File this away for the future

AD & Department NCS Football Non-Revenue42

Not going to open this can of worms today…but, definitely wanted to highlight something from this article that is related to a HUGE undiscussed issue within the NC State Athletics Department.

I’m just going to throw this quote out there so I have it filed for a future entry and to generate any discussion that takes off on the topic from the community.

“This is a medical decision,” O’Brien said. “I have nothing to do with this. Once the doctors tell us he’s cleared to go, if we’re still playing football, he will play.”

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AD & Department NCS Football Non-Revenue

42 Responses to File this away for the future

  1. GAWolf 07/24/2009 at 12:05 PM #

    What do you mean by “team doctors?”

    Read this: http://www.gopack.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=9200&ATCLID=523267

    As to the Ireland thing, I believe I read somewhere quite a while ago that the entire trip was to be paid for with money donated to or raised by the band itself. It’s our University’s inability to differentiate this to avoid some “possible” confusion in the press that our band is jet-setting on the taxpayer’s dime that is the problem here.

  2. mikeD 07/24/2009 at 12:26 PM #

    Along the lines of football health:

    My wife recently did her student teaching in Raleigh, and had several students on the football team in her class. She asked if they were trying to play college ball, and replied they would love to, but didn’t want to go near NC State because of all the injuries. They liked Coach O’Brien and what he brought to the program, but didn’t want to risk the medical attention here.

    I’ve also met high school footballers from other schools who have looked to play at State, but also shared the same concern.

    I’m not sure if the same is thought of the other programs, but I expect it does (especially basketball).

    SFN: Can you be a little more clear with this post. It is a little confusing. Thanks!

  3. packalum44 07/24/2009 at 12:46 PM #

    Nate isn’t going to redshirt b/c at most, he would only stay another year anyway. He’s too talented to stick around 6 years. If he can get in a few games this season and show scouts what he’s got, then why not? Then he can go pro next year or come back for his last season. He’s the most talented defensive player we’ve had since Super Mario.

  4. GAWolf 07/24/2009 at 1:01 PM #

    ^I, too, would be shocked if Nate seeks a medical redshirt for the above-mentioned reasons, but also because I don’t believe he’s eligible since he’s already a taken a strictly athletic-based redshirt year during which he practiced with the team every day.

  5. BJD95 07/24/2009 at 1:03 PM #

    Thanks for the anecdote, mikeD. I have also heard rumblings that other schools have used this in recruiting against NC State. Sounds like it might be taking root, at least to some extent.

  6. bradleyb123 07/24/2009 at 1:21 PM #

    Could it be TOB is irritated that other schools are using our injury bug against us, and more specifically, because the media is helping them by keeping Nate Irving in the spotlight like they did at the Pigskin Preview event?

    SFN: Maybe we don’t have an ‘injury bug’ at all. Maybe we CREATE our ‘injury bug’ by not treating our players the same as all of the other programs. Maybe our players are held out of games at a higher rate than at our competition and THAT is what is held against us in recruiting. Maybe the EXACT same injuries that cause our players to miss multiple games don’t cause the players at other schools to miss any games. Maybe we have an Athletics Department that is aware of the situation and does nothing about it. Maybe we waste hundreds of thousands of dollars a year by not having much central control of the spending we do on sports medicine.

  7. LRM 07/24/2009 at 2:00 PM #

    See, I simply read it to mean that Lee Fowler is as capable of running the athletic department as he is operating on a torn ACL (although I don’t know which would be more destructive).

  8. tobaccordshow 07/24/2009 at 2:03 PM #

    I think we need to think outside of the box here instead of being angry at the authors. SFN has already noted this situation does not have anything to do with Nate. One only has to look but so far for other devastating injuries that has befallen NC State.

  9. BJD95 07/24/2009 at 2:20 PM #

    Definitely not a media critique.

  10. Clarksa 07/24/2009 at 3:08 PM #

    “OK, I’ll play connect the dots. The last set of circumstances where I heard chatter of this nature was when RW was injured in the bowl game. I don’t know any specifics, but I do remember people alluding to TOB & RW possibly having a problem with the medical staff ruling RW out of the second half. Am I warm?”

    I think you are…but I don’t have any inside knowledge…so I’ll just keep hitting the refresh button.

  11. bigjohn 07/24/2009 at 3:11 PM #

    I ripped off an email to the chancellor, this morning, about the band’s Ireland trip and got a quick and personal response, in which he said that he had learned about it this morning, and promptly moved to try to restore the trip, if flights and reservations could be recaptured. I think we should all be happy that Jim Woodward is at the helm.

  12. Gowolves 07/24/2009 at 4:16 PM #

    FYI This has nothing to do with the Sports Medicine department except they are trying to help him back. This has nothing to do with a sports injury. He was hurt in a car accident. I understand this is obvious for some but not others. The decision is up to the ortho not the sports medicine dept. They don’t work for the University they have a obligation to the the patient first.

  13. tobaccordshow 07/24/2009 at 10:18 PM #

    Apparently, some do not have very, very basic reading comprehension skills. SFN has already said that has NOTHING TO DO WITH NATE.

  14. Gowolves 07/25/2009 at 10:10 AM #

    I know this has nothing to with Nate. My point is the doctors decide during a game and between weeks if a player should play or return to a game. Yes the sports medicine dept has some say but it ultimatly is up to the doctor and athlete. FYI the football team has a new athletic trainer. The previous one left. I know the new guy persoanlly. My brother is also a trainer for a promient school. His take is the sports medicine dept is to treat the injury to get back the player back. The coacehes and strengh and conditioning coach are the people to make sure they are physically prepared for the game. This is were the disconnect is. People believe that the athletic trainers are the ones responsibile.

  15. jwrenn29 07/25/2009 at 12:56 PM #

    Seems to me, this is the quote that should be the hot topic:

    “…but I’ve found you really don’t have to do much to raise expectations of the Wolfpack Nation.”

    TOB understands the fans, but LF doesn’t.

  16. Noah 07/26/2009 at 1:17 PM #

    I believe the point is that NC State is NOT unlucky.

    When you go to Vegas and you stay long enough, you end up looking like the guy in the Monopoly game with the pockets turned out. That’s not luck. That’s just the way it is. The odds are stacked overwhelmingly against you and over a long enough period of time, you will end up completely broke.

    Likewise, if you smoke three packs of cigarettes a day for thirty years, you’re not snakebitten when the doctor tells you that you’ve six months to live.

    How about this? Carolina and Michigan and UCLA and Ohio State and Florida…they aren’t lucky. They have extraordinarily talented people making very good decisions about the future of their schools. They put into place sound policies that maximize things like…ya know…revenue. Exposure. Resources.

    Thirty or forty years ago, if you had a good coach…that was luck. There wasn’t any money in any of this. No one knew what television was or how to do anything with it. There was no “sports administration” major anywhere.

    These days? There isn’t any luck to be had. This is a science. The schools that ALWAYS manage to be at the top? They aren’t throwing darts at a board. They aren’t reacting to anything.

    When was the last time NC State had a great AD? Hell if I know. Hell if I know if we’ve EVER had one. We’re still doing the same crap we did thirty years ago. NC State’s not unlucky. They’re exactly where they ought to be.

  17. Classof89 07/28/2009 at 10:59 AM #

    So really what this entry is all about is that our approach to sports medicine, like our notoriously bad sports information department is a liability to our overall athletics program, and not an asset.

    But both of these problems PREDATE Fowler, don’t they? I mean Fowler, sports medicine, SID are all symptoms of an underlying attitude/approach that is willing to settle for mediocrity and the “good ole boy” network instead of striving for excellence. The whole Easley scandal, the hiring of Amato and Lowe, these are all symptoms of an underlying problem that is going to manifest itself over and over again until we have leadership willing to take hard stands in order to shake up the status quo instead of “going along to get along”. We are an institutional Uncle Tom, and I mean that not in a racial way, but in an “attitude to entrenched authority” way.

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