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Tears Gator Tears

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When I was at UM, I was a tutor for the Athletic Department. Keep in mind, this was during the years when Alexander Wolff called our program a criminal enterprise, when he told Tad Foote to shut the program down.

And outside of a specific instance I know about (which went through The Honor Council) involving 2 players in a test situation who were accused of looking at another student's test paper, for which they were NOT found guilty, I can tell you that nothing like what just happened at UF ever happened at UM when I was there (and I heard PLENTY of the "other" stories about behavior at parties, clubs, etc.). Players that I worked with, both individually and in groups, stayed for the entire time they were being tutored. And these were "supposedly" among the worst-behaved and "most criminal" of the Miami football players who ever attended The U.

Some of you know Dr. Anna Price, she kept a tight rein on the Academic Support program. It wasn't just some kind of "keep the kids eligible" boondoggle. If you ever went to her office, she had photo after photo from years worth of athletes who were proud to have GRADUATED, some of whom may have been the first in their family to graduate from college (as I was too). Dr. Price would devise individual study plans for every athlete, based on ability and coursework, and some had to do "more tutoring" while others required fewer hours. And the players did well. Miami had eliminated most of the "jock majors" and a good percentage of the athletes were in the School of Business with me. ****, I remember a group project that I did that included both QB Craig Erickson and LS George Michael, we got an A.

The bottom line is that Miami (and JJ's approach to the issue, after Schnellenberger had let too many academic issues slide) has a very legitimate, genuine, and individual approach to helping athletes transition from (often lesser) high school academics to college academics. I tutored Hi-C when he was academically ineligible due to Prop 48, and I helped him to make up for his lack of higher level HS math classes, so that he could handle Business Calc.

A lot of detail gets overlooked when people comment on academic support and tutoring. When I was at UM, the athletes didn't disrespect me or other tutors because they knew they would have to deal with Dr. Price. I knew when certain players were "not played in a game" because they had "broken a team rule" that basically involved not doing their required study hall/tutoring hours.

Anyhow, I know that the NCAA APR rules are something that has arisen over the past 10 or 15 years, but I can tell you that UM has been serious about academic support for the athletes since JJ took the job as head football coach in the 1980s. And people need to stop making excuses for poorly-behaved athletes "because they are young and dumb". I know that people can ***** up sometimes, but most of these college athletes grew up playing at least one sport that uses conformity and discipline to build teamwork and production. The team-sport athletes do better when the rules are enforced, as opposed to people making excuses for them. I've seen our football team, in particular, struggle when there is "star-treatment" given to certain players.

But, sure, we are going to keep hearing stories out of Gainesville about how "no charges were pressed" or that a person being choked "could talk and breathe". Think about that, and then think about why you rarely hear the same kinds of stories at UM. I'm not saying they NEVER happen, I'm just saying that UM does a better job of ACTUALLY dealing with these problems than most schools do. The Gaytors (among others) are a school that tends to react to problems, they do just enough to get by. UF is one of the schools that treats academic support as an "eligibility maintenance" program. Doesn't matter how many athlete study halls they build (they are just trying to compete with other SEC schools), the effort is not genuine and the outcomes are evidence of that.
 
If you don't believe me, here are a few nuggets on Aaron Hernandez during his stellar academic career at UF:

"His classes his first year included bowling, theater appreciation, wildlife issues, and a course entitled "plants, gardening and you."" (Hernandez got Bs)

"He made the conference honor roll during his sophomore year, but as a junior got a D in a class on poverty and did not complete his second attempt at an introductory statistics class."



Intro to Stats. That is a 200 level business course at UM that is a pre-requisite for several upper-level business courses. A UM athlete who can't handle that class wouldn't be able to make any academic progress.

Keep this in mind, too. At UF, most students are just general students for the first 2 years, they have to "apply" to get into a particular college or school. At UM, you are in your college or school from Day 1. State schools with jock majors are the only places that let you take "bowling", "theater appreciation", "wildlife issues" and "plants, gardening & you" as first year "electives". And how can you take a class on "poverty" as a JUNIOR?
 
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TheOriginalCane said:
"Complainant opted not to pursue charges"?

SHE WAS EMPLOYED BY UF AS A TUTOR OF ATHLETES. It is VERY COMMON for people to "opt not to pursue charges" WHEN IT INVOLVES THEIR JOBS.

"She could breathe and talk"? Hmmm, either Huggins is the kindest and gentlest woman-choker of all time, or SHE IS JUST MINIMIZING WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED. How many of us have ever been in a dispute where (a) the other person was so angry that he/she tried to choke you, but (b) the choking was so light and friendly that you could breathe and carry on a full conversation with your assailant?

This "investigation" is the equivalent of when the F$U Athletic Director kindly and gently asked Adrian McPherson whether he stole the checkbook from the booster, and when Adrian denied it, the investigation was closed due to lack of evidence.

OF COURSE a person who is employed by UF, and doesn't want to lose her job, might POSSIBLY not tell you how serious, violent, and frightening the incident actually was. OF COURSE she might choose not to press charges. OF COURSE she might say that she could "breathe and talk".

But, nooooo, Thomas Goldkunt wants to act as if NOTHING HAPPENED. You know, because charges were not pressed. Because people NEVER "opt not to pursue charges" out of fear.

This guy can claim to be a "reporter", but he is nothing of the sort. He has no journalistic ethics and he asks ZERO relevant questions.

Goldkunt HAD THE INFORMATION, yet it was another reporter who had to ask Mullet about the strangulation incident.
Click to expand...

He’s not a real journalist, if this was before social media age guy wouldn’t be writing anything. He’s no more than a fan who runs a web site of his favorite team. Subscriptions he gets and his team winning is what he cares about.

Dan LeBetard who many hate because of pursuing a story about our Hurricanes is actually a true journalist because he separates fandom from truth.
 
TheOriginalCane said:
When I was at UM, I was a tutor for the Athletic Department. Keep in mind, this was during the years when Alexander Wolff called our program a criminal enterprise, when he told Tad Foote to shut the program down.

And outside of a specific instance I know about (which went through The Honor Council) involving 2 players in a test situation who were accused of looking at another student's test paper, for which they were NOT found guilty, I can tell you that nothing like what just happened at UF ever happened at UM when I was there (and I heard PLENTY of the "other" stories about behavior at parties, clubs, etc.). Players that I worked with, both individually and in groups, stayed for the entire time they were being tutored. And these were "supposedly" among the worst-behaved and "most criminal" of the Miami football players who ever attended The U.

Some of you know Dr. Anna Price, she kept a tight rein on the Academic Support program. It wasn't just some kind of "keep the kids eligible" boondoggle. If you ever went to her office, she had photo after photo from years worth of athletes who were proud to have GRADUATED, some of whom may have been the first in their family to graduate from college (as I was too). Dr. Price would devise individual study plans for every athlete, based on ability and coursework, and some had to do "more tutoring" while others required fewer hours. And the players did well. Miami had eliminated most of the "jock majors" and a good percentage of the athletes were in the School of Business with me. ****, I remember a group project that I did that included both QB Craig Erickson and LS George Michael, we got an A.

The bottom line is that Miami (and JJ's approach to the issue, after Schnellenberger had let too many academic issues slide) has a very legitimate, genuine, and individual approach to helping athletes transition from (often lesser) high school academics to college academics. I tutored Hi-C when he was academically ineligible due to Prop 48, and I helped him to make up for his lack of higher level HS math classes, so that he could handle Business Calc.

A lot of detail gets overlooked when people comment on academic support and tutoring. When I was at UM, the athletes didn't disrespect me or other tutors because they knew they would have to deal with Dr. Price. I knew when certain players were "not played in a game" because they had "broken a team rule" that basically involved not doing their required study hall/tutoring hours.

Anyhow, I know that the NCAA APR rules are something that has arisen over the past 10 or 15 years, but I can tell you that UM has been serious about academic support for the athletes since JJ took the job as head football coach in the 1980s. And people need to stop making excuses for poorly-behaved athletes "because they are young and dumb". I know that people can ***** up sometimes, but most of these college athletes grew up playing at least one sport that uses conformity and discipline to build teamwork and production. The team-sport athletes do better when the rules are enforced, as opposed to people making excuses for them. I've seen our football team, in particular, struggle when there is "star-treatment" given to certain players.

But, sure, we are going to keep hearing stories out of Gainesville about how "no charges were pressed" or that a person being choked "could talk and breathe". Think about that, and then think about why you rarely hear the same kinds of stories at UM. I'm not saying they NEVER happen, I'm just saying that UM does a better job of ACTUALLY dealing with these problems than most schools do. The Gaytors (among others) are a school that tends to react to problems, they do just enough to get by. UF is one of the schools that treats academic support as an "eligibility maintenance" program. Doesn't matter how many athlete study halls they build (they are just trying to compete with other SEC schools), the effort is not genuine and the outcomes are evidence of that.
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Appreciate you sharing
 
MiamiChris said:
He’s not a real journalist, if this was before social media age guy wouldn’t be writing anything. He’s no more than a fan who runs a web site of his favorite team. Subscriptions he gets and his team winning is what he cares about.

Dan LeBetard who many hate because of pursuing a story about our Hurricanes is actually a true journalist because he separates fandom from truth.
Click to expand...


I would also say that LeBatard (who was my classmate for several years, and we both lived in Eaton as well) actually goes well beyond fandom, in the fact that he used a lot of information that he gained on a PERSONAL level (i.e., being on-campus friends with many of the football players in the 1980s) and he parlayed that personal info into his earliest Herald articles that reported negative incidents involving UM football players.

I may not be a huge fan of LeBatard's, but in his younger days, he would write an expose on his grandmother if it would have advanced his journalistic career.
 
TheOriginalCane said:
I would also say that LeBatard (who was my classmate for several years, and we both lived in Eaton as well) actually goes well beyond fandom, in the fact that he used a lot of information that he gained on a PERSONAL level (i.e., being on-campus friends with many of the football players in the 1980s) and he parlayed that personal info into his earliest Herald articles that reported negative incidents involving UM football players.

I may not be a huge fan of LeBatard's, but in his younger days, he would write an expose on his grandmother if it would have advanced his journalistic career.
Click to expand...

Part of the reason I am laughing when he complains about being "evicted from his home" during the recent local radio shake up. Dude would not have a career to feed his three chins if he did not rat out people that trusted him and welcomed him into their circle.
 
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RVACane said:
God bless you. I’m glad you did this in a professional way as well so as not to allow him an easy out for extraneous reasons.
Click to expand...

Thank you.

I can be pretty crude and vulgar on here, but I know the most effective use of language is without vulgarities. Especially in that context. I let the context and the strength and logic of my argument be the focal point.
 
www.orlandosentinel.com

Dan Mullen defends program after another Gator linked to violence against women

UF coach Dan Mullen defended his program’s values after a fourth incident involving a Gator and violence against women surfaced Monday. Florida sophomore defensive back John Huggins was accus…
www.orlandosentinel.com www.orlandosentinel.com


Relevant excerpts:

Charges ultimately were not filed in any of the cases, a point Mullen emphasized when addressing reporters on Tuesday. The incidents, however, drew negative attention to UF during the offseason and possibly played a factor in top recruit Chris Steele’s decision to leave the program this past spring.

WHAT? YOU MEAN IT WASN'T "HOMESICKNESS"? I AM SHOCKED!

“We do a lot of education on our team with that stuff. Obviously I’m a big anti-violence against women person,” said Mullen, who has a wife, Megan, and two children, including a daughter, Breelyn.

OH, SURE. "OBVIOUSLY". WAIT, WHY IS IT SO "OBVIOUS" AGAIN? CAN YOU HUMOR ME AND JUST GIVE ME THE EVIDENCE THAT IS SO "OBVIOUS"? JUST ONE TIME, HELP ME OUT WITH THE "OBVIOUS" PART, I MUST HAVE MISPLACED THE "OBVIOUS" STUFF. OH, AND YOU KNOW WHO ELSE HAS A FAMILY THAT INCLUDES PARENTS AND SIBLINGS? THE FEMALE TUTOR THAT WAS CHOKED!

“I’m also a person that I really want to have all of the information as I make decisions and what happens in different situations and that’s one of the toughest deals. Because you want to give people an opportunity to have rights, like everybody else in the United States are supposed to. But everybody wants to see ‘what are we doing’ instantly."

OH, AND YOU KNOW WHO ELSE SHOULD HAVE "RIGHTS" LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE IN THE UNITED STATES? VICTIMS OF CRIMES!

Huggins, one of the team’s breakout players during the spring, has not practiced with the Gators since preseason camp opened July 26.

THE AUTHOR COULD HAVE ENDED THE ARTICLE ON THIS SENTENCE, AS IT EXPLAINS EVERYTHING WE NEEDED TO KNOW ABOUT WHY HUGGINS HAS NOT BEEN KICKED OFF THE TEAM (WELL, THAT AND THE INITIAL COUNTER RULES).

A day after the team staged its first of two scrimmages during preseason camp, Mullen said Huggins is not the only player who is sitting out. “We had several guys miss the scrimmage yesterday for different reasons, taking care of different issues, stuff they have to handle personally, stuff they have to handle for me,” Mullen said. “Nothing that we don't have a great handle on, on each one of them.”

HANDLING STUFF FOR YOU, MULLET? LIKE WHAT? DID THEY HAVE TO PICK UP YOUR DRY-CLEANING? OH, BUT AS LONG AS YOU HAVE A "GREAT HANDLE" ON IT, THERE IS NO NEED FOR AN EMPLOYEE AT A STATE SCHOOL TO HAVE TO PROVIDE ANY PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OR TRANSPARENCY.

Mullen said Huggins’ absence throughout camp is not related to an Oct. 1 incident at the Otis Hawkins Center for academics. “That’s all been handled,” Mullen said.

HANDLED HOW? AGAIN, ZERO TRANSPARENCY. AND IT IS VERY POSSIBLE TO DISCIPLINE A KID FOR AN ACCUMULATION OF TRANSGRESSIONS.

A UF spokesman said Huggins has not been a camp due to a “family issue.”

AS IN, "THE FEMALE THAT HUGGINS CHOKED HAS A FAMILY TOO"?

Huggins, a reserve defensive back and special teams player last season, appeared during the 2018 Gators first five games. He did not play during the five games following the Oct. 1 incident, but appeared in UF’s final three games of the season.

SO, LET'S SEE, MULLET PUT HUGGINS ON DOUBLE-SECRET PROBATION LAST YEAR AND TOLD NO ONE. BUT WE ARE SUPPOSED TO HAVE FAITH IN MULLET TO DO THE RIGHT THING. BECAUSE "OBVIOUSLY".

Mullen said some of the games missed were punishment for the incident with the tutor. “That was part of it. I mean, he was a true freshman, so he only was going to play in some games anyway for us,” Mullen said. “But his punishment was handled when all that happened.”

IN CASE YOU NEEDED TO BE REMINDED THAT HUGGINS IS BEING KEPT AROUND BECAUSE HE IS A "BREAK OUT PLAYER", MULLET ESSENTIALLY ADMITS THAT HE ONLY DOUBLE-SECRET SUSPENDED HUGGINS BECAUSE HE WAS A "TRUE FRESHMAN" WHO WASN'T GOING TO PLAY IN ALL OF THE GAMES ANYHOW. THINK ABOUT THIS. IF HUGGINS HAD BEEN NEEDED MORE, HE WOULD HAVE PLAYED MORE.

“How many of them are actually charged?” Mullen said.

AND REALLY, THIS IS WHAT IT ALL COMES DOWN TO. IF THE GAINESVILLE/UF COMMUNITY CAN COAX, INTIMIDATE, OR PEER-PRESSURE ANY VICTIM OF A CRIME PERPETRATED BY AN ATHLETE INTO NOT PRESSING CHARGES, THEN IT IS LIKE A TREE FALLING IN THE FOREST.

The 47-year-old Mullen, who is entering his 11th season as a head coach, said handling incidents involving violence against women is a balancing act given the position he holds. “The hardest situation a coach is going to get into in dealing with anything in a lot of today’s world that could get into a sexual assault is when you get into a he said, she said situation,” Mullen said. “There’s two different stories, I guess, that are being reported. My job as a head coach is not to go in and investigate all that, I hear, here’s one report, here’s the other report. They don’t match up. And it’s not my job to really make that decision on campus with how that works."

GOSH, POOR POOR MULLET. HIS JOB IS SO HUUUURRRRD. IF ONLY HE LIVED IN WORLD WHERE CRIME VICTIMS AND CRIME PERPETRATORS COULD GET THEIR STORIES STRAIGHT, SO THAT THEIR REPORTS MATCHED UP. OH, IT'S THE "HARDEST SITUATION" THAT A COACH CAN HANDLE, I'M SO GLAD HE'S GETTING $10 MILLION TO HANDLE SUCH A CHALLENGING JOB.

“I have to manage the situation, manage my players on those types of things and let the university process play or the legal process play its course.”

OH, WAIT, HE DOESN'T HAVE TO DO THE ACTUAL HARD WORK. WHY IS HE GETTING PAID SO MUCH AGAIN?

“Dan does a really good job at creating accountability,” Stricklin who worked with Mullen at Mississippi State, said. "Sometimes accountability is negative consequences."

"SOMETIMES". OR, MORE ACCURATELY, "NEVER AT UF".

“I have teenage daughters I have not figured out how to make the decisions for them."

SO, STRICKLIN, DO YOU HAVE TO COACH YOUR TEENAGE DAUGHTERS ON HOW NOT TO STRANGLE TUTORS?

Mullen’s support staff member Otis Yelverton also was arrested and charged on April 22 for third-degree felony cyberstalking a former girlfriend. Yelverton, the football program’s assistant director of player personnel, was arrested and charged April 22.

I JUST LIKE THAT THE SENTINEL INCLUDED THIS LITTLE NUGGET.
 
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