Orlando Sentinel: UCF player died following intense mat drills (UPDATED)

And if any Division IA coach tries to do what he does, he had better win. If not, every local columnist will trot out former linemen who drank their way out of football to talk about how soft the coach is and how a coach needs to treat his players like shit.
Then the coach will be fired, of course.

 

In college, we had something called fifth quarter.
The whole idea was to make as many people as possible throw up.
Hard-core running drills. Jumping. No water. It was a wonder that no one died.
Nothing has really chaged. Spring football article in the paper a couple days back talked about the drills the strength coach was making the players do. Carrying teammates up flights of stairs. That sort of thing.

 

Couple more stories out now.
Former QB saying O'Leary will punish the whole team until the players who spoke out come forward and a columnist calling O'Leary out for intimidation factors.

Anyone else think O'Leary will still have his job after this is all said and done?

 

Kyle Hightower is one of the smartest reporters I've ever met -- newsside or sportside -- in 40 years of journalism. And he's one of the best writers I've ever known.
No, we're not related.

 

I wonder. The Orlando reporting – quite excellent, by the way – does not paint him in a very favorable light.

 

Judging by the readers' comments in each story I've read about it, most readers seem to feel The Orlando reporting was far from excellent, bordering on irresponsible.

 

I've thought O'Leary was a douchebag ever since his days at Ga. Tech, and nothing that's happened in the past month has changed my mind. And it's my opinion that the reporting done by Hoppes' crew has been remarkably solid.

Yet I find it somewhat flimsy that the header and the focus in that interview transcript is that a former quarterback with a grudge is suggesting something that he thinks O'Smeary will "probably" do.

I'm fine with Moffett speaking about his experiences with him and thoughts on his character, or lack thereof. That's pertinent information. But using that pullquote in the header, I think, tiptoes onto the sketchy side.

 

A player DIED and O'Leary wants to keep it under wraps?

Yeah, punishing players is going to go over real huge. Good job losing your team, George.

 

Interesting in that the original story Hightower writes that the workout was in 'PREPARATION FOR THE OPENING OF THE KNIGHTS' SPRING PRACTICE."

I read that to mean it wasn't one of the 15 allowed practices. And if that's the case: Why were the football coaches there?

EDIT: I see that the coaches were within a small window allowed by the NCAA and thus were in compliance.

 

Bob: All athletes are supposed to undergo physicals. They're NCAA mandated, if memory serves.

The problem is there are holes in the system, just like when I had to get a physical before playing HS hoops.

Some heart conditions aren't picked up by standard physicals. You'd have to do specific tests designed to uncover such conditions. And even then some can slip through.

I fear this young man had some sort of heart condition that had gone undetected. I mean, how many parents are going to run their kids through such specific tests just in case he/she has a heart ailment.

Also, every practice/workout I've ever attended has members of the training/medical staff in attendance.

 

According to the Sentinel, the UCF Athletics Association Catastrophic Incident Guideine manual "instructs the head coach to encourage other student-athletes to NOT discuss the incident."

Translation: School officials checked with legal counsel when putting together the guideline and they were told to keep the players quiet.

 

I understand if, for legal reasons, they don't want players to comment. But if O'Leary is going to punish the entire team because someone did comment, it's counterproductive. And if a player defies the rule, then the player should be punished, not the entire team.