FanNation - The Republic of Sport

Paul, you should start by putting the "student" back in student-athlete.

If he's gonna build this program the right way, it's gonna take a while.

Listen carefully and you can hear banjos.

"In the past 18 months, at least 25 players have been arrested or charged with offenses that carry possible jail time, court records show. Most were charged with misdemeanors such as underage drinking or possession of marijuana. Thirteen had been arrested or charged before. This year, one player faced felony charges after hitting a man on the head with a frying pan. Another tried to hurt a teammate by soaking his contact lenses in rubbing alcohol. A third was accused of punching a student, knocking him unconscious and fracturing his cheekbone."

Holy crap! Is Wazzou going to take the fannation member anointed "Thug U" title from the 'Canes?

Burn it and start over with the right guys. It'll take a few years but fans are patient on the Palouse. If Tony Bennett can turn around the bball program than a competent coach can turn around the football program. It just takes a little time.

This is great news for other PAC 10 teams. With this kind of turmoil, any wins this season will be a triumph.

Step 1, stop recruiting trash like Williams.

Step 2, take the heat now and clean house of the criminals.

Step 3, recruit players that place some value on education and staying out of trouble.

I definitely agree with Capsfan and DaMoFo. If this is the situation at Wazzu then they need to clean house, immediately.

Their first game this year is against Ok State, so they can think about their tough times after they go 0-1.

This is another example of the problems I have with the NCAA's wonderful academic progress guidelines. The previous coach brings in thugs and the new coach is afraid to make changes because it could hurt futures teams.

He needs to go through each player's record and toss anyone that he doesn't feel could be a quality member of society, the college community and the football program out and bring in replacements who want to be there, get an education and follow the rules. NCAA Guidelines be damned (academic progress guideline, not recruiting ones). He needs to make the changes and recruit HS students who want to get part of a quality program. He might lose a scholarship or 2 in the future, but if the ship can be righted now, losing a couple scholarships in the future won't hurt as badly.

It is going to suck in town for awhile, but IF he cleans house now, he can have a quality program in the future. The University needs to make a commitment for 5 or 6 years to allow him to build the program from the ground up. Progress may not be noted in wins and losses, but competitiveness in games for the first couple seasons and limited off the field problems.

this is why u see a strange drop off on some saturdays due to the weed hangover

williams sounds like a loser to me. there are a lot of football schools in the country where there is nothing to do. hopefully the WSU family will give him time to get good kids in the program and then start winning.

"If he kicks a wayward player off the team, that could hurt WSU under the NCAA's academic guidelines -- and possibly cost the Cougars another scholarship."

Why in God's name hasn't the NCAA made some kind of exception to this rule. A school should not be punished for kicking idiots and criminals off the team. Maybe its a sort of recruiting thing, to prevent schools from recruiting thugs and such, but man lots of people change in college, sometimes for the worse. This does not exclude "student-athletes" especially with the attention they receive. 25 arrests in 18 months is borderline outlandish though. He'll sure earn his salary.

I'm from WSU, been here 8 years, working and I am glad that our new coach is taking a stand and pushing academics and good behavior...we're not going to win right away...and I hope no one expects that...but three or four years from now we'll be competative and even better, we'll have some honor back...I couldn't ask for more.

Also the Banjo coment is a little ignorent...please try and not make asumptions bassed on lack of knowledge. Pullman has lots to do, just no big city things to do...its a fun and beautiful place and you wont find a place with more school pride! Many people use the "there is nothing to do" as a crutch to blame bad behavior on...its old and I'll not listen to it.

A little this and that . . . .
25 arrests in 18 months is "BORDERLINE OUTLANDISH"???? I don't want to know what qualifies as outlandish. jjreynolds is right, tough, the NCAA holds schools accountable for bad recruiting practices. That does not relieve such programs from bitiing the bullet and drop-kicking the offenders out the door. It's not like they didn't know better.

And yes, the administration needs to be more patient than the 4 or even 5 year obligatory term for new coaches. The worst possible shame would be for Coach Wulff to bring this program to the brink of respectability only for the admin to boot him out and let someone else enjoy the benefit of his sacrifice.

Clearly shows the lack of leadership and accountability form ex. Coach Doba. We all understand that athletes bring huge revenue to our universities. But at what COST? The players involved should held accountable. I would rather see WSU play a player short. Now that would speak volume.

FYI. Everytime I watch ESPN a NFL player is getting arrested! Is there any corelation there.

Clearly shows the lack of leadership and accountibility from Doba. We all understand that athletes bring huge revenue to our universities. But at what cost? The players involved should be held accountible. As WSU fan I feel

"Nothin to do but get drunk and smoke weed...." Try going to class. Those of us who are paying our kids tuition, room , board and books understand why they are there. Perhaps getting an education wasn't in the mix. for this young man...........So go back where you came frmo , hang with your posse, knock up a few babes, desert the kids and be dead, drugged out and in jail before you turn 30. Then Hollywood can make a movie and show how you never had an opportunity and it is not your fault.

jjreynolds , the issue of an exception has been brought up previously. The reason the NCAA doesn't make an exception is actually simple. If you recruit the criminal to campus it is your fault as a school. The NCAA feels that if players are getting into trouble it is either a problem with them being recruited since the school didn't do it's homework or a lack of oversight of the program by the coaching staff.

I don't completely agree, however I understand why the rules are as they are.