[NU Sports] Nebraska

[hakirsch at aol.com]

Jim and the rest

I share some sympathy with your viewpoint on Lawrence Philips. I remember at the time viewing Nebraska in the same light as Oklahoma under Switzer (just jamming in all the Big 12/8 teams with their win at all cost mentality) but I realized that you have to  look at the totality of their program.

Bob Knight should probably have been fired for one incident at IU but it was only after several bad ones that he was let go.  

 The academics of UNL athletes has been pretty high,(I remember one year hearing that their OL had a 3.7 GPA). Their fans while intensely loyal are polite. After the debacle in san antonio they all expressed sympathy to me for the drubbing as opposed to trash talk. 
The program itself has been clean (ie no recruiting or academic violations that I can recall) 

As an aside, I live in SF where the Niners uncharacteristically took a chance on Phillips.  Protests were loud but they gave him a shot. It didn't work out 

Anyways I would have preferred ND (and maybe we still will get them but I doubt it) but Nebraska will add to the conference's reputation (and may even hurt NU bowl game opportunities)

Harry
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Leonard <jleonard518 at yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, 12 Jun 2010 19:54:38 
To: Northwestern Wildcats<nwu-sports at tssi.com>
Subject: [NU Sports] Nebraska

Fellow Wildcat Faithful,

I think I am the only one, but I am disappointed to see Nebraska joining the Big Ten. I know this is Mike's other team and I won't dwell on it. I'll simply state my opinion once and then add UNL to the list of red-wearing Big Ten teams I don't like.

Oddly, UNL and NU are liked in history by the year 1995. That's the year NU football came back to life and Nebraska football, in my opinion, became an embarrassment. After thumping Michigan State in East Lansing the Huskers returned to Lincoln. Sometime later that evening Lawrence Phillips physically assaulted a fellow scholarship athlete, Kate McEwan. Phillips pleaded no contest to misdemeanor trespassing and assault. 

Coaches are not responsible for the individual actions of their players. People are people and they can (and sadly will) make dumb choices. It has happened at NU when a few players decided to gamble in 1994, when Robbie Glanton snuck into female students dorm rooms at night, and when Donnie Holmes stole credit card numbers. You can lecture, teach, and advise, but you cannot prevent individuals from making bad choices. However, coaches can and must make the right decisions when such mistakes are made. 

I think Tom Osborne was wrong in 1995. I think Lawrence Phillips should have been kicked off the team. Perhaps a 1-year suspension and mandatory counseling would have been acceptable - perhaps. I know that for me, allowing Phillips back on the field in the same season was unacceptable. With the whole world watching Tom Osborne sent a pretty clear message that winning football games takes priority over violence against women at the University of Nebraska. 

I don't think a University should forever carry a black eye because of the decisions made in its past. I know that NU had a long period when black students had to live off campus and I have accepted that as an unpleasant mark on in university's history. In the case of Nebraska though, the man who made this awful decision 15 years ago still represents the school. Tom Osborne is still the face of Nebraska athletics. So, at least for me, the school is still linked directly to the embarrassment of 1995. I imagine that 20 years from now this will fade into history like so many other mistakes. For now seeing Tom Osborne represent the school makes me believe that the board of regents at UNL still doesn't think he was wrong. 

Victory & Honor,
Jim


      

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