[A.G.]

This will certainly give him a year to adjust to LU--and if he can practice, he would be a beast against first team offense.

[new flame]

Redd is a BEAST. If he plays next year at his healthy best, he will be a man among boys in the BSC, and we'll have the conference defensive player of the year in 07, and preseason DPOY in 08.

[Chris Lang]

New Flame ... he'd only have the one year. Since he already redshirted, he loses a year of eligibility this year.

[new flame]

Ah, right you are. I was talking about the player who would be backing him up next year who would be the preseason DPOY in 08. Yeah, that's what I meant.

[PAmedic]

that's too bad. Hopefully he can get himself together and regain his eligibility for next year, then.

(to be honest, its more important that he gets his life straightened out first, then athletics. sometimes I have to remind myself of that! )

[Purple Haize]

It is a shame we can't play him this year but rules are rules and should be adhered to. Anyway I am happy about him coming to LU.

I would say too bad he didn't transfer to LCA b/c he would still play right away!! But that is another thread

[A.G.]

Who's to say they didn't try?

[prototype]

I have been told by our sources at UVA that he will be elgible right away and might see playing time as early as this weekend.

[A.G.]

Question for the esteemed members of FlameFans:

Now that LU has obviously compromised some standards, with an athlete with known past problems, does this open pandora's box for coaches, if they choose, to bring in other athlete's of questionable character?

Before you rip me for being a hater, I am not. Simply asking a legit question.

To answer my own question, I see no problem with Christian charity. Godly men of integrity, especially men like Ed Gomes and Coach Dunton, might be just the guidance and mentorship the young men need to right themselves. Just as long as the athletes abide by the rules and don't get cut any slack because of their athletic ability, bring them ALL on.

[LUconn]

Just as long as the athletes abide by the rules and don't get cut any slack because of their athletic ability, bring them ALL on.

I don't know what world you grew up in (tatooine I suppose), but here on earth athletes get different rules at LU, UT, UVA and high schools accross america. I don't mind it so much as it reflects real life (ie Sean Taylor, Ray Lewis, Chris Henry and a host of others should all be in jail right now). Right now we have a lot of non-christians and pretenders in all of our sports programs and you really are always going to have them. It's not ideal but you can't really do much about it. I guess as long as they know what we're about and that they represent us, so don't do anything dumb while you're here.

[A.G.]

I guess my point is, if the student does something bonehead enough that would get a non-athlete tossed from the school, then the athlete should be tossed as well. I'm all for a little leniency, but if someone gets caught smoking pot, or drinking, then they should be gone.

[Stevev]

I guess my point is, if the student does something bonehead enough that would get a non-athlete tossed from the school, then the athlete should be tossed as well. I'm all for a little leniency, but if someone gets caught smoking pot, or drinking, then they should be gone.

I don't know if this was before yall's time but back in 1982 LU QB Mike Forslund did something that involved his girlfriend getting kicked out of school and the only punishment he got was to sit out the 1st half of the next game. Talk about double standard. But that might be before anyones time on this board. I guess I am starting to show my age here. Please correct me if I am wrong on this incident.

[TDDance234]

The majority of athletes are incredibly hard to deal with. If they are given warnings or reps, most of the time they are just sweept under the carpet by their coach. I wrote up an athlete the other day and it was swooped up by a coach.

One in particular, I've written up about 10+ times and the problem is never taken care of.

[A.G.]

Shouldn't that be addressed with Mark H.??

[Libertine]

The majority of athletes are incredibly hard to deal with. If they are given warnings or reps, most of the time they are just sweept under the carpet by their coach. I wrote up an athlete the other day and it was swooped up by a coach.

One in particular, I've written up about 10+ times and the problem is never taken care of.

Sorry, but I can't let that go by unchallenged.

W/o knowing the specific instance you're referring to, I will say that this program tries very hard to keep in step with the Student Life office and Ed Gomes has done a great job with that. Since I've been here, we have lost several quality players for rep-related issues. Last year, one of our seniors was suspended for the last 3 games b/c of accumulation of reps. The rules of this university are part of the LU experience and every player we sign and every coach on our staff is well aware of it. This staff is not in the habit of "sweeping things under the carpet" to keep a player on the field. I suggest that if you are not happy with how the authority of the Liberty Way is being enforced, take the problem to your superiors rather than posting it to a public message board.

[A.G.]

Perhaps he was talking about another sport.

You're right, Lib. He made a good point, but that borders on too much information.

[Chris Lang]

I have been told by our sources at UVA that he will be elgible right away and might see playing time as early as this weekend.

I know that Rocco and the academic coordinators/compliance office were exhaustingly working on trying to make that true. I was glad I was at least able to get him to say there was a "slim" chance he could be eligible on the record. We shall see.

[Purple Haize]

The majority of athletes are incredibly hard to deal with. If they are given warnings or reps, most of the time they are just sweept under the carpet by their coach. I wrote up an athlete the other day and it was swooped up by a coach.

One in particular, I've written up about 10+ times and the problem is never taken care of.

Sorry, but I can't let that go by unchallenged.

W/o knowing the specific instance you're referring to, I will say that this program tries very hard to keep in step with the Student Life office and Ed Gomes has done a great job with that. Since I've been here, we have lost several quality players for rep-related issues. Last year, one of our seniors was suspended for the last 3 games b/c of accumulation of reps. The rules of this university are part of the LU experience and every player we sign and every coach on our staff is well aware of it. This staff is not in the habit of "sweeping things under the carpet" to keep a player on the field. I suggest that if you are not happy with how the authority of the Liberty Way is being enforced, take the problem to your superiors rather than posting it to a public message board.

I have a file, would you like to see it?? LU, like other schools does have a second set of standards for some athletes. Does this problem permiate all sports teams, WBB etc., but there are several players and teams that have been a little loose with the rules and enforcement. Ed Gomes is AWESOME, the past regime tried to do what was right, but let's not paint an entirely rosey picture. As far as this coaching staff, I have no idean, and since they are new the jury is still out. On several occasions, I brought concerns to varying staff's and some were dealt with some were not. ( I also have a very interesting audio tape)
As the old saying goes and sweeping things under the rug remeber: It used to be called Liberty Valley. So please, don't paint us as the pinnacle of academic/athletic virtue

[A.G.]

So, is what you're saying is, that if staff tries to intervene, THEY get swept under the rug?? And out the door?

[TDDance234]

I wish I could comment more on the issue but out of confidentialty I cannot spew too much information. I, personally, was talking about another sport but I have friends who have the same issues with other sports.

It's a tough line. The Liberty Way is quite subjective and sometimes RAs go a bit overboard. It's a hard process in itself but the majority of athletes are incredibly disrespectful and when you confront them, they either a) blow you off completely or b) tell you to take it up with their coach.

It's give and take from both ends and that is my issue. Not with the grace for athletes (because they do get more than usual but they have reasons for it.) but the subjectivity of the Liberty Way, which I imagine this is argument for another thread.

[Libertine]

I'm not saying that it's never happened and I'm not going to comment on what might be in Haize's file or even why he has one. I've been around for a while and I, too, know of specific instances where, from the outside looking in, LU standards appeared to have been compromised by LU people. Not all of them involved athletes.
However, to my experience, those instances are far from the norm here and to paint all our athletes and all our programs with Dance's enormous recalcitrant brush is, at very best, misleading.

[Purple Haize]

I'm not saying that it's never happened and I'm not going to comment on what might be in Haize's file or even why he has one. I've been around for a while and I, too, know of specific instances where, from the outside looking in, LU standards appeared to have been compromised by LU people. Not all of them involved athletes.
However, to my experience, those instances are far from the norm here and to paint all our athletes and all our programs with Dance's enormous recalcitrant brush is, at very best, misleading.

Rule #1 while at Liberty: ALWAYS start a file. You think they are/were paying Pierre and Jon M out of the goodness of their hearts. ALso, if the poo starts flying you have a paper trail to PROVE you did what YOU were supposed to. Can come in VERY handy if/when the NCAA comes snopping around. (Learned that at WVU!)
Never said that this type of behavior is the norm. Obviously, the classes I had were usually full of athletes (or in SCAR's case "Just Happy To Be Here"etes) so I got a good sense of each team. Unfortunately, this type of behavior happens more then we would wish, but no it does not happen on every team. (Of course I and my Great Aged Mentor, were curious seeing one athlete graduate with a degree in our discipline, yet could not find him/her in any of our roll sheets) Hey it happens EVERYWHERE, and LU falls into that category. Do I wish it wouldn't happen? Absolutely! But at my age (and weight) I am too jaded to get to exercised about it and just did what I was supposed to do, and if nothing happened, what could I do.
On the whole, we have a great core of student/athletes, most of whom work hard and do what they are supposed to do (OR get somone to do it for them!! J/K) In truth I can name student upon student who played sports for us and worked hard. Like any person, you always remember the best and the worst. Obviously, this post has been about my worst

[A.G.]

We have just received Prof Haize's CYA 101 lesson. Listen to it. And survive.

[Libertine]

I'm not placing "Jon M". Who's that?

[A.G.]

and who the heck is Pierre?
(I think Jon M must be Borek.)