Re: >>>>RIT 2010 Offseason Thread-"You have to be a genius to go to RIT"
Re: >>>>RIT 2010 Offseason Thread-"You have to be a genius to go to RIT"
Is the UM the worse Div I school you could have picked as an example?
As a kid, I use to wander the UM (I hate it when they call it the "U"), working for Ron Fraiser and the baseball team. Mind you I was only 12 at the time and thought the entire place was pretty cool. I hung out in the dug out during games, worked the scoreboard sometimes, bat boy and sold programs too. The players then were much like the players on the Tigers team this year and years past. Hoping to make it to the majors but also working on their degrees. Being 12, I never asked what degrees they were going after but I found out later that some had become lawyers, a judge, etc.. and some did make it to the majors. Coach didn't seem to be the kind of guy would put up with much BS from his players, on or off the field. Coach Fraizer used to pay me in meal coupons since me working there would be frowned upon by the state if I got paid cash. I would hang out at the student union, the pool and never did I see a problem with the students or student athletes.
My Neice currently goes to UM and graduates in two weeks while my son goes to RIT and graduates in three weeks. I enjoy visiting both colleges and have the shirts, hats and stickers to show where my support is.
Now, the football team, which happens to be my favorite in college ball, is another story. I have followed them all my life and seen their ups and downs. Yes, when Testeverde and those on the team at the time were there, it was awlful, the team had lost their way and was an embarrasment.
Probably my worse memory of the team where them showing up for a bowl game in army fatigues.
Growing up in S. Florida is a little different than in New England (currently in NH) and upstate NY. The rivalry's and the stuff that happens on the field do not end at the end of the fourth quarter, it carries into the neighborhood's and at times, ends badly. Football is so contested down there that when my high school team lost in a three-way tie breaker for the play-offs, we ended up having a mini riot with the students from South Miami. I think you get a hint of the environment down there, not only in the colleges but in the high schools when it comes to football. We never had a riot after a high school baseball game.
In the end, it comes down to the coaches, staff and administration on how their students represent their colleges, regardless of what division they are in. The rules have to be put into place, enforced and a little homework done on the prospective students before bringing them onto the team and the college.
You see it all over the NCAA's, those team that dress the part, usually are the ones that don't make the papers for some stupid action on the part of their student athletes. Those that don't enforce their own rules or recruit solely on the basis of athletic talent often pay the price in the media and in real life. Not to say a kid coming out of Miami football won't make something of themselves in the world outside of football, it's just that there had better be a framework at the college and staff who realize it's not all about football or sports.
As for RIT, what really shows how Coach Wilson runs his program is the professional manner in which the players presented themselves during the post game interviews after Albany. The represented themselves and RIT well. If the framework remaiins and common sense prevails, I don't see RIT running down the same path as let's say, FSU!
Now there's a Div I team you can use as an example of a program gone wrong. Always hated them too!
Looking forward to October and I'm really glad I'm not a Cap's fan right now!
