Seems like every time Mark Emmert opens his mouth these days, the more you wonder about what life is like on the planet he inhabits.
First he basically equates college basketball's one-and-done phenomenon to the downfall of higher education. As if all the other "student-athletes" are Rhodes scholars or something.
Now he's taking credit for an alleged culture change in accountability that has allegedly helped bring down high-profile coaches who have screwed up.
Emphasis on "allegedly."
NCAA President Mark Emmert found one bit of good news in all the bad that has rocked college sports and cost several big-name coaches their jobs.
"I encourage you to be attentive to something that was positive in all those scandals in a sense that it really demonstrated a sea change in responsibility," Emmert said yesterday.
"If 14 months ago ... we had said this next cycle we will watch the firing of the head coaches of Ohio State, Penn State, North Carolina, Tennessee basketball, Arkansas — all fabulously successful coaches on the floor and on the field — to see those five men fired for misdeeds, not for failures on the court or on the field, none of us would have believed it.
"I sure wouldn't have thought that was possible," Emmert said during a meeting with Associated Press sports editors.
So ... we're supposed to believe these coaches would have proceeded in a business-as-usual manner and kept their jobs if it weren't for good 'ole Emmert? Has the guy been briefed on the fact that, yes, coaches have lost their jobs before after embarrassing off-field scandals? Mike Price ring a bell?
Some Monday linkage:
-- Still plenty of questions about E.J. Manuel after he was outplayed by Clint Trickett in the spring game.
Manuel has done some impressive things, such as leading the team to a victory in the Gator Bowl a few years ago, plus replacing an injured Christian Ponder and helping engineer an upset of South Carlina in the 2010 Chick-fil-A Bowl. But you still have to have questions about the guy and his ability to be a consistent passer.
-- The Tulsa World says Mike Gundy has grown into the head-coaching job at Oklahoma State.
Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy was taught some tough lessons early in his career.
Gundy will now admit that he wasn't ready to be head coach when he was elevated to the top spot seven years ago.
He is now.
-- In ESPN The Magazine, an investigation reveals that the Oregon Ducks have ... to borrow a phrase that's fairly popular around these parts ... done smoked it.
THE SANDWICH BAG brims with weed.
On a frosty January evening in Eugene, a University of Oregon student plops onto a couch, nestled between a whirring space heater and a muted television at a friend's off-campus apartment, and pulls a nugget from the bag. At his feet sits a backpack emblazoned with the logo of the Rose Bowl, which he and his teammates had won barely a week before. "Purple Kush," he says of his preferred marijuana strand, which he rolls into a hefty joint between his forefingers and thumbs. "It's pretty much all I smoke."
The joint, to which he adds a dash of tobacco to make a spliff, is typical for this student-athlete. "Bongs and pipes mean more evidence," he says. He lights up, kicks back and exhales a dense cloud. Normally, he'd pass the spliff to one of his Oregon football teammates, but tonight he smokes alone. "Most of the guys are waiting until after winter workouts," he says. Once those conclude in March, he adds, they'll gather in clusters to partake together. About half the team smokes, he estimates. "It's a team thing. Like video games."
The Ducks are savoring their win over Wisconsin, Oregon's first victory in a Rose Bowl since 1917 and Chip Kelly's first postseason triumph as head coach. Earlier today, the school buzzed as the team made its victory lap around campus. Now, as one Duck relishes another kind of high, he wants to make something clear.
"It's not just us," he says, taking another hit. "If you think Oregon's the only team smoking weed, you're crazy."
-- Dennis Dodd says it's not exactly an earth-shattering revelation that college kids smoke pot.
-- And in Atlanta, Mark Bradley says Tevin Washington is still atop Georgia Tech's quarterback heap.
LW
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