Comments on: Michigan’s Hoke Just Made Texas A&M’s Sumlin Look Bad

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 12:19:10 +0000

Why do these players deserve to double their suspension because of a hurricane? The game wasn’t delayed until two days before the game. That means that these players were missing 10-14 days of meaningful practice, why should they miss 7-10 days more? That doesn’t make sense. They preserve their game plan and who was going to play for LA Tech, and these players don’t miss practices they don’t deserve to miss.

By: Herknav

Herknav — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 20:50:01 +0000

//How about we allow these two coaches do there job without monday morning quaterbacking. Both Coach Hoke and Sumlin have the best interest of there young steeds in mind and know it’s bigger than the first game of the season. I trust there judgement and candor alittle bit more than second news from J Pennington or tainted comments from MR SEC.//Just my thoughts.//Herknav sends

By: pbrstreetgang

pbrstreetgang — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 18:37:23 +0000

One of the more inane commentaries on an otherwise well thought out site. The actions of the Michigan players reflect poorly on their school. Their discipline has more to do with that than Brady Hoke’s leadership/management of his football team. On the other hand, Sumlin’s discipline is strictly a team matter as the playrs actions did not reflect poorly on the University. Only time will tell whether or not he did the right thing.

You can say what you want about Mike Sherman, but he apparently recruited a bunch of solid citizens. Unlike the rest of the league, his players have largely kept their noses clean, the obvious exception, being Johnny Manziel’s arrest for fighting and carrying a fake ID – something most red-blooded American men would consider normal, not criminal, activity for a 19 year-old.

By: BonzaiB

BonzaiB — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 17:38:59 +0000

Finally got around to reading this. Just underwhelmed, the headline made it sound like there was something here. When do we just accept that if we do not know what the actual terms fo the suspension were, what the actual infractions were, and the actual response of the players to the suspension, we don’t know squat? And this ain’t Sumlin’s first job as a head coach, is there something in his track record that shows he is inconsistent? Research that for trends. Coaches should be evaluated on their body of work, not on single instances were pundits don’t have all the facts.
The Gators had their share of problems, where Urban let things get so out of hand we had arrests every week. Thank goodness we have a break in that sad chapter. So, if Sumlin’s leadership style starts to approach that of Urban at UF, I’ll start to pile on. Until then, I’ll take articles like this as just so much preaching. (You’re entitled to an informed opinion, but this is just a little too much holier than thou for me). UGA probably has the most consistent approach over time in the SEC (not sure about Mizzou), so the headline could have read; UGA embarrasses, or embarasses, or……).

By: j_scott_o

j_scott_o — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 16:23:00 +0000

RoadTrip,
What a crock of crap! This is the same logic that went on at PSU. It goes without saying that breaking the law is a violation of team rules. But, when a coach says a player violates team rules, they are talking about things like being late to practice, fighting in practice, skipping class, missing curfew, or other similar important rules. Breaking the law is far beyond these violations of team rules. To act like they are no different is misguided, dishonest, or flat out ignorance.

By: NatanElias

NatanElias — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 12:38:54 +0000

I disagree. Suspending against a cupcake hurts the team less and hurts the offending player(s) more by denying them the chance to rack up easy stats.

By: Aggiefaithful

Aggiefaithful — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 05:38:51 +0000

Screw that, this is a huge game for the Aggie Nation, as it is the first official game under the SEC logo. These kids broke no “legal” rules and did no sort of jail time; they were punished for in house issues that have been resolved; blame the hurricane if you are that annoyed with Sumlin’s stance. I like this site, but this is a bit of a stretch.

And lets be honest; this is the SEC, not the big10, and you need your best players to play…man’s game

By: Smoke Ring

Smoke Ring — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 00:50:45 +0000

No way you can credibly compare criminal acts versus internal violations of Sumlin’s standards for his program. Yet you irresponsibly tried. Yellow journalist.

By: Smoke Ring

Smoke Ring — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 00:50:43 +0000

No way you can credibly compare criminal acts versus internal violations of Sumlin’s standards for his program. Yet you irresponsibly tried. Yellow journalist.

By: SEC Ag

SEC Ag — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 23:11:22 +0000

Since this article didn’t state any of Sumlin’s side of the story: The suspensions weren’t only the for the game, it includes all the practices and game prep leading up to the game. The players had ALREADY been sitting out that stuff, their punishment was in progress and nearly completed when the game was ppd. Sumlin felt to make them sit again for the Florida week, and all it’s practices and game prep, would be effectively doubling their sentence, and that that wasn’t warranted. They are still sitting out the game they already started sitting out for. You may disagree, that’s fine, but Sumlin’s decision is reasonable, defensible, and consistent (this article implies that cynical expediency is the only possible explanation). A game being ppd at the last minute by a hurricane is a freak situation (if it had been ppd 2 weeks prior instead of 2 days prior maybe you’d have a case).

The Michigan situation involves very different factors, offenses, and timelines. It’s unbalanced journalism to provide Hoke’s comments but not Sumlin’s defense (he fielded questions and talked openly about it the last 2 days with the press). But then you throw in the sanctimonious commentary and judgements on top of the unbalanced journalism to paint Sumlin as a bad guy, lifting the article up to hatchet job status.

By: RoadTrip

RoadTrip — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 21:18:02 +0000

I agree with John. Both schools have situations involving violations of team rules. The fact that DUI and theft involve the criminal justice system is not relevant to violations of team rules. The court dates for these young men are just an additional issue each player will have to deal with on a personal basis.

The players violated team rules. Hoke took the high road. Sumlin took the low road. Period. It has nothing to do with conference affiliation or else Urban Meyer would not have been allowed to coach in the B10.

By: safety guy

safety guy — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 21:11:50 +0000

Why should any of us care how the suspensions are carried out. That is between the players and coaches. By the end of the season, there may not be too much difference in rankings or record between Florida or La Tech. It is not like Sumlin said after the postponement that they would be suspended for the South Carolina State or Sam Houston State games. He said that they would still be suspended for the La Tech game. Big deal.

By: Shane_pcs

Shane_pcs — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 20:32:48 +0000

@MoKelly1 @Statesman The rumor is that Sumlin gave them a list of requirements that had to be completed so that they could return and play the home opener. The players in question completed those requirements and even went above what they were asked to do. So to change that deal after they completed the requirements would be unfair to the players. That being said, I feel it looks bad and he should have held them out. It’s unlikely we win they game either way.

By: Mike007

Mike007 — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 20:16:36 +0000

What’s the issue here? Both coaches made decisions consistent with the class and integrity of their respective conferences…

By: rockriver

rockriver — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 20:08:53 +0000

MrSec.com :

The greatest bastion of yellow journalism in SEC country.

By: TracyBillingsley

TracyBillingsley — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 19:58:07 +0000

Happens all the time in sports. Players and coaches are always appealing or dropping their appeal based on upcoming schedules.

By: MoKelly1

MoKelly1 — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 19:30:41 +0000

@Statesman You may be 100% correct in what happened. But, it does seem strange (at least to me) to punish someone based on the opponent being played. Some offenses merit suspension from a Conference game and some offenses merit suspension from a non-conference game? Or, we think we can win without you this week so sit but we really need you this game so play? Sorry, I have to agree with the author on this one.

By: Gulf Coaster

Gulf Coaster — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 19:02:16 +0000

Sumlin could be 100% right in his decision, but it does look bad since we don’t know what happened.

For all we know, he could be strict and have an automatic suspension if they’re late to practice too many times, but without that knowledge, it looks questionable.

By: Statesman

Statesman — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 18:26:17 +0000

Can’t compare apples & oranges. Totally disagree with your stance. What we know as a fact is that the Michigan kids’s transgressions broke the law, while Sumlin stated that the A&M kids broke team rules. I believe that team rules are important, but you can’t compare a guy that was facing a felony DUI-(pleaded down), & theft with the vague team rules. Team rules could be missing a practice, etc. Until you know what the kids at A&M did you cannot compare the two situations. Comparing the two is similar to Penn St. folks asking why was their NCAA punishment more harsh than USC-Trogans. Apples & Oranges