close

Cal U needs to do something about football program

By Mike Ciarochi mciarochi@heraldstandard.Com 3 min read
article image -

It’s time for California University of Pennsylvania to take a good, long look at its football program.

The recent arrest of six players brings to 19 the number of Vulcans’ football players arrested since 2012.

Need I remind you that it’s only 2014?

It’s a safe guess that the majority of Cal’s football players are good kids. Without knowing them, it’s hard to be certain, but I would venture a guess that at least 80 percent of the team is comprised of upstanding citizens who want nothing more than a college education for the privilege of playing football.

That percentage is not nearly high enough.

You know it, I know it and Cal’s administration knows it.

Maybe it’s time to drop football.

How’s this, for those interested in conducting an experiment: Play no games for one calendar year, with a promise that football will resume once the year has gone by, if and only if certain criteria are met.

Make the players honor their commitment to the university by, you know, going to class, studying, earning good grades and keeping themselves eligible for the 2016 season.

Give them no options to leave for another football program. It’s either Cal or unemployment or the military or a job. No JUCO transfers, no Division III exceptions, certainly no other Division II or higher transfers.

I don’t know for certain, but my guess is the majority of players would stay and become better citizens and better students. And isn’t that what Cal is in business for?

The unemployment rate might jump a bit. I doubt the military would have an influx of recruits. Those who choose to leave would learn rather quickly what the job market is like for the uneducated.

Keep the coaching staff employed. Maybe mandate some form of psychology or personality training to help them weed out future recruits who have no interest in higher education other than using it as a path to pro football.

After a year runs its course, hold open tryouts, either as a good gesture to the California community or to bolster what may become a depleted roster.

If this action depletes the roster, so be it. Make sure the coaching staff knows that going in. What’s so terribly wrong with starting over?

Southern Methodist University did it after the NCAA imposed the so-called “death penalty” on the program some years ago. Maybe the coaches could visit SMU or meet with the coaches there who took the program from ground zero to where it is today.

Also, when you go into this action, do so with the understanding that the football program at Cal may never return. Stipulate that each subsequent arrest or phone call to the police department, even for jaywalking, would add another year to the ban. You would then have a clear conscience because you will have tried to the best of your ability to allow football to continue.

Give the team and the coaches enough rope and see whether they can rein in what remains of their team and rebuild it into a better version, one that cares about the town in which it lives for nine of 12 months over a four-year period, one that cares about getting an education and perhaps might use it to make California Borough or California University of Pennsylvania a better place.

The arrest rate is astonishing. Do you realize that since 2012, the football team has amassed only three more wins (22) than arrests (19)?

Something must be done. Soon. Now.

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $4.79/week.

Subscribe Today