You may have heard that an Oklahoma player has left the team in mid-season and announced plans to begin preparation for the NFL draft. While I’m not here to condone his decision, I can’t help but roll my eyes about Mike Stoops’ righteous indignation over it.
“Quitting on your teammates is hard to take, as a coach,” Mike Stoops said. “That’s everything we stand for — our commitment to one another and, for whatever reason, that wasn’t there for him…”
This, from a guy who once played as a scab when NFL players went on strike and when criticized for doing it, responded by saying, “I don’t give a damn what they think. I wasn’t trying to hurt anybody, and deep down, I think they know that. But if they feel that way, fine, don’t ever talk to me again”.
Is there a more consistently followed coaching mantra than do as I say, not as I do?
Get The Picture 
That asshole has zero room to judge ANYONE when he still has Joe Mixon toting the ball for him…
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Right. Any man who hits a woman back is a thug. Chivalry demands we take our lumps like gentlemen.
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He caved her face in, but sure, buddy. Wharever makes you feel better.
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No, I’m with you. Just because she pushed him and hit him first doesn’t mean he should hit her back. I’m teaching my daughter the same thing. She should be able to attack large men with impunity. Because equality.
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Amen brother
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Yea, a coach would never quit on his team and leave them all of a sudden after denying he would leave.. RIIIIIGGHHHTT..
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I said Todd Gurley should have done the same after he got suspended for selling his own signature.
Lattimore should have avoided his career ending injury. Clowney was a sure #1 pick. Why play as a junior?
Personally, I think that if at the end of your sophomore year you are a top ten NFL pick, you should sit and train.
The only acceptable alternative is the colleges purchase an insurance policy commiserate with the prospective value of your NFL career so that you are taken care of if the worst happens. You owe more to your family than your teammates and coaches, period.
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Let the HC issue the official team statement. The real issue is the medical condition of the individual moving forward. Taking his concussion issues to the nfl could be questionable, versus using the scholarship toward a long term career in supporting his family.
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Hillary should have quit 8 years ago
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I guess I’m just old school and in the minority these days. I understand the hypocrisy of coaches who can (and often do) leave at anytime being butt hurt over this type of thing, but I just can’t fathom quitting on my teammates mid-season. I played multiple sports in HS and wrestled at the collegiate level. I just can’t imagine quitting like that, and I also can imagine any of the guys I played with over the years quitting on me like that. I’ve always believed that one of the life lessons we are supposed to learn from playing sports is how to be a good teammate, how to come together as a team and play our butts off for the guy next to us. Perhaps I’m still holding on to an antiquated view of athletics, but being part of a team should still mean being part of a TEAM. I have a son who is 4 sport athlete, and I have raised him to be a good teammate and to be coachable. I would be horrified if he pulled something like this. But, I guess it’s a new age. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I should start teaching my son to just use his teammates to get to a certain level, then quit on them in the middle of the season (even if they are still in the hunt for a conference championship) if it suits his own interests. I guess that’s modern athletics.
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“if it suits his own interests”…I really don’t know his whole story, but maybe his own interests include his families interests too? They have a very small window to make a lifetimes worth of money, so this is a tough call. I do see your point tho.
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“They have a very small window to make a lifetimes worth of money…”
Hmmm. I wasn’t aware that athletes were prohibited from working other jobs after their days in pro sports are over.”
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They have a very small window to make a lot of money playing professional football. There I fixed it 🙂
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I tend to agree with you Doc, though I would be pretty understanding if a player from an impoverished family decided that supporting his family was the greater good. And there was a time when the exact same arguments you make were applied to players leaving for the draft before their senior year. (#34 comes to mind.)
But we can probably all agree that a millionaire coach publicly calling out a former player is tone-deaf/spiteful/immature/unproductive.
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I’ve never had a problem with players leaving early for the draft. That’s part of the game. It’s the quitting in the middle of the season part that bothers me the most. Perhaps there are some financial issues that have arisen that can’t wait one more month (3 more games) and his only way out was to sign with an agent to get the advance money. Or more likely, he is afraid of getting another concussion which could adversely affect his pro career. I understand all of that, and I’m not judging the kid because I don’t know all the facts. But something about it just doesn’t seem right to me, and I know it’s just how I was raised. However, we can definitely agree that Stoops crying about it a bit much. It would carry more weight coming from his teammates. However, his teammates would probably be supportive publicly if he is doing it for respectable reasons.
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“But we can probably all agree that a millionaire coach publicly calling out a former player is tone-deaf/spiteful/immature/unproductive.”
Which can only mean that it’s time for Big Game to put in for a pay raise and contract extension for his little brother Mike
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I’d feel the same way about commitment if the colleges were AS committed to the players. Don’t use empty platitudes and guilt when all that is needed is paying an insurance premium.
College coaches take no risks when it comes to their families and obligations. They should expect no less from the players.
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You have no reason to apologize Doc, it is the others here who show a lack of character by supporting some scabby guy who quit on his teammates. I feel there is a policy of having an insurance policy to allow protection that all isn’t lost, and he can also have gone to Canada or Europe to play if he wasn’t committed to his college program. I hope he doesn’t get drafted at all, not that the NFL won’t stoop to give him a contract anyway.
I have said before, CFB should be for student-athletes with no admission exceptions. Let those who place no value on a college education, and/or the college experience go to a development league funded by NFL teams or an entrepreneur. Would the number of players who can run a 4.3, or bench press 500 lbs go down? Sure, but the game would still be competitive without all the drama and associated bad behavior. There would only be a dozen or so teams to take all the opt outs someone would pay for anyway so there would be lots of talent left to put a good product on the field. Coaches like Satan, Corch, Petrino, etc., can leave and get paid by the big boys, and ESPN has plenty of inventory of programming space. Imagine the 2-3 teams from the Southeast that we could watch on Tuesday and Wednesday nights!
You and I are certainly in a minority in wanting players who would not leave their teammates hanging, but it doesn’t mean the schools and fans wouldn’t be better off for getting closer to true amateurism when all the facts are weighed years down the road. The idea that a dozen, or more, athletes might decide to not play just at the moment their teammates’ dreams are in sight is disgusting. The support for a breakout of similar examples all over the landscape would be applauded by those who say they are college fans is even more so. I don’t disagree that it is their “right”, but that is all the more reason to put an end to it on the front end by having a minor/development league for this type of athlete. There is room for both to exist, and I support letting it go that way as soon as possible. (Same applies to the basketball player that doesn’t want to be bothered with going through the motions of attending class…he is right, it is a hoax, so let him never set foot on campus in the first place.)
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That’s a great plan. It’s similar to my plan of frogs having wings so they don’t bump their asses hopping.
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Come on, dog. It’s a game. I would tell my son to think of himself first and foremost. If that means he quits mid season and his team loses every game from that point on, who gives a shit? It will certainly hurt the millionaires who make their livings off these unpaid youngsters. And I’m sure they appreciate your romantic notions of sacrificing oneself for the glory of others. But you can bet your ass that Stoops will lose this kids phone number as soon as his eligibility is up. Loyalty only goes one way in college football.
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Did Stoops feel the same about Spurrier quitting last season?
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Mike Stoops wants to know why anyone would walk out on a contract that runs through 2018 and pays $900K/year. Wait…what’s that you say? This laborer’s deal wasn’t anywhere near that sweet? I don’t care. I needed him to keep putting his ass on the line so that I could keep getting sweet deals like this. Mike Stoops’ wife burns money and she won’t be happy if the gravy train has to stop!
I’m Mike Stoops!
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He’s a man. He’s 54. But he doesn’t have all the answers.
“OU’s secondary has faced struggles all season, but this was a new level. So can it be fixed?
‘I don’t know,’ Stoops said”
http://www.soonersblog.com/2016/10/mike-stoops-calls-defensive-performance.html
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I guess since he has left they can quit paying him for …………. nevermind. But it is OSU so they might be saving some $ anyway.
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The guy has been out since their fourth game. The linked article states that he has not been cleared to play and his status probably wouldn’t have changed for this week. That would have left him with one final regular season game on 12/3 and a bowl game.
Coming into the year, he probably already had made up his mind that he would test the NFL Draft after his Junior year. Not only do concussions keep you out of football, they also have a tendency to make it difficult to study, go to class, concentrate in class, look at computers, etc. I am speculating here and do not have anything specific but he might have already known that even if was cleared for the final regular season game and/or the bowl game, he might not have been eligible to participate in the bowl game.
So he opted to move on and get healthy. If Stoops doesn’t like it then sue him.
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Guess I fall in the new thinking category. If they want to leave-leave. Loyalty in Div. 1 is as, well I can not think of anything that is above total and absolute hypocrisy. I used to think like some of the above did(not leaving or whatever you want to call it), but that went out the door years ago. I will agree with a developmental league, except I think it should be at the Div. 1 level. Have it as a club at the Div. 1 schools.
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High school sports usually involve coaches getting a $1000 stipend to accept a year’s worth of planning, headaches, and idiot fans heckling from the stands. Kids train hard to win some games and get killed in others. For 99% of the players, it’s nothing but a character building exercise, the scholarship ambitions-delusions of some of their parents notwithstanding. So quitting mid-season isn’t just bad form. It violates the reason you’re there. My kid’s high school has a firm rule – quit a sport, and you sit out any varsity sport the following semester. And I agree with it.
College sports, however, is a business, and the rules change. We don’t look kindly on quitting in this country, but we also don’t look kindly on using other people people as a means to an end. If Stoops has created a situation where his use of the player is no longer common ground with the player’s goals, then,,, see ya.
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Here is another one “quitting” on his team:
http://deadspin.com/oregons-devon-allen-leaves-team-to-focus-on-professiona-1789070452
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