Comments on: Rich Rodriguez To Blame For Pacman & Henry? http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/rich-rod-to-blame-for-pacman-and-henry-17043 Celebrity sports gossip since 2001 Mon, 13 Feb 2012 08:02:13 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 By: Stone1 http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/rich-rod-to-blame-for-pacman-and-henry-17043#comment-161413 Stone1 Sun, 27 Dec 2009 17:48:51 +0000 http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/rich-rod-to-blame-for-pacman-and-henry-17043#comment-161413 First of all, the NCAA is a little anal retentive about GPAs, SAT/ACT test scores and such when determining eligibility, so don't start defaming people without the facts, Jon. Think before you post. That being said, whether or not Pac Man, Chris Henry or Travis Garvin were pre-collegiate felons is sort of a wash... it would not be the first time that criminals have found their way into college football: the great stories rise above those things, while others (Pac Man Jones as a singular example) return to their old patterns to harm themselves and everyone around them. The larger issue in all of this is the culture that exists at WVU, a culture Rich Rodriguez would be well aware of as an alumni of the school. WVU is, without question, on a very short list for the title of "Party School of the Universe." If a pipeline could be built to directly pump beer from Milwaukee to Morgantown, someone would finance it! One of the frats in Morgantown had (I don't know whether it continues or not) a party ritual called the "Beer Slide", which is like a Slip N' Slide with beer. In this culture, athletes get a lot of lattitude. BMOC syndrome is alive and well at WVU, and the Mountaineers do what they can to accomodate their stars. For the most part, they have been fortunate in that they have not picked anyone who has done something that attracts an excess of attention (murder, serial rape in the dorms, that sort of thing), but it is only a matter of time until the culture does produce such an incident if that culture manages to continue. Basically, we're talking about "Animal House" rules here: as long as you win games and play right, you're allowed some partying and mischief. Unless you REALLY acrew the pooch (get caught with your drugs, statutory rape of a booster's daughter, theft of the Hope Diamond), you'll get by. This culture existed when Rodriguez was a Mountaineer, and has continued to this day. As a coach and leader, it can be argued that Rich should have been more active in intervening in that culture, but he is not the only coach there, nor is that culture restricted only to the the athletic department. That being said, I do think it can be argued that the athletic department could make a greater effort to try to change some of the thinking among both students and administration. I have believed for a long time that the incidents involving Pac Man Jones and Chris Henry were indicative of how permissive the culture at WVU had become. I have also believed that it was an understanding of that culture that allowed Rich Rodriguez to florish in Morgantown. WVU is still playing in bowl games, while Michigan has been a study in mediocrity in the two years since Rich Rodriguez took over the program there. Is it unfair to say that perhaps Rich is still suffering culture shock at Michigan? I don't think so. More important at this time is this question: had there been an effort to intervene in and alter the course of Chris Henry's life, if only a little, would he still be alive today? I don't know. I do hope, however, that the next Chris Henry or Pac Man Jones get the intervention he needs before he follows them into a jail cell or a grave. First of all, the NCAA is a little anal retentive about GPAs, SAT/ACT test scores and such when determining eligibility, so don’t start defaming people without the facts, Jon. Think before you post. That being said, whether or not Pac Man, Chris Henry or Travis Garvin were pre-collegiate felons is sort of a wash… it would not be the first time that criminals have found their way into college football: the great stories rise above those things, while others (Pac Man Jones as a singular example) return to their old patterns to harm themselves and everyone around them.
The larger issue in all of this is the culture that exists at WVU, a culture Rich Rodriguez would be well aware of as an alumni of the school. WVU is, without question, on a very short list for the title of “Party School of the Universe.” If a pipeline could be built to directly pump beer from Milwaukee to Morgantown, someone would finance it! One of the frats in Morgantown had (I don’t know whether it continues or not) a party ritual called the “Beer Slide”, which is like a Slip N’ Slide with beer.
In this culture, athletes get a lot of lattitude. BMOC syndrome is alive and well at WVU, and the Mountaineers do what they can to accomodate their stars. For the most part, they have been fortunate in that they have not picked anyone who has done something that attracts an excess of attention (murder, serial rape in the dorms, that sort of thing), but it is only a matter of time until the culture does produce such an incident if that culture manages to continue.
Basically, we’re talking about “Animal House” rules here: as long as you win games and play right, you’re allowed some partying and mischief. Unless you REALLY acrew the pooch (get caught with your drugs, statutory rape of a booster’s daughter, theft of the Hope Diamond), you’ll get by.
This culture existed when Rodriguez was a Mountaineer, and has continued to this day. As a coach and leader, it can be argued that Rich should have been more active in intervening in that culture, but he is not the only coach there, nor is that culture restricted only to the the athletic department. That being said, I do think it can be argued that the athletic department could make a greater effort to try to change some of the thinking among both students and administration.
I have believed for a long time that the incidents involving Pac Man Jones and Chris Henry were indicative of how permissive the culture at WVU had become. I have also believed that it was an understanding of that culture that allowed Rich Rodriguez to florish in Morgantown. WVU is still playing in bowl games, while Michigan has been a study in mediocrity in the two years since Rich Rodriguez took over the program there. Is it unfair to say that perhaps Rich is still suffering culture shock at Michigan? I don’t think so.
More important at this time is this question: had there been an effort to intervene in and alter the course of Chris Henry’s life, if only a little, would he still be alive today? I don’t know. I do hope, however, that the next Chris Henry or Pac Man Jones get the intervention he needs before he follows them into a jail cell or a grave.

]]> By: jon http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/rich-rod-to-blame-for-pacman-and-henry-17043#comment-32416 jon Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:42:29 +0000 http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/rich-rod-to-blame-for-pacman-and-henry-17043#comment-32416 rich r had to do this to get wvu football program... pick up kids who no1 else wanted to that is... henry and jones prolly had like 1.0 gpas in high school + criminal records... rich r had to do this to get wvu football program… pick up kids who no1 else wanted to that is… henry and jones prolly had like 1.0 gpas in high school + criminal records…

]]> By: billso http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/rich-rod-to-blame-for-pacman-and-henry-17043#comment-738 billso Mon, 07 Apr 2008 06:34:02 +0000 http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/rich-rod-to-blame-for-pacman-and-henry-17043#comment-738 "...if this whole Michigan thing doesn’t work out, maybe Rich Rod" ... um, could do what, exactly? Maybe you should finish the sentence before you hit the "publish" button. “…if this whole Michigan thing doesn’t work out, maybe Rich Rod”

… um, could do what, exactly?

Maybe you should finish the sentence before you hit the “publish” button.

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