Disappointed in The U

I'll get back to college baseball talk tomorrow (once all the regionals are decided). For today, I wanted to rant about some of the recent goings-on with former University of Miami football players.

For the past decade or so (yes, that's how long it's been - Butch Davis came on board with the Canes for the 1995 season), we've heard all sorts of talk about how Miami is cleaning up its image and its program. To a large extent, that has happened. Miami has continued to win football games (including the 2001 national championship and a 34-game win streak), as they have for 20-plus years. They've also turned out Academic All-Americans, including Draddy winner Joaquin Gonzalez (remember him? He turned down the Harvard scholarship and ended up earning an MBA during his five years at UM) and all-around All-Americans, such as QB Ken Dorsey.

During this current run, the Canes have also turned out a record number of NFL players. The stats and comparsions are too time consuming to make, so I'll assume that you can find them on your own. Maybe it's the volume of players that's the cause of what's bothering me (as any time more and more people from any school find their way into any profession, the more likely it is that some of them will not work out or will have colorful off the job problems).

Unfortunately I think the problem runs deeper than that. Sean Taylor and Kellen Winslow's recent off-field issues may be limited to only them, but they reflect on the University of Miami as a whole. The University has done so much over the past decade to eradicate much of the reputation that it earned during the 80s and 90s - but all of those efforts can be quickly rendered meaningless if a handful of former players make headlines for the wrong reasons off the field.

Hopefully Taylor and Winslow are just isolated examples. I hope Miami is holding itself to a higher standard in recruiting football players (along with other students and athletes). The choice shouldn't be whether to recruit the best football players or the best student-athletes. The only option should be to recruit the best football playing student-athletes. The distinction is slight, but it's an important one.

At the end of the day, the general public doesn't remember that Taylor and Winslow left school early and without their diplomas. The public doesn't remember that the only time they hear about Jon Vilma or D.J. Williams is when it's football related or when they are doing something positive. The thing that sticks out in people's minds is that Sean Taylor went to Miami and that he's out waving a gun at people and that Miami's "f-ing soldier", Kellen Winslow, looks foolish for jeopardizing his career for a motorcycle ride. In the long run, those kinds of memories will stick with people longer than a 34-game win streak, a 5th national title in two decades, or inspiring stories like Willis McGahee's.

(Hey Kellen - if you're such a "f-ing solider" why don't you walk off your injuries and actually play some football this year? Why didn't you do that last year? Oh - what's that? It's physically impossible? Fine - then just be quiet and save your talk for when you've actually proven something. In the mean time, quit letting your dad tarnish his reputation by defending the indefensible.)