind of stalkery for wealthy adult boosters to want to rub elbows with young men of that age. I don't care how famous the boys are, I just think it's weird that people need to feed their egos in that manner. And I think it's weird for the university to serve these young men up to the boosters. I think booster contributions are a necessary evil, but I think that Ohio State can do without any booster who would say, "you won't get my money if I can't hang out with AJ Hawk".

[martinss01]

Originally Posted by DDOTT

What can be done to not only clean Ohio States football program but all of college football?

the same thing law enforcement can do to "prevent" crime. not a whole friggin lot. strict consistant punishment and constant vigilance. but nothing will prevent players from doing stupid things. college sports is no more dirty now than it was 10 years ago. if anything they are cleaner. the difference with today and 10 years ago is that there are more players and the media is louder.

as much as you like to point to a change in morals, it really isn't. its a change in sensationalism in the media. believe it or not people but there are FAR MORE aj hawks out there than the opposite. unfortunately the media doesn't make any money off reporting about them.

[longtoothbuck]

The fundamental problem is a LOT of these kids come from backgrounds where there just isn't ANY morality. So they have zero comprehension that they are even doing anything wrong.

As long as coaches come under intense pressure to win at all cost, every big program will continue to recruit these types of kids and there will always be some problems.

On the other hand, there are some kids who do know better and for whatever reason think they can get away with something or that they won't be severely punished. I tend to agree that there almost needs to be an NCAA standard that lists a series of infractions (convicted of a DUI, convicted of statutory rape, convicted of assault, convicted of theft, etc) and each infraction has a mandatory penalty. A key word is convicted, not simply charged.

[OH10]

The fundamental problem is a LOT of these kids come from backgrounds where there just isn't ANY morality

Please elaborate what this is supposed to mean. I guess you're saying they cannot distinguish between right and wrong. I'd say some kids grow up in neighborhoods that are rough and with parents that don't care enough to set them straight. But they do know right from wrong - they just think they can get away with it, or maybe they feel like they need to do a certain thing.

I can tell that, if true, the Albert Dukes incident is not limited to the neighborhood, area, or background he's from. Certainly urban areas do not have a monopoly on statutory rape. Irizarry went to a catholic school, and presumably was taught some morals there. So I'm really not sure what you mean by this statement.

[longtoothbuck]

There is a difference between knowing what society says is right or wrong and having been taught it from birth and taking responsibility. As an example, I know that rape is wrong, but, I was also taught from early childhood that it was not only "wrong" (punishable by law), but even if it wasn't punishable by law that it is just flat wrong, period. Some of these kids are from backgrounds where they know something might be against the law, but they think the law is wrong and they can do anything they want to do and just hope they don't get caught by a law enforcement agency.

[Bestbuck36]

Originally Posted by Sdgobucks

I'm not sure what you mean by cleaning up college football, but I guess you mean eliminated NCAA infractions, and clean up the image of the NCAA being full of a bunch of thugs.

1. Remove scholarships from any player that violates NCAA rules. Not necessarily kick them off the team, but if they want to play they have to pay. If they continue to violate rules, then kick them off the team.

2. Impose a admission standard for all schools.

3. Impose a rule where anyone convicted of a violent crime loses their scholarship, anyone conviced of three misdemeanors loses their scholarship, and anyone convicted of a felony loses their scholarship. If they want to pay their own way then let them.

Pretty good place to start right here I would think. Maybe paying the players a higher allowance to "afford" minor comforts that might lessen the hunger for bigger and better things. I know this kind of thing has been discussed ad nauseum but they probably do deserve a little more spending money since most of them put forth a great deal of effort in the classroom and on the field. Reward the student athletes that maintain whats expected of them and goes above and beyond such as AJ and Craig Krenzel to name a few. Punish those kids that have violations where it hurts the most, financially. A lot more could be done but I wouldn't be the one to come up with those things.

As far as the program goes. JT does a good job of gaining the respect of the families and players but I would try to instill a little bigger sense of responsibility in the players. I would instill a boot camp mentality from summer camp on. The players would know exactly where my staff stood on every topic I could think of and what the consequences were for breaking the trust between us. I would also try and provide proper individual recognition within the team for job well done, kids these days need to see both sides. I learned it in the military and it has made me a better person for having done so.

The bottom line is you can't keep everyone from trying to give the student athletes favors or benefits. The only thing you can do is try and get the student athlete to appreciate what they already have and make them not want to take anything they shouldn't.