Don't love the guy, but I admit that there is some practicality it want he said in his press conference when asked about the RU issues. I am sure most CFB coaches relate to Kyle Flood and none wish they had the string of bad luck he has had this month.
Source: http://www.gopsusports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/091515aak.html
Q. James, in your experience as a head coach, obviously you have more than a hundred kids under your control or you supervise them, help them make good decisions. Knowing 18-year-olds, 22-year-olds make bad decisions. How do you help them make decisions and how does that affect the perception of your program?
JF: It's probably the thing nowadays in our profession that you lose the most sleep over. A lot of times they're making mistakes, very similar mistakes that other people in the community or other people on campus are making, but it doesn't get the same type of reaction, obviously. We're held to a different standard, and we embrace that standard.
But, yeah, we do everything in our power to try to help them understand the significance of decision making, of perception, of the microscope that's on them, just what it's like to grow up as a young man in 2015.
When I was growing up, you could make a mistake. You could get in a fight as a young kid, you could do something, learn from it and move on. Those aren't the days now. You're going to get arrested. You're going to get hurt badly. You're going to get sued. It's going to become national headlines.
We bring a lot of people in all year long, especially in the off-season, different speakers, about making great choices with drugs and alcohol and relationships, academic integrity, all those things.
I think our community service stuff that we do with P.J. [Mullen], that really helps. I think you've heard me say this before. Every single day when we have a team meeting, in my PowerPoint, it's examples of professional athletes, college athletes, high school athletes, programs across the country that people have made mistakes. I'm hoping by doing that that our guys can learn from it.
It's a challenge. You're responsible for 125 17-year-old to 22-year-old males. Maybe the most unpredictable group of people on the planet. It's a part of our job, to help them grow academically, help them grow socially, and help them grow athletically.
I think the other thing that's challenging is there's times where you think a young man deserves a second chance because of all the other things you know about him, his family, his background, all the other wonderful things he may be doing day in and day out, but there's so much pressure outside that sometimes you're not able to do that.
I think that's some of the challenges that we have now in our profession.
Source: http://www.gopsusports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/091515aak.html
Q. James, in your experience as a head coach, obviously you have more than a hundred kids under your control or you supervise them, help them make good decisions. Knowing 18-year-olds, 22-year-olds make bad decisions. How do you help them make decisions and how does that affect the perception of your program?
JF: It's probably the thing nowadays in our profession that you lose the most sleep over. A lot of times they're making mistakes, very similar mistakes that other people in the community or other people on campus are making, but it doesn't get the same type of reaction, obviously. We're held to a different standard, and we embrace that standard.
But, yeah, we do everything in our power to try to help them understand the significance of decision making, of perception, of the microscope that's on them, just what it's like to grow up as a young man in 2015.
When I was growing up, you could make a mistake. You could get in a fight as a young kid, you could do something, learn from it and move on. Those aren't the days now. You're going to get arrested. You're going to get hurt badly. You're going to get sued. It's going to become national headlines.
We bring a lot of people in all year long, especially in the off-season, different speakers, about making great choices with drugs and alcohol and relationships, academic integrity, all those things.
I think our community service stuff that we do with P.J. [Mullen], that really helps. I think you've heard me say this before. Every single day when we have a team meeting, in my PowerPoint, it's examples of professional athletes, college athletes, high school athletes, programs across the country that people have made mistakes. I'm hoping by doing that that our guys can learn from it.
It's a challenge. You're responsible for 125 17-year-old to 22-year-old males. Maybe the most unpredictable group of people on the planet. It's a part of our job, to help them grow academically, help them grow socially, and help them grow athletically.
I think the other thing that's challenging is there's times where you think a young man deserves a second chance because of all the other things you know about him, his family, his background, all the other wonderful things he may be doing day in and day out, but there's so much pressure outside that sometimes you're not able to do that.
I think that's some of the challenges that we have now in our profession.
