Having had a good night's sleep to take all this in, I am way off of the ledge and here is why:
If Flood has lost control of the team as a number of "insiders" have claimed, then who is responsible for Rutgers reputation as a hard nosed football team that never quits? If you disagree with that statement, you disagree with all of the BTN analysts and most of the local reporters. Disciplined never say die players don't play for a coach they don't respect or feel they can get over on.
Did the overall academic standing of the Rutgers football team drop out of the top ten this past week? Coach Flood makes sure his players go to class and graduate. If anything, this email exchange is at worst a demonstration of Floods exuberance to go to the mat for one of his players. At worst it was a lapse in judgement measured against a long body of work which has demonstrated that Flood's team's academic house is in order.
Are the parents of players and former players; Coach Friedgen; opposing coaches, boosters and just about anybody who has met Kyle Flood (myself included) wrong in their perceptions of this man? And conversely, are anonymous posters who never met the man and only know him from their television sets and stadium seats right?
Regardless of the outcome of this, all we know now as a university and fan-base is that Rutgers is not immune to the problems that virtually every Division I school in the country encounters sooner or later. Perhaps Flood was fooled by Peele and Barnwell but admitttedly, he had a lapse in judgement and you can be sure he will learn from it. The important thing will be that the event play itself out through the judicial system and if convicted, those who are guilty will be permanently separated from the team.
I still have tremendous confidence in Coach Flood and am going to start loading up the car for the three hour drive to one of the things that give me the most pleasure in this world..........Rutgers Football.
If Flood has lost control of the team as a number of "insiders" have claimed, then who is responsible for Rutgers reputation as a hard nosed football team that never quits? If you disagree with that statement, you disagree with all of the BTN analysts and most of the local reporters. Disciplined never say die players don't play for a coach they don't respect or feel they can get over on.
Did the overall academic standing of the Rutgers football team drop out of the top ten this past week? Coach Flood makes sure his players go to class and graduate. If anything, this email exchange is at worst a demonstration of Floods exuberance to go to the mat for one of his players. At worst it was a lapse in judgement measured against a long body of work which has demonstrated that Flood's team's academic house is in order.
Are the parents of players and former players; Coach Friedgen; opposing coaches, boosters and just about anybody who has met Kyle Flood (myself included) wrong in their perceptions of this man? And conversely, are anonymous posters who never met the man and only know him from their television sets and stadium seats right?
Regardless of the outcome of this, all we know now as a university and fan-base is that Rutgers is not immune to the problems that virtually every Division I school in the country encounters sooner or later. Perhaps Flood was fooled by Peele and Barnwell but admitttedly, he had a lapse in judgement and you can be sure he will learn from it. The important thing will be that the event play itself out through the judicial system and if convicted, those who are guilty will be permanently separated from the team.
I still have tremendous confidence in Coach Flood and am going to start loading up the car for the three hour drive to one of the things that give me the most pleasure in this world..........Rutgers Football.
