SOD knows best, even when he’s not smart enough to figure it out.

Derek Dooley doesn’t cotton to those newfangled multi-year scholarships, no sirree.  Makes those players fat and lazy.

“We forget this is a contract, a two-way street,” Dooley said. “I think it’s humorous that the academic institution can give an academic scholarship and take it away when a student doesn’t perform at a certain GPA-level, but it’s absolutely the worst thing you can do as a coach — it’s so wrong what you do to these young people — when he doesn’t do what he’s supposed to do.”

And then, well, Dooley reminded the gathering of reporters that he has a background in law.

“I’m still trying to figure out what I’m missing,” he said. “You have these contracts. It’s called quid pro quo. We give you this. You give us that. But if they don’t give us that and we decide not to give them this, then it’s the worst thing you can do. I’m still struggling to understand that issue…”

The problem with the analogy, of course, is that GPA is a specifically defined term, whereas “that”… isn’t.  It’s little more than a coach’s whim.

Put it this way:  how would SOD react to an athletic director suggesting that his contract be set on a one-year, renewable basis, because that would make him a better coach?  I suspect he’d find all kinds of reasons to reject that kind of logic.

Speaking of logic, there’s nothing that says a four-year scholarship deal wouldn’t have its own set of quid pro quo.  It obviously would have to in order to be binding.  I’m not sure why this is so hard for Dooley to understand, but he acts as if it is:  “I’m not smart enough to figure it out. I have to spend more time on it before I give an opinion.”

Well, he could get a history lesson on the subject.  After all, the one-year scholarship wasn’t mandated until 1973.  Prior to then, multi-year arrangements were acceptable.  Back in the day, did coaches have problems with kids not giving them “that”?  Somehow, I doubt it.  But why speculate?  Fortunately, SOD knows somebody who coached in that era who could give him some answers about it.  That should make for a lively discussion at the Dooley family’s next Thanksgiving dinner.

22 Comments

Filed under College Football

22 responses to “SOD knows best, even when he’s not smart enough to figure it out.

  1. UGA Illuminati

    Shhh……, tone it down Senator. The man is doing a fine job.

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  2. Derek must’ve picked this stuff up when he was working under Saban. I find it hard to believe he would’ve gotten it from his dad.

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  3. Spike

    He must have flunked Contracts class.

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  4. Go Dawgs!

    Better question, how do you suppose SOD would react if UT athletics suddenly decided to use arbitrary statements like “he wasn’t giving it to us” to void his contract when it comes time to fire him, thus voiding his buyout?

    Keep offering one year contracts, SOD. Don’t be surprised if you start losing kids to schools offering multi-year contracts. It’s the free market!

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  5. Tybeedawg

    I’m not sure why this is so hard for Dooley to understand, but he acts as if it is: “I’m not smart enough to figure it out. I have to spend more time on it before I give an opinion.”

    SOD doesn’t have time for this shit!

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  6. Jason

    He’s trying his best to be mini-Saban and he’s an absolute train wreck.

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    • Comin' Down The Track

      Too right, Jason. Either be a dickhead or don’t. There ain’t no such thing as a half-assed dickhead.

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      • Dawgfan Will

        Phrasing. 😉

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      • Cojones

        I dunno. Looks like he is on the way to making that phrase entry into the Lexicon. Saban has already sewed up whole-ass dickhead.

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        • Cojones

          And Senator, would you mind to cease highlighting UGA Law School grads who become disfunctional through coaching at rival schools? I have friends, some who have graduated with honors from there and they wince when this happens. I’ve held them back as long as is possible from their writing of UV “rays” whatever the hell “that” is.

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  7. El Dawgo in El Paso

    We need to get UTk to give SOD an extension. He definitely fulfills his “that” with these type statements. Hate to lose his clever sound bites after he is fired next season.

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  8. This from the man who won’t let kids go when they no longer want to give “that” or can’t give “that” because their parents are dying in another part of the country.

    SOD, as do the rest of them, completely leaves out the fact that these kids have to sit out a year whether they are booted or leave on their own. Why is it Saban et al never address that?

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  9. ty

    funny dooley complains about that and then refuses to grant arnett his release to the school of his choice. we can cut you whenever we want but if you want to leave, good luck. the SEC is full of trash. yes, you guys are a more successful conference on the field because you are not playing by the same rules as everybody else. but when this new scholarship limit really starts hitting hard you will realize you aren’t the best coaches or have the best offensive or defensive schemes, you just had more players in a 4 year span than anybody else and were able to kick players to the curb who didnt live up the expectations on the field even though they were still in good academic standing. that isnt anything to be proud of, but i’m sure you will find some way to be proud no matter what of your favorite SEC team even though you never went to college.

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  10. Mayor of Dawgtown

    This is the only thing SOD has ever said publicly that I agree with.

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  11. Meg

    My only comment on the 1 year contract: coaches get paid hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars to make professional evaluations of the high school athletes. They can up and leave a program at any time with no penalty other than a buyout their new school usually ends up paying. Amateur athletes only get a small amount of credit in kind for the billions of dollars they are helping generate, and on top of that, can’t leave whenever they want and “move up” in the academic world. So, yeah the least of what a school should give them is the true opportunity to achieve the diploma regardless of how their athletic career turned out.

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  12. docidiot

    Academic scholarships operate on a “free market” basis. No one puts a cap on how much a student can take in on an academic scholarship. No one tells a student he/she cannot take classes for a year if they move from one institution to another (even if for more scholarship money). Of course, 90,000 people don’t pay whatever it is they pay to come see UGA’s Rhodes Scholars take a calculus test either. That’s the catch.

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    • Cojones

      Son-of-a-gun! I didn’t know you could buy tickets to that! I can just see it now, with a student’s desk on the 50yd line, the candidate running from the tunnel to center field, the cheers (Rah, Rah, Ree-kick’em in the knee; Rah, Rah, Rass-kick’em in the test-tickles), the hush falls on 90k people as he opens the first page, the razzing the proctor takes when it’s suggested the candidate is offsides by looking down into an iPhone for cribbing; wow, the posibilities of that being a spectator sport is endless!

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