I just have to say, that I wouldn’t want to be working for the Public Relations department at the Unversity of Miami right now. Why do you ask? Talk about a SERIOUS crisis on their hands– not only with the athletic department, but the university as well. Well, if you got a chance to see the Miami versus Florida International University Game on Saturday, you would know why.
Fight among FIU and Miami Football Players (Picture by Mark Serota / Getty Images)
As a result, there were 31 players from both teams that were suspended. One of the players for Miami, sophomore Anthony Reddick, actually was swinging his helment around and trying to hit the FIU players with it. After a few days, Miami finally announced that Reddick was suspended indefinitely. Miami and the ACC announced the suspension of the Miami football players, including Reddick, and how some of football players that participated in the fight are being suspended for 1 game. That’s right– ONE game! FIU was also making sure that those that participated in the fight were going to suffer the consequences. FIU announced that it was suspending 16 players indefinetly and two off the team.
This is a serious crisis for both schools. Both football teams have suspended some of their players indefinitely and some for only a few games. What message does this say to people? With Miami, this is not the first time that this has even happened! According to an ESPN.com article, there were other incidents with other teams including LSU and Louisville. It seems that Miami has a history of this type of behavior. Here is a quote from Head Football Coach Larry Coker:
“I do have a grip on this program,” Coker said. “Don’t ever doubt that. Don’t ever doubt that.”
Hmm– well, after this pattern in behavior, I really, really, REALLY don’t think that Coker does have control of the team. Both Miami and FIU need to impose an “absolute zero-tolerance” rule for their teams. This behavior is unacceptable, unprofessional, and disgraceful to all athletes in general. No one, athlete or not, should ever do such a thing like these players did last Saturday. In my opinion– Larry Coker needs to step down immediately because of this horrible incident.
Even though the president at Miami said that “no one’s job is at jeopardy”– well, there needs to be!!!! What messages are we sending here if no one gets fired for this type of behavior? This all starts at the top– and if this kind of behavior has been going on for a long time, then people need to be fired. This type of behavior is not acceptable at all– and Miami and FIU need to learn that very quick if they want to salvage their reputations.
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