Roy's world
posted by LW, Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Roy Williams is a good fit at North Carolina (pun intended).
He's from the Tarheel State and is a UNC grad. He's good looking and has a good sense of humor. Most important, he's a good coach.
But Williams is also revealing himself to be remarkably thin-skinned, and that became even more apparent with Saturday night's embarrassing episode at the Dean Dome.
By now you know the deal. Roy was upset that a Presbyterian fan wasn't P.C. enough for his tastes. He pitched a fit after the fan -- CAUTION: THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS MATERIAL THAT MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR MINORS -- yelled for Deon Thompson to miss a free throw, and police officers promptly removed the fan.
Roy was dismissive and intimidating when questioned about the episode after the game. University officials chalked it up to the fan being drunk and sitting in the wrong seat.
Well, the fan begged to differ in this article by the Charlotte Observer.
"I was not intoxicated," said King, a 1996 Presbyterian graduate who lives in Concord. "I was not asked to produce a ticket. ... That was fabricated, and that's what I'm upset about."
And later:
"I was told, 'Because this is Roy's house, and when Roy says you need to go, you go,'" King said. "I thought it was sort of amusing."
Amusing indeed. Amusing and grossly immature on Williams' part.
The fan also had this to say in the Fayetteville Observer:
"The people that I was sitting with were all Chapel Hill graduates and lifetime friends. We were having a good time at the game watching my little team get whipped by mighty UNC. I also was absolutely not intoxicated. Initially I wasn't really upset (more dumbfounded by the situation) until I read Kirschner's spin. That is absolutely wrong to say those false things about me and to lie about what Coach Williams told his guys to do. Look at the video. Kirschner is lying about what Coach Williams instructed his goons to do."
Williams won't get any internal heat for this because he's winning, and winning big. But he and his university deserve external heat -- and possibly in the form of a lawsuit from the man they unfairly painted as a drunken lout.
It's the University of North Carolina, not the University of North Korea.
I do hear that Kim Jong Il has a thing for the Tar Heels, though.
More trouble in Tallahassee.
Tom Farrey of ESPN exposes one of the academic loopholes exploited not just by Florida State, but plenty of other schools.
A learning-disabled college student sounds like quite the oxymoron, doesn't it?
Not so much in college athletics departments, which have used the LD diagnosis to get kids to -- and through -- school.
The NCAA granted 527 of these waivers to incoming athletes in the 2008-09 school year, up from 310 the year before, according to NCAA spokeswoman Stacey Osburn. (There were 302 in 2006-07, 335 in 2005-06 and 338 in 2004-05.) She said more athletes are taking advantage of those waivers because in the past two years the NCAA has raised the core-course requirements (from 14 to 16 classes), and mandated that core courses be earned in the first eight semesters of high school.
If the prospective athlete still can't qualify with those adjustments in standards, the college they have signed with can apply with the NCAA for a waiver to grant eligibility anyway. Some of these waivers provide only partial relief, meaning that an athlete might receive an athletic scholarship and can participate in practice, but may not compete in games until meeting the NCAA's progress-toward-degree requirements at the end of his/her freshman year.
Once on campus, a learning disabled athlete can ask for an NCAA waiver that allows him or her to take less than a full course load (12 hours) in a given semester. And at Florida State, the athlete can be exempted from passing the state-mandated basic competency tests in math and English that all at-risk college students must take before their junior year. "A good number of athletes come through the waiver system," says Jennifer Buchanan, chair of the CLAST (College Level Academic Skills Test) Waiver Committee at FSU.
Beyond that, some learning disabled athletes drink from a fire hose of course assistance. At Florida State, classroom accommodations, such as note-takers and untimed tests, are dispensed by the campus disability center that is available to all students. But athletes also have the resources of a $1.5 million-a-year athletic academic support unit with 32 computers, private tutoring rooms and a five-station "Learning Center" for athletes with learning disabilities or deficiencies.
And here's the kicker:
That's where Monk set up camp, working on papers and other assignments with what she estimates were about 65 learning disabled athletes. She tells "Outside the Lines" that more than a third of the football team, and three-quarters of the basketball team, had learning disabilities. FSU spokesman Rob Wilson did not respond to requests by "Outside the Lines" for information on the number of learning disabled athletes who were in the program when Monk left.
I've been saying this for a while now, but the concept of fusing higher education and college athletics is largely a charade (emphasis on "largely," because there are plenty of exceptions).
The sooner everyone in power acknowledges the charade for what it is, the better off we'll all be.
Florida State's administration responds with a pretty week defense.
Not a good time to be South Florida coach Jim Leavitt, who is accused of slapping one of his players in the face.
According to the five witnesses -- USF players and staff members -- Leavitt was pacing in the Raymond James Stadium locker room at halftime when he walked about 10 feet to the locker where Miller was sitting without his helmet. Leavitt then grabbed Miller by the throat and hit him twice in the face with his hand.
"You do something like that [on the street], you put them in jail," Paul Miller, Joel's father and a former Tampa police officer, told FanHouse. "Somewhere [Leavitt] crossed the line."
Not so long ago, Leavitt was known as a hot name. But you have to wonder whether his hothead antics scared away some inquiring ADs.
In a new twist to this story, the player's father now appears to be backing down from his initial allegations.
However, in a report posted on tampabay.com, the website for the St. Petersburg Times newspaper, Leavitt denied the accusations, and Paul Miller was quoted as saying the incident was exaggerated.
"I stand behind the university and Coach Leavitt 100%," Paul Miller said in the story. "I truly believe there was no malicious intent to hit anyone. He grabbed his shoulder pad, but it was like a motivational thing. After talking with Joel, he was satisfied there was not a slap, not at all."
Not surprisingly, Clemson's ticket sales for the Music City Bowl are lagging.
In the week since the announced pairing, Clemson has sold 4,000 tickets - just more than half of its minimum 7,500 allotment per the ACC's contract with the Music City Bowl.
Kentucky has sold close to 16,000, rifling through its initial allotment of 12,000 within one day. Those figures don't take into account the nearly 4,000 tickets the bowl sold in the four-day window before the selection was announced when media reports surfaced that the Wildcats were the likely choice.
Paul Strelow has various thoughts and observations in his blog, including his take on C.J. Spiller's NFL marketability.
... Spiller should thank Titans RB Chris Johnson for contributing to the gift that figures to keep on giving to the Spiller family for years to come.
Johnson headlines a fleet of young running backs who have defied the traditional NFL mold, arguably increasing Spiller’s value in the forthcoming draft.
Used to be that NFL teams placed its premium on the conventional I-formation back, 5-10, 225 pounds minimum, who could handle the feature load and a steady dose of between-the-tackles running (see Alabama’s Mark Ingram).
With the college game having transformed into variations of the shotgun spread offense, the NFL has slowly adjusted or been forced to adjust. And in the increasingly specialized pro game, the trend has been to forge a two-back system with a home run threat to complement the inside runner.
Thus speedsters such as Johnson, Felix Jones, Darren McFadden, Jamaal Charles and Jerious Norwood have all been early round picks, arguably valued much greater than they would have been a decade ago (unless, of course, Oakland is making the pick).
Spiller projects as the top running back available in April’s draft and a probable first-round pick. And he stands to benefit most financially from the successes of Johnson, who has proven more durable and more versatile than the assigned stereotype.
Very interesting.
Spiller's transition to the NFL is going to be quite compelling to follow. Given his susceptibility to nicks and bruises, you have to think durability will be by far the biggest question he'll face going forward.
In The Post and Courier, Travis Sawchik presents his 2009 superlatives for the Tigers' football team.
At the Greenville News, the online wizards finally get around to posting the game story from Sunday's basketball victory.
Coming tomorrow: Tiger Woods cheats on wife!
The Charlotte Observer says Dabo Swinney is a good closer.
Virginia Tech DC Bud Foster got a fat raise two years ago when Steve Spurrier pursued him. Now his wallet is even fatter after inquiries from Mark Richt.
As UGA's coordinator search heads down the stretch, my initial darkhorse pick could be in the lead pack.
LW
Click here for the "Eye On The Tigers" blog archive.
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
Roy Williams is a good fit at North Carolina (pun intended).
He's from the Tarheel State and is a UNC grad. He's good looking and has a good sense of humor. Most important, he's a good coach.
But Williams is also revealing himself to be remarkably thin-skinned, and that became even more apparent with Saturday night's embarrassing episode at the Dean Dome.
By now you know the deal. Roy was upset that a Presbyterian fan wasn't P.C. enough for his tastes. He pitched a fit after the fan -- CAUTION: THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS MATERIAL THAT MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR MINORS -- yelled for Deon Thompson to miss a free throw, and police officers promptly removed the fan.
Roy was dismissive and intimidating when questioned about the episode after the game. University officials chalked it up to the fan being drunk and sitting in the wrong seat.
Well, the fan begged to differ in this article by the Charlotte Observer.
"I was not intoxicated," said King, a 1996 Presbyterian graduate who lives in Concord. "I was not asked to produce a ticket. ... That was fabricated, and that's what I'm upset about."
And later:
"I was told, 'Because this is Roy's house, and when Roy says you need to go, you go,'" King said. "I thought it was sort of amusing."
Amusing indeed. Amusing and grossly immature on Williams' part.
The fan also had this to say in the Fayetteville Observer:
"The people that I was sitting with were all Chapel Hill graduates and lifetime friends. We were having a good time at the game watching my little team get whipped by mighty UNC. I also was absolutely not intoxicated. Initially I wasn't really upset (more dumbfounded by the situation) until I read Kirschner's spin. That is absolutely wrong to say those false things about me and to lie about what Coach Williams told his guys to do. Look at the video. Kirschner is lying about what Coach Williams instructed his goons to do."
Williams won't get any internal heat for this because he's winning, and winning big. But he and his university deserve external heat -- and possibly in the form of a lawsuit from the man they unfairly painted as a drunken lout.
It's the University of North Carolina, not the University of North Korea.
I do hear that Kim Jong Il has a thing for the Tar Heels, though.
More trouble in Tallahassee.
Tom Farrey of ESPN exposes one of the academic loopholes exploited not just by Florida State, but plenty of other schools.
A learning-disabled college student sounds like quite the oxymoron, doesn't it?
Not so much in college athletics departments, which have used the LD diagnosis to get kids to -- and through -- school.
The NCAA granted 527 of these waivers to incoming athletes in the 2008-09 school year, up from 310 the year before, according to NCAA spokeswoman Stacey Osburn. (There were 302 in 2006-07, 335 in 2005-06 and 338 in 2004-05.) She said more athletes are taking advantage of those waivers because in the past two years the NCAA has raised the core-course requirements (from 14 to 16 classes), and mandated that core courses be earned in the first eight semesters of high school.
If the prospective athlete still can't qualify with those adjustments in standards, the college they have signed with can apply with the NCAA for a waiver to grant eligibility anyway. Some of these waivers provide only partial relief, meaning that an athlete might receive an athletic scholarship and can participate in practice, but may not compete in games until meeting the NCAA's progress-toward-degree requirements at the end of his/her freshman year.
Once on campus, a learning disabled athlete can ask for an NCAA waiver that allows him or her to take less than a full course load (12 hours) in a given semester. And at Florida State, the athlete can be exempted from passing the state-mandated basic competency tests in math and English that all at-risk college students must take before their junior year. "A good number of athletes come through the waiver system," says Jennifer Buchanan, chair of the CLAST (College Level Academic Skills Test) Waiver Committee at FSU.
Beyond that, some learning disabled athletes drink from a fire hose of course assistance. At Florida State, classroom accommodations, such as note-takers and untimed tests, are dispensed by the campus disability center that is available to all students. But athletes also have the resources of a $1.5 million-a-year athletic academic support unit with 32 computers, private tutoring rooms and a five-station "Learning Center" for athletes with learning disabilities or deficiencies.
And here's the kicker:
That's where Monk set up camp, working on papers and other assignments with what she estimates were about 65 learning disabled athletes. She tells "Outside the Lines" that more than a third of the football team, and three-quarters of the basketball team, had learning disabilities. FSU spokesman Rob Wilson did not respond to requests by "Outside the Lines" for information on the number of learning disabled athletes who were in the program when Monk left.
I've been saying this for a while now, but the concept of fusing higher education and college athletics is largely a charade (emphasis on "largely," because there are plenty of exceptions).
The sooner everyone in power acknowledges the charade for what it is, the better off we'll all be.
Florida State's administration responds with a pretty week defense.
Not a good time to be South Florida coach Jim Leavitt, who is accused of slapping one of his players in the face.
According to the five witnesses -- USF players and staff members -- Leavitt was pacing in the Raymond James Stadium locker room at halftime when he walked about 10 feet to the locker where Miller was sitting without his helmet. Leavitt then grabbed Miller by the throat and hit him twice in the face with his hand.
"You do something like that [on the street], you put them in jail," Paul Miller, Joel's father and a former Tampa police officer, told FanHouse. "Somewhere [Leavitt] crossed the line."
Not so long ago, Leavitt was known as a hot name. But you have to wonder whether his hothead antics scared away some inquiring ADs.
In a new twist to this story, the player's father now appears to be backing down from his initial allegations.
However, in a report posted on tampabay.com, the website for the St. Petersburg Times newspaper, Leavitt denied the accusations, and Paul Miller was quoted as saying the incident was exaggerated.
"I stand behind the university and Coach Leavitt 100%," Paul Miller said in the story. "I truly believe there was no malicious intent to hit anyone. He grabbed his shoulder pad, but it was like a motivational thing. After talking with Joel, he was satisfied there was not a slap, not at all."
Not surprisingly, Clemson's ticket sales for the Music City Bowl are lagging.
In the week since the announced pairing, Clemson has sold 4,000 tickets - just more than half of its minimum 7,500 allotment per the ACC's contract with the Music City Bowl.
Kentucky has sold close to 16,000, rifling through its initial allotment of 12,000 within one day. Those figures don't take into account the nearly 4,000 tickets the bowl sold in the four-day window before the selection was announced when media reports surfaced that the Wildcats were the likely choice.
Paul Strelow has various thoughts and observations in his blog, including his take on C.J. Spiller's NFL marketability.
... Spiller should thank Titans RB Chris Johnson for contributing to the gift that figures to keep on giving to the Spiller family for years to come.
Johnson headlines a fleet of young running backs who have defied the traditional NFL mold, arguably increasing Spiller’s value in the forthcoming draft.
Used to be that NFL teams placed its premium on the conventional I-formation back, 5-10, 225 pounds minimum, who could handle the feature load and a steady dose of between-the-tackles running (see Alabama’s Mark Ingram).
With the college game having transformed into variations of the shotgun spread offense, the NFL has slowly adjusted or been forced to adjust. And in the increasingly specialized pro game, the trend has been to forge a two-back system with a home run threat to complement the inside runner.
Thus speedsters such as Johnson, Felix Jones, Darren McFadden, Jamaal Charles and Jerious Norwood have all been early round picks, arguably valued much greater than they would have been a decade ago (unless, of course, Oakland is making the pick).
Spiller projects as the top running back available in April’s draft and a probable first-round pick. And he stands to benefit most financially from the successes of Johnson, who has proven more durable and more versatile than the assigned stereotype.
Very interesting.
Spiller's transition to the NFL is going to be quite compelling to follow. Given his susceptibility to nicks and bruises, you have to think durability will be by far the biggest question he'll face going forward.
In The Post and Courier, Travis Sawchik presents his 2009 superlatives for the Tigers' football team.
At the Greenville News, the online wizards finally get around to posting the game story from Sunday's basketball victory.
Coming tomorrow: Tiger Woods cheats on wife!
The Charlotte Observer says Dabo Swinney is a good closer.
Virginia Tech DC Bud Foster got a fat raise two years ago when Steve Spurrier pursued him. Now his wallet is even fatter after inquiries from Mark Richt.
As UGA's coordinator search heads down the stretch, my initial darkhorse pick could be in the lead pack.
LW
Click here for the "Eye On The Tigers" blog archive.
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
Donnie Patterson. Donnie Patterson is the founder of Patterson Tax Service, located in Easley, S.C. He has been active in tax preparation since 1970, and offers a full range of tax and bookkeeping services.
Larry Williams. Larry has covered the daily beat at Clemson since 2004. Williams, who worked for the Charleston Post & Courier from 2004-08, joined Tigerillustrated.com in November of 2008. He may be reached by email at ldubya08(at)gmail.com. Replace (at) with @.