You probably haven’t heard, but the Oregon Ducks football team has gotten itself into a little bit of trouble recently.
A handful of incidents — domestic violence, multiple counts of assault, a single DUII, and heck, maybe even a possible theft — led to head coach Chip Kelly and Oregonian columnist John Canzano making an appearance on ESPN’s “Outside The Lines” daytime television show earlier this week. Maybe you saw it? I for one missed it the first time around and had to watch the replay on YouTube later that night.
The show began with host Bob Ley asking Kelly what his “guiding philosophy is in dealing with the parade of issues” surrounding his football program. Kelly’s response:
“First and foremost, that we’re embarrassed,” Kelly stated. “I truly believe it is a privilege to play football here and with that goes responsibility. If you can’t live up and follow the laws of this country, then you can’t play football here.”
Interesting.
From there he went on to reiterate the team’s motto of “Win the Day” and how that should carry over from the football field into other walks of life. Ley’s next question regarded how Kelly’s administration of the program has changed with this taking place in only the second year of his head coaching stint. Though I never heard Kelly really answer that question, somewhere in his tangent he made a noteworthy comment.
“I think we continue to educate our players the difference between right and wrong,” Kelly said. “But our players know the difference between right and wrong, and if they’re going to cross that line, then they’re going to pay the price.”
This past month points quite to the contrary, Mr. Kelly.
After several more minutes of back and forth banter and questions of how the LeGarrette Blount situation helped Kelly prepare for this string of mishaps, Canzano and Drew Sharp, a columnist from the Detroit Free Press, came on and gave an entirely different perspective.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with Canzano, he isn’t exactly the most popular member of the media in this neck of the woods, because, well, he tells it how it is. He’ll call out the big-name guys and isn’t afraid to take the heat that comes with the responsibility of being a public figure. I personally am partial to the guy and can respect what he’s done professionally.
And he wasted no time in taking a quick jab at Kelly’s handling of the current crime spree.
“I don’t think Chip really sees how his handling of the discipline has really caused this,” he said. “These guys getting in trouble, that’s not the problem. That’s the symptom, to me, of something larger and a lack of accountability.”
Again, interesting.
Ley then gave Canzano the ol’ bump-set-spike routine and he hit the next question out of the park.
“What do you see is the problem, then?” Ley asked.
“I think it’s Chip Kelly,” Canzano said, wasting no time in between breaths.
Canzano gave Kelly his praise for being the outstanding football coach that he is and his ability to win football games, but the fact that he struggles with discipline has begun to take its toll.
How do I feel about all of this? Not sure, really. The whole situation has seemed so surreal. Riding on my post-Rose-Bowl-appearance high horse, this chain of crimes hasn’t set in for me just yet. I guess the pessimist in me is just waiting to hear who gets arrested this weekend. What will the crime be this time?
I think I’ll probably hold down my spot on top of the fence for a while longer, not leaning one way or another and attempting to not shell out blame, for I really only have the same outsider’s perspective that you do.
All I can honestly say though, is that I can’t wait to see Darron Thomas handing the ball off to Lache Seastrunk in the backfield next year. Should be riveting.
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