OT: What a total mess at Grambling | The Boneyard

OT: What a total mess at Grambling

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pap49cba

pap49cba

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Players refuse to board buses for their game tomorrow....

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The players want to control who the coach is and how they travel to games.

The school claims that they are not letting the students run the school, although they did fire the interim head coach. Unfortunately, the students want the previously terminated head coach reinstated. School says no.

Yech.
 
Wonder who is orchestrating the players. Don't believe the players are doing this on their own.
 
It is pretty sad that these players may end up losing their scholoarships and a free education. I'm not sure if a new weight room floor and better meals is worth it. Bus rides to games is probably just a budget issue. I can only guess that when they go to these larger schools to play and see their facilities they get a little jealous. Has anyone heard anything like safety issues(possibly weight room floor), physical intimidation or any other unethical treatment of the players? Hope it works out for all concerned.
 
I suspect, reno tony, that those issues are more smoke than fire: the mid-season dismissal of the head coach is a much bigger flag, and much more of an issue, I'd guess, than the issues you cite.
 
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pinotbear said:
I suspect, reno tony, that those issues are more smoke than fire: the mid-season dismissal of the head coach is a much bigger flag, and much more of an issue, I'd guess, than the issues you cite.
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You are probably right. It seems the ones I listed from the article don't seem worthy enough to lose a scholarship. I certainly respect someone that stands up for their principles. But, if the article is accurate, Williams isn't coming back and the players need to get over it and move on. They made their point and hopefully it won't cost them too much in the form of punishment. I just find this such a sad story.
 
Reportedly they had 15 hour bus rides to games. If you get jet-lag after a 4 or 5 hour flight, what do you have after a 15 hour bus ride ?

Update 2: ESPN reports trips to KC and Indy. The players were upset by the conditions of the locker-room, and weight room. Apparently they were dirty, and had mold.
 
John Glass said:
Reportedly they had 15 hour bus rides to games. If you get jet-lag after a 4 or 5 hour flight, what do you have after a 15 hour bus ride ?

Update 2: ESPN reports trips to KC and Indy. The players were upset by the conditions of the locker-room, and weight room. Apparently they were dirty, and had mold.
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Yes, I think there is some level of exaageration, although those two bus rides are definitely long - probably close to 9 hours of actual driving time to KC and 11 hours to Indy.
 
reno tony said:
Bus rides to games is probably just a budget issue. I can only guess that when they go to these larger schools to play and see their facilities they get a little jealous.
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As mentioned above, the main issue is definitely the firing of the coach. Grambling has a low budget but so do all the teams they play, so I doubt they are jealous of other facilities. Grambling, in fact, has a budget that is a bit larger than the average team in their conference.
 
What a conundrum for the administration and coaching staff. Seems to me that the players, however well intentioned their motive, have caused the college some real harm - there will be potentially major financial consequences of forfeiting the game. Most of the players, I presume, have some level of scholarship and as such, have broken a contract with the school. What should the consequences be?

Closer to home, did anyone hear the National Public Radio story on Friday the 18th on UMass' troubles making the transition to Division 1 in football?
 
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Grambling, don't forget, is part of the Louisiana's state educational system. I think if you want to understand what's going on, this is a good place to start, as reported by SI: "Since 2007-08, overall state funding for Grambling has gone from $31.6 million to $13.8 million."
 
Yes, that state funding is at the center of the issue.
 
Wbbfan1 said:
Wonder who is orchestrating the players. Don't believe the players are doing this on their own.
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FWIW - The QB's father was the fired coach (Doug Williams).

Not that their complaints don't have merit.
 
DaddyChoc said:
the Doug Williams?
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Yup...

>>In a text message to the USA Today, former coach Doug Williams, who was fired Sept. 11, said he was “proud of them boys. They took a stance.”

A member of the Grambling football program told The Times that if Williams was still coaching, he believed the team would have played and practiced this week.

“All (Doug Williams) would have to do is flick his finger, and those players would be here,” the source said.<<
 
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Grambling Football. There was a time in the late 60's-early 70's when the only program placing more players in the NFL than Grambling was Notre Dame; Before big money, an acceptance of integration in the southern universities, and overall acceptance throughout all of college football. Back when one watched the game and the halftime show. While no one would advocate a return to the way things used to be, what many do not realize is how much suffering there is/was among thriving, successful black institutions and businesses as a result of integration. It seems that those who fought hardest against it have benefitted most from it. Alabama, sight of George Wallace's famous doorway stand against integration, is in line to win its third national championship. Auburn, LSU, Florida, Florida State, Georgia; Among many powerhouses today that id not recruit black ballplayers 50 years ago.

FWIW: How many among us have endured round trip bus rides of 15 hours each way? It is also difficult to fathom a poster suggesting that the driving times to Kansas City and Indianapolis are a bit of exaggeration.
 
FWIW, when Vivian was inducted into the WBB Hall of Fame over 10 years ago, we attended her private party where she was "roasted" by old friends and John Cheney.

At that time the state of affairs at Cheney State was discussed. Here you had a school where athletics were never well financed, but, like Grambling, it reached a point where the entire school was having issues.

Continuing VAUConnFan's point, it is no longer popular for black students in general to go to HBCUs. In fact, when one of RU's players said that, had she not been able to go to RU she would have attended a HBCU, she was soundly criticized.

Of course these problems are not, unfortunately, limited to just a small selection of colleges.
 
VAUConnFan said:
Grambling Football. There was a time in the late 60's-early 70's when the only program placing more players in the NFL than Grambling was Notre Dame.
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As a football fan old enough to remember that era, it is hard for me to remember one player from Grambling. What was your source for that statement?
 
reno tony said:
As a football fan old enough to remember that era, it is hard for me to remember one player from Grambling.
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Willlie Brown (Raiders)
Buck Buchanan (Chiefs)
Willie Davis (Packers)
James Harris (Bills/Rams) - 1st black starting QB
Charlie Joiner (Chargers)
Billy Newsome (Colts)
Woody Peoples (49ers)
Everson Walls (Cowboys)
Doug Williams (Bucs) - only black QB to win Superbowl

Ring any bells?
 
Creaky said:
Grambling, don't forget, is part of the Louisiana's state educational system. I think if you want to understand what's going on, this is a good place to start, as reported by SI: "Since 2007-08, overall state funding for Grambling has gone from $31.6 million to $13.8 million."
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:eek:
 
.-.
What a golden job opportunity!! Recruiting coordinator for Grambling State.
 
Doug Williams talks to the players and they agree to return to practice today.
 
reno tony said:
As a football fan old enough to remember that era, it is hard for me to remember one player from Grambling. What was your source for that statement?
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Thank you Meyers and Ozzie Nelson for responding and for pointing out sources with which I was previously unfamiliar. My original source was a documentary that aired back when I was a teenager in the 60's, 100 Yards to Glory, that featured, then, Grambling College and Coach Eddie Robinson. This was right before Henry Davis got drafted by the Giants; Remembered because he was also featured along with his impoverished mother. Talk about growing up amid hard times. Among the things most remembered was how fondly Coach Robinson talked of his first NFL signee, Tank Younger, who paved the way for future Grambling and other HBCU players by making NFL/AFL scouts take notice.

Back in the day, Grambling was as highly revered a football program and institution of higher learning as one could possibly imagine. Eddie Robinson stood taller among us than Bear Bryant did among those who revered Alabama Football. It was Coach Robinson who convinced Coach C. Vivian Stringer, to leave her beloved position at Cheyney State;
"Vivian, when the time comes, you must go. You have to consider what it means for you to assume a greater stage, and to give America the opportunity to see a black female in a head coaching position, calling the shots at a major school.... Don't worry about how successful the program has been in the past. You may have to take a step or two back in order to move forward; you're a winner, and you will be a winner. But you can affect far more people if you understand your destiny, and I don't know how much further Cheyney can take you."

I also came across this archived ESPN article earlier today:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4926548

Grambling Football has a deep and cherished history. For those too young to remember and for those who were never aware, the current Grambling headlines might open the door to a room full of memories.
 
VAUConnFan said:
Thank you Meyers and Ozzie Nelson for responding and for pointing out sources with which I was previously unfamiliar.
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There is also a book out now titled, "Breaking the Line. The Season in Black College Football That Transformed the Sport and Changed the Course of Civil Rights" by Samuel Freeman.

About the 1967 Season with Grambling and Florida A&M. Coach Robinson and QB James Harris.

Heard the author on the radio the other day (Rome or Cowherd or one of them??). Sounded interesting.
 
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