Yesterday, Spurrier had his annual media golf outing. After the tournament was over, Spurrier addressed the media in an informal press conference. Unfortunately, he took the opportunity to criticize a Clemson website for allegedly emailing reports of arrests involving USC football players to high school prospects. Naturally, despite everything else Spurrier said, this comment is the red meat that the local media and everyone else have been devouring over the last twenty four hours. Quite frankly, when it comes to USC’s off the field issues, it needs to be the last time he makes a public comment on the subject.
Before engaging in this discussion, there are a few facts that need to be ironed out:
1. The rest of the world does not care how many football players have been arrested at a certain school unless ESPN does a story on them.
Ok, pop quiz – what do Missouri, West Virginia, Penn State, and Kent State have in common? They are all well ahead of USC in the Fulmer Cup Standings. The Fulmer Cup is a poll that keeps track of criminal charges brought against college athletes. The more serious the crime, the more points the school gets. http://www.sportsargumentwiki.com/index.php?title=Fulmer_Cup The bottom line is the Gamecocks are just like every other school. They have problems. Compared to its SEC brethren, they are on the low end when it comes to criminal charges and convictions. And unless one player from USC gets arrested once a month for the next three years, they are no where near Penn State's struggles over the last few years.
2. Acknowledging internet sites only gives them credibility they do not deserve.
Putting up an internet site to spout facts and opinion does not take a whole lot of effort. Trust me. Any moron can go on a website chat room or message board and start talking about what they heard from somebody’s cousin. You have to take what you see on these sites with a grain of salt. Spurrier acknowledging one of them only gives it credibility. Trust me, there are plenty of sick people out there who let recruits know every time the rival school stubs their toe. Having a website do it is just one more sicko.
3. Saying that you do not have a problem only makes people think that you do have a problem.
Spurrier needs to have a blanket statement that he makes when he is asked a question about an off the field problem. “The athletic department and the university are looking into the matter and we will determine the appropriate course of action.” That’s it. Plain and simple. No public laboring over what happened and what the punishment should be. If he continues to talk about it, especially unprovoked like yesterday, it just sends a signal that there is a problem that he feels needs to be addressed. The more attention Spurrier gives it, the more people watching and listening think, “wow, things must be pretty bad over there.” Keep the public on a need to know basis, and the public pretty much needs to know nothing.
4. In Columbia, everything is given more attention than it deserves.
When it comes to college athletics, this town is sick. It has problems. Columbia is the media capital of the state. There are seven million local sports shows that have nothing to talk about between April and August. The largest newspaper in the state is located in Columbia. There are no pro sports. Not even a Columbia Mets team to talk about. As such, it’s all Gamecocks, all the time. That can be good and bad. Every positive and every negative is blown completely out of proportion. There are enough people in this town that will labor over off the field issues without Spurrier himself doing it. Every time some player is arrested, Columbia works itself into a pointless frenzy. It is completely absurd.
5. If you win, it makes no difference.
Drive about three hours to the west and there is a little town called Athens, Georgia. You know what people in Athens are talking about? Whether or not the Dawgs can run the table and win the SEC. You know what they are not talking about? How Little Johnny got arrested for DUI and carrying a concealed weapon. Winning cures everything. If being a nice guy and having your players not get into trouble meant anything, no coach would ever get fired. In the case of Dave Odom, it may buy you one more year. The bottom line in Division I-A college athletics is how much a coach wins – period. What happens off the field is only held against a coach when he goes 3-9.
Ok, now that we have established some things, let’s get to Spurrier’s comments. He just needs to let this thing go. Mentioning it does more harm than good. Any idiot that follows college athletics knows that USC’s off the field woes are no different than anywhere else. Players get arrested. Thirty years ago, a policeman would call the coach and tell him he needs to come get his player. Those days are over. Now they go to jail and it gets put in the newspaper. The correct course of action when they get arrested is to gather the facts, administer a punishment, and move on. Worrying about what people that support other schools are saying is pointless. College football is one giant neighborhood of glass houses.
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