By KYLIE BEZPA
STAFF WRITER
Rutgers University students have mixed opinions regarding the impact that the university has experienced due to the arrests of five football players, and the suspension of head coach, Kyle Flood.
Some students say that the troubles have blown over without impacting the academic credibility of the university.
Ryan Moran, WRSU assistant sports director and Targum sports opinion columnist, sits at home watching Sports Center on a Saturday afternoon.
He hears the panel talking badly about Rutgers: how players committed crimes, how the coach broke school rules, and how they have been playing dreadfully since. However, Moran laughs and knows that, next week, everyone on ESPN would have forgotten about Rutgers and moved on to something else.
Moran believes that the player arrests were not that big of a deal. He says that, in reality, a scandal like this happens at every major Division I school with sports.
“This isn’t the first time and won’t be the last,” he said.
Students have mixed opinions on how supportive the student body will remain to the student players and to Coach Flood.
Natalie Toke, a student season ticket holder, attended last week’s “Blackout the Birthplace” game against Michigan State. As one of the waves of cheer within a huge sea of black, Toke is sure that the Rutgers football program has not lost support from its student body.
Based on the size of the crowd that attended the game, she says, “I think overall there is still respect for the players who aren’t criminals.”
On the other hand, Avery Tirado, a Rutgers senior studying exercise science and sports management, has lengthy discussions and debates in his sports classes regarding the football team.
As a Piscataway native, he remains supportive of Rutgers, but finds some of the students in his class feeling differently, specifically about Coach Flood.
“A lot of people in my class have voiced their opinions that Flood should be fired,” he said.
Many students say that, despite their talents, the football program is better off without the players who were arrested.
Toke said that she finds those players to be selfish because, not only did they ruin their own futures, but also they greatly affected the team’s season this year, seeing as four of the five arrested players were starters.
Moran refutes claim that Flood should have been able to control his players and prevent them from being in that kind of situation. He does not blame Coach Flood at all for the arrests.
Moran says, “It is not his job to babysit the players after spending a decent chunk of the day with them. If they want to throw away their talents for $900 and marijuana, then it’s their own fault and they don’t deserve to be on the team.”
Tirado also does not blame Coach Flood for the arrests. However, he does believe that Rutgers needs to do a better job of risk management when recruiting players. He thinks that Rutgers solely focuses on talent, ignoring other lifestyle choices and discrepancies of the players. Tirado says, “They pick high-risk people that other schools won’t pick due to past actions and behaviors like this.” |
