Poll: Is the Charlie Strong Way The Right Way?

This off-season in the SEC has been plagued with citations, altercations, and arrests. More than we have ever witnessed in the Southeastern Conference.

In my opinion this is a mixture of upbringing, the coaches, and the expectations of the fans. We are all born into a situation we cannot control. Some of us are blessed enough to born into a family that is caring, hardworking, and has enough income to put food on the table and allow us to enjoy the little things in life. However there are also those kids who have a mom and dad that are never home. Their parents are out working 3-4 jobs and barely scraping by to get their kids the food and clothes they need to be just comfortable enough not to be miserable. We have heard countless athletes point this out later in their careers and thank their moms and dads for all the work they did to help them, the athlete, become successful not only on the field or court by in life. Finally there are the children who grow up in a home where the parents aren’t there for reasons much worse. The parents may have a drug problem, they could constantly surrounded by domestic violence, and things I cannot even imagine.

The last two situations do have something in common: the kids are not used to having extra money and focus on them. Money to spend on things like bikes, cars, or even extra food as simple as candy.  So what happens when these children grow up to be young men and women and receive scholarships from major schools like those in the SEC? It’s a whole new world. They receive benefits one in their position could never have dreamed of, and some of them do not understand how to handle it. I am not going into details on how these young people are not handling themselves because anyone who has been following this off season definitely has witnessed what some of these athletes have been doing.

The law is the law. Respecting others is something that we should all be taught, and following the rules and regulations of the NCAA and the college should also be high on the minds of these athletes. However, not every growing child is taught to respect authority. It’s not always the fault of the parent working 18 hour days, but it is the truth.

We have seen how Nick Saban, Gus Malzhan, and Mark Richt handle their off the field issues. There is some leniency – not to every offense – but to some. At SEC Media Days Nick Saban told the media and the rest of the country watching that if the discipline does not help the young man improve his attitude then it is useless. Over the last week we have seen Charlie Strong at the University of Texas take totally different approach. He is kicking players off the team for any major offense. Now, in his defense he said when he came on he would have a zero tolerance policy and I say bravo to him for actually sticking by his word. Something not every coach will do and risk the upcoming season.

So my question to you is do you believe coaches should have a Charlie Strong zero tolerance policy or do things like most other coaches and give their players, excluding extreme cases, a second or third chance?

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