If he meets all requirements. I just thought I would post this before someone else did with a few thug etc comments. Dunlap To Be Allowed To Play If He Meets Requirements
With out further explanation, it does seem that Dunlap is getting special treatment because the football team needs him. Meyer says it's because it's his first offense, but is that the norm do all UF students get the first offense exception?
Terry, I cannot answer that question. What I can comment on with a fair amount of confidence is that at most schools with a major football program there are differences in the way the average student is treated and the way star athletes are treated.
By the way it is not unanimous among Gator fans that this is the right decision. Lots of differences of opinion on GatorCountry.
To be honest Bill it seems duplicitous on Meyers part to talk about the importance of discipline and accountability one hand and on the other decide that an important player on the team be given a break because it was his first time. Has Dunlap even finished the judical process yet? It would seem to me that at best he shouldn't play till his legal process has run it's course. At Texas we had 2 kids get into the same kind of trouble over Thanksgiving weekend and they will not play again this year. In fact one of them was eerily like Dunlap, he was arrested asleep in his car after reports of driving erratically. Of course neither player was anywhere close to Carlos Dunlap in importance to the team. The last important player that I can think of that got a DUI was Sergio Kindle who got one during the summer a couple of years ago and was suspended for the 1st 3 games of the season. I don't believe Texas even makes a decision till the legal process is finished though. I do know that at ND he would not play again this year absolutely. We have a couple of those in the last 5 years. 1 guy a Sr in the middle of his season got a DUI while at home on an off week. Never played again. I guy got caught driving a golf cart while intoxicated and faced discipline and later got a MIP and was expelled.
Along this same line...but not. Supposedly the big sticking point in the negotiations with Bob Stoops and the one that eventually sunk the effort. Was that Stoops knowing that discipline of players was 100% out of his hands for anything beyond strictly football issues like being late for practice, missing practice, etc. But break a University rule, or get in trouble with the law, he was not in the decision making process. I'm sure that he saw that over the years ND has suspended, players for the year for things that at OU would not get them in trouble at all or would result in losing 1 or 2 games. He supposedly wanted to be able to get involved directly in that and not have his players face what is called Residential Life at ND ( disciplinary committee). He didn't want to lose a player to something that at most schools wouldn't be a problem. He wanted a looser ship. He didn't get it and said no way.
Well I feel like a hypcrite now: Unless Brown after meeting with the player and his family, tells them he'll be welcome back in the spring if he stays sober. DUI Dropped
Terry, Are you certain that the conversations/negotiations you describe above regarding Stoops actually took place? I find that hard to believe. Swarbrick said that Kelly was the only person ND spoke with. I believe him. He has no reason to say it if it's not true. I certainly can see that the search firm would have made an initial inquiry, but that would have been on an entirely different - and preliminary - level. How could Stoops possibly have had the kind of conversation you describe with a search firm who would not be in a position to talk about such specific matters?
Terry, what Meyer has done here is very consistent with the way I see him. He allows people to earn their way back, most have not made it but a few do. And I have to in all honesty say that I don't want my team to have the same model that Notre Dame has, that's fine for the Irish but I don't think we have to copy anyone and I think in the bigger picture you would find that our discipline polices are on a par with most schools and tougher than some. One time someone said the following to me, people like to think we live in a black and white world, but in reality it's all a big gray area. I've always remembered that and agree.
Oh, the Sugar Bowl game. Sales may be lagging, but I know serveral folks who are outside the normal eligibility criteria who heard this and called to see if they could get tickets. They could not get a guarantee that they would get them or where they would be. Also some of our fans have found out they can purchase tickets either at the game on online for the same or less money. The feeling on GatorCountry is that there will be a lot of Gator fans at the game.
Well Mack reinstated DJ Monroe for the NC game. He got some sort of plea agreement that knocked the DUI down to something lesser thus giving Mack the wiggle room to let him back. It stinks. He did miss 3 games, but it's not enough. He shouldn't be playing. I've lost some respect for Mack. Even worse, IMHO, a player (Christian Scott, S) who was academically ineligible for the fall semester is also being let back and will on the roster for the NC Game. Apparently there is a loop hole that allows this since the fall semester is offically over at Texas. That also stinks, more respect for Mack going out the window for me.
Terry, I think sometimes we need to remember that we were their age once and in college, maybe had to much to drink a time or so and even partied if we wanted. Choices have consequences, but I also say say that having some compassion is not wrong and that each case should stand on it's own. These players are only in college for a very short time and I think the coaches are in the best position to judge how to handle it. That does not mean I think every coach handles it right. But three high profile situations this year were the Florida, Texas and Oregon. Since I don't have enough facts to say the coaches were wrong then I am not going to criticize any one of the three. Like I said somewhere, here or on GatorCountry, someone gave me a gem of wisdom I have remembered a long time.
We were all young once and did these same stupid things. When we were pulled over drunk they would make you park your car and then they would give you a ride home. They should have locked us up and imponded our cars and made our parents come get us. And then we should have lost our licenses.... like today. I have had first hand, up close experience with drunk drivers twice in my life including two fatalities. My son the trooper has scraped up six victims in his 4+ years on the job including watching one guy burn alive while the drunk who hit him was trying to flee the scene on foot. These "men" should not be playing football.... or driving.
George, I would say that these three guys all got more bad publicity that what you say some of us should have gotten. Which I agree with by the way. However I will just have to respectively disagree and let it go at that. Have a Merry Christmas. We will be leaving for Atlanta then from there to Florida tomorrow.
I think that statement is backwards... at least for me it is. I think that the world is too much of a gray area now and needs to move back, not fully, but in the direction of black and white. (read good and bad - not the racial black and white) The more "gray" we get, the less these kids know the difference (read consequences) between good and bad. I don't agree with George very often but this time, we are in total agreement. When the consequences are mild, there is no reason to not repeat the behavior. Bill, When you were in college, the amount of cars on the road were probably 1/3 that of today. Drunk driving fatalities were usually single vehicle accidents. The public opinion was not what it is today. We are educated to the fact that alcohol behind the wheel kills. Those that tend to ignore that education must be educated in a different way... incarceration or at a minimum, suspension from activities near and dear to their heart.
I don't think missing the bowl game is too harsh a punishment for these kids. They shouldn't be banned for life or anything. But telling them that they need to do community service, attend alcohol education classes and being ready to go next spring if they have eligibility left or going to the NFL if they are draftable to me is not to harsh. I think it sets a tone for the kids that there are serious consequences and sends a message to the other players on the team. But Bill is right, as I've seen with Texas, it isn't the way most schools do it. I do wonder those if that Texas player or the Gator had been walkons or 4th stringers would Brown and Meyer gone to bat for them. That's my problem, it appears that the Bowl game is foremost in the minds of Mack and Urban. I thought maybe Mack would step up but he disappointed me.
Tom, how anyone can think the consequences to the three people I listed were small I don't understand. They have missed games but the biggest consequence is how their behavior is spread all over the news, internet etc. You and George no doubt do not agree with me, but I think those consequences are real and will have much more influence on these three guys than more game suspensions. Just my opinion but we will just have to agree to disagree.
That is becoming more obvious by the day. You still defend the actions of your coach with a 1/2 game suspension over the mighty opponent Vandy. Even the suspended player knew that was not appropriate. But you stuck to your orange and blue viewpoint. Maybe, just maybe in 5 years, when the Vol program is having less repeat offenders and Florida is going in the opposite direction, you will be able to sit back and reflect on this moment in time and think: Maybe I shouldn't have disagreed. I hope for your sake that does not happen. I would rather lose a few games now than have problems perpetuated. I will take the disciplinarian style of Kiffin any day. Fulmer used to be that way in the mid 90's. He became lenient in his later years and that was his undoing.