Southern University athletics department is extremely perplexing in this season especially after the APR incident that arrived in February of last semester.
As we know the NCAA has banned Southern from postseason play due to insufficient data. Question is, whose fault is it? We have heard from Athletic Director, Dr. William Broussard, in many interviews that it wasn’t the students’ fault so where does the red dot aim at now?
It is aimed at your department my good sir.
Now that we know that that department is trying to “progressively” fix that issue, problems still arrive with players becoming eligible to play even though I thought the problem was resolved when the NCAA gave us very lengthy restrictions. Does this play into the student athletes’ role in performing well in the classroom or your role in turning in sufficient data?
We all know the natural stereotype for football players is that they are not too bright but for them to come to Southern after an increase of eligibility requirements is a jump-start into a future of excellence. Student athletes at Southern come in to pursue actual majors such as Nursing, Biology, Engineering, and Business. Other schools such as (LSU), football players take general studies and other petty majors to just be eligible to play.
I am particularly incumbent on football season because this is where it is struck the most. The athletes get on the bus to venture into Lafayette and play their first game of the season against a heavy hitter and thirty minutes before they left, players are notified that aren’t allowed to play. This ordeal shifts a mindset of a team and angers more than just you.
I bet the football players practice too hard to be notified that they can’t play. Where’s the readiness of the compliance officers when you need them? Because I’m pretty sure there’s notification beforehand and I’m glad it didn’t come in a text.
It also hurts supporters and parents of children that play for Southern University. So they pay a substantial amount of money to not see their babies play on the field. Quite frankly I would be highly offended and want answers to those questions.
The voicemail cannot answer such questions either, and trust me I left messages.
This doesn’t affect me but it does affect the alumni, parents, and paid supporters, and more importantly it revolves around the work ethic of the department.
When one makes a promise to fix the ordeal and it starts to shake and get worse. The question arrives is that do y’all care? Do y’all know the mindset that shifts with players and everyone trying to find out the true ordeal?
This isn’t even about championships anymore. This isn’t about how many SWAC titles that can be brought back to the university, it’s about morality. It’s about doing what you promise; it’s about standing up to your creed when you step into that seat of responsibility. When you make a promise to the media, I promise we don’t forget. The media might be a dog eat dog world but we do not forget statements that leaders make.
I’m a journalist, my job is to find the truth within the “bs” that is either told or represented and my job title is to give the news to the populous without bias and with that job title I serve the Southern University community. It doesn’t matter about the fiscal gain or even the perks but the hard truth is what I rely on.
This doesn’t just affect the football team but every other team that has to exhaust their players and use different strategies to try to find positivity within the upset.
To have such responsibility such as dealing with athletes and their future is your job to be sure that their future is enriched and to make sure that the NCAA brings light back to Southern University because right now we are in a tunnel fighting our way out.
And now I put the ball in your court.
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Insufficient data still an issue?
September 23, 2014
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