Gamecocks Football Family Hit Again

There is news today that former South Carolina receiver O.J. Murdock, who was trying to make theTennessee Titans as a free agent, died yesterday from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Tampa after taking a leave from pro camp.  Murdock, only 25, played two years with South Carolina before transferring to Fort Hays State and was once a teammate of fellow WR Kenny McKinley, who took his own life in September of 2010.
Former South Carolina head coach and athletic director Jim Carlen, 79, recently passed away in Columbia.  Carlen went 46-36-1 in seven seasons at USC and took the Gamecocks to three bowls while helping RB George Rogers win the 1979 Heisman Trophy. He was also a successful coach at West Virginia and Texas Tech, compiling a 107-69-6 lifetime record.  He played LB and P at Georgia Tech and was a member of two national title winning teams there.  He later was defensive coordinator at his alma mater.

Penn State Punishment

Too harsh? Not harsh enough? Being that the Nittany Lions program was squeaky clean apart from this obscenely horrific situation, the NCAA apparently took the death penalty off the table.  And that is fine.  Shutting down the program would not have solved anything and the situation is rather unique--no, not that there are not other Sanduskys running around because sadly there are but that the era of a head coach being that entrenched to the point of everyone covering up a series of crimes to protect his and a program's reputation is over--so that you cannot use the punishment to dissuade others.  If Miami did continue to cheat after the NCAA stepped in a couple of years ago then they should be hammered to not only punish them but to make others notice.  That applies here only in the sense that the college football landscape needs to change a bit to respect its place in a larger society.  But of course that point can be made in terms of something horrific like child abuse but we tend to not notice the lack of commitment by programs jumping ship from their conferences or players being bought and sold in recruiting.  It is a mixed message and at times confusing.
As for Penn State, I firmly believe that they will emerge from this situation a healthier program as long as they continue to do all of the right things the program did for longer than Paterno's time in State College.  Recruit good kids who play hard and the wins will follow.  With the school now humbled they can focus on good play and a rebuilding of their reputation.  They remain the king in a state known for football and can rebound the way Alabama did after nearly being shut down themselves a decade ago.  The problem may be that we have not heard the end of this case.

View From Bennett Ave

Let's get the obvious fact out of the way concerning the troubles in Athens.  Former Georgia RB Isaiah Crowell is a bonehead.  There are no two ways about it.  He really screwed up by not only having an illegally possessed handgun in his car that reeked of pot (not found but gave the officers probable cause to search) but having it near a school.  At first glance, and I am certainly no expert, he should be facing some time in prison.  He will definitely not return to the team but that was a call that anyone outside of say Barry Switzer would have made.
And for that reason coach Mark Richt is not a hero in this story (there are none).  He did what he had to do and fortunately for him this happened now and not in late November or right before the South Carolina game (to the glee of Steve Spurrier).  The Bulldogs will survive as they have a few others talented players at the position and I really like freshman Keith Marshall.
Now young men have done stupid things like this for all of eternity.  My, ummm, 30th high school reunion is coming up tis fall and in the email exchange concerning the plans guys are reminiscing about the stupid things we did when young and oblivious to consequences.  The problem with guys like Crowell is that the attention they garner for making some nifty moves in high school games is way out of whack with reality.  And so their natural instinct to do the dumb things teenagers do is blown up multiple times over all while the focus on them is increased.  And to top it off they are surrounded by a group of stooges and leeches who are too stupid to steer this future money train out of danger.  Basically the clock was ticking on Crowell's time in Athens from last August and that he did not even make a full 12 months should not be a surprise.  Oh, and there will be plenty more like him.