Yesterday I went on about how coaches have to put a line down in the sand about these players who commit domestic violence, drug offenses, or theft. Today, a coach finally said enough is enough and sent a player packing. I mentioned Todd Graham, head coach of the Arizona State Sun Devils and his line in the sand mentality with his players.
Coach Graham is a man of principle, and he wants his players and staff to act accordingly with those principles that he lays down for his team. Graham wants his players to go to class, to act with class in public, and to be on time to practice and team meetings. Nothing that is considered crazy by any normal thinking person. Everybody has a boss that tells you what is expected of you on a daily basis at work. College and college football are the jobs of these football players and by adhering to Grahams rules, they are setting themselves up for success and in the end isn't that what a coach and college is out there for these young men?
Let's face it, most of these players on a college football squad are not going to hit it big at the next level, so they have to have some discipline instilled in themselves to help get through the rest of their lives. Coach Graham is instilling this train of thought in their brains now, so that they experience success in their lives.
Who doesn't Todd Graham put up with? He doesn't put with former ASU linebacker Davon Durant, who was dismissed from the Sun Devil team for his domestic violence and aggravated assault charge that he pled guilty to. Durant was rated as one of the top Junior College players when he came to Arizona State. He was rated the number 1 inside linebacker and the number 6 prospect overall in junior college. Now, he will be lucky if he gets ANYBODY to take him on their team. As I stated before, coaches hate distractions like kids hate broccoli. Granted he is talented, but at some point second chances won't happen for players like this because they just won't be worth the headache they bring to a football program.
"He's done," said Graham, "We parted ways. He put himself in that position. It's a bad deal, but you got to have accountability. We just don't talk about character and discipline. We live it."
How refreshing is that? To me, it's extremely refreshing in a time where players get slaps on the wrist and get chance after chance after chance. Those of us in the real world get fired if we did something like what Davon Durant did.
Kudos to Coach Graham for laying the law down and not wavering from his beliefs on how to run his football team. Hopefully more coaches catch on with this type of discipline and want less and less distraction for their program. Phenomenal job Coach Graham!
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