Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Upon Further Review Suspensions And Arrests Have Folks Talking By Todd D. Burlage Troubling but true, police blotters and suspension lists now swell like soufflés every offseason across the NCAA football landscape, and Notre Dame is not exempt. It’s a shame to say, but if suspension statistics were kept, 2012 would set a record for football players gone wild. The reports say it all. More than 25 Football Bowl Subdivision programs had at least one player arrested during the offseason — that’s more than 20 percent of all 120 FBS schools. Interestingly, six teams on the Notre Dame schedule this year — Michigan, Purdue, Pittsburgh, Boston College, USC and Stanford — suffered player arrests this offseason, and those are only the ones to hit the headlines. Head coaches from three other Irish opponents — BYU, Oklahoma and even Navy — also doled out player suspensions and/or dismissals for team rule violations during the offseason. Let’s be clear: the recent suspensions for Notre Dame — starting tailback Cierre Wood and backup linebacker Justin Utupo — were not arrest related. Irish head coach Brian Kelly said the two players earned their two-game penance by violating team rules. But clearly, Kelly is not immune to legal troubles and player indiscretions, to the point where the Irish fan base is beginning to wonder if there is a disciplinary pattern growing at Notre Dame, and where the accountability for recent episodes falls. Since Kelly was introduced as the new boss in December 2009, at least 13 of his players have been cited or arrested, almost all for alcohol-related crimes. In March 2011, the Notre Dame football program grabbed all the headlines for all the wrong reasons when star wide receiver Michael Floyd was arrested on campus for operating a vehicle while intoxicated — his third alcohol-related arrest since 2009. And almost exactly one year later, junior quarterback Tommy Rees and senior linebacker Carlo Calabrese piled up numerous misdemeanor charges when Rees tried to flee a police raid at an off-campus party, with Calabrese serving as his bully wingman. The high-profile suspensions of 2011 starters Wood and Rees for the season opener have sparked some debate on a couple of levels. Is enough being done at Notre Dame to curb what appears to be a growing frequency of societal and team rule violations, or are these simply isolated incidents of college kids being irresponsible? And, should “team rule” violations — such as Wood’s and Utupo’s — be worth twice the punishment of allegedly assaulting and threatening local police officers? Most Notre Dame alumni cringe at the suggestion that their football program is becoming “like all the rest” in terms of discipline and indiscretion matters. And just to add some polarization, former Notre Dame running back and Irish football radio voice Allen Pinkett said in a recent interview that “a few bad citizens” and “criminals” in a football program help to build an “edge” on the field, an incendiary assessment that sparked this written response from Notre Dame athletics director Jack Swarbrick. “Allen Pinkett’s suggestion that Notre Dame needs more ‘bad guys’ on its football team is nonsense. Of course, Allen does not speak for the university, but we could not disagree more with this observation.” Pinkett later recanted those remarks, obviously understanding that Notre Dame prides itself on the highest standards for its student-athletes — both in terms of academics and everyday life. But the question still lingers. Is a rash of bad player choices under Kelly’s guidance a sign of his program direction, or a sign of the times? There is no black-and-white answer. But one trend is clear — the disciplinary climate is changing around Notre Dame, for better or worse. Floyd’s situation served as initial evidence that the Office of Residence Life — the university’s disciplinary arm for student misconduct — is a gentler, kinder shell from days gone by when semester suspensions were passed out like Halloween candy, while essentially leaving the head coach with little voice in suitable sanctions. Tight end Will Yeatman, basketball star Kyle McAlarney and tight end Joseph Fauria are three case studies of student-athletes sent packing for at least a semester by Res Life in the span of about two years. After a necessary overhaul of the archaic Res Life approach, Floyd missed no games in 2011 and served his DUI punishment under a hazy zero-tolerance umbrella and a suspension for the spring football season — arguably a five-week furlough for such a talented player. Yet, Floyd excelled post-pardon. He graduated, set every career receiving record at Notre Dame, became a first-round NFL Draft choice and made good on another chance. After every player mishap, Kelly refers to each episode as being a “teachable moment” and an “educational opportunity.” But given the reduced role of Res Life, it’s hard not to wonder if a diminished disciplinary threat makes it more difficult for a coach to hammer proper conduct, and if the temptation becomes greater for players to take more personal risks for the sake of good times. Kelly faces a tough enough job this season trying to win games against the most difficult schedule in the country. Hopefully, his players will focus more on game days than off days along the way. Todd D. Burlage has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 2005. He can be reached at tburlage@blueandgold.com