Spaulding Roundup: Suspensions, Arizona QB(s), "Good Things" From Brehaut & Other UCLA Notes

Watching him come off the field right after his injury, I couldn’t help but cringe at his reaction to having his arm touched by a coach/trainer. I hope he has a speedy recovery.

I’m really an optimistic guy, and I hope for the best for our team. But distractions do have an effect on teams, and I don’t think this team is mentally or physically ready to take the field this saturday. I hope and pray that the coaches can get this team focused and driven for this game and the coming ones, but I remain skeptical. Brehaut doesn’t seem like the Rah Rah guy that Prince was, leading from the front. Here’s hoping I’m wrong. We’re really going to miss Larimore, Sheller, Marvray, Rosario, etc etc etc. Time to step up, backups.

None of the rah rah BS. In fact, he sounds a little beat down, which could be a good thing if he is telling his coaches he is going to hold them accountable for improvements and adjustments or else.

His answer on why he played Prince at Cal was interesting. It wasn’t so much he was cleared to play which I assume he was. It was Kevin wanted to and the results of the MRI on the swollen knee were inconclusive so we thought he would be okay.

We are not going to win any more games if the defense doesn’t start playing up to it’s capabilities. Hopefully the coaches will simplify the assignments while being more aggressive.

On offense we may be pleasantly surprised by its improvement if adjustments are made for Brehaut’s passing abilities. Whether we stay in the pistol or not I expect a couple of hundred yards from Brehaut passing once he gets settled in, could be q huge factor the rest of the season.

Arizona is a very good team, but I think we dan beat them in our house as long as our defense improves to being decent, meaning holding them to about 24. Is that too much to hope for? Maybe, maybe not.

This can still be a good season, despite the stupid suspensions. Though distracting, CRN deserves credit for trying to run the program the right way.

GO BRUINS,

I am hoping that means that he’s ensuring that all coaches are on the same page as well as making sure players really know what they are supposed to do at all times (ie. teaching and training).

I also note that he said that he was involved with the play calling on both sides of the ball (or at least that he was ‘on the phone’). Hopefully this will get us playing smarter ball on D.
BTW: After reading countless posts about what is wrong with our D, I decided that it comes down to lacking leadership (starting with the DC). Playing more aggressively when they are so leaderless will just make them give up huge plays. We need a general in the booth and a couple of lieutenants on the field. Just fixing the D coaching won’t make the team rise to its potential. Some guys need to step up and lead.

I getting a little tired of the positive spin and now i just wanna see results! I’m so disappointed to hear that these players failed drug test 3 different times – i say kick them off the team!

You would think after the first fail they would understand the seriousness of the situation.

Man i sure could use a win streak!

i hate that LAME has been flying under the radar because of our problems.

that the world seems to accept that these are “drug” related suspensions — even though there are no facts in the “record” to establish the offenses?

For good reason, there are Federal and State laws that give students the right to privacy in matters like this. As a parent, I must say, I was not pleased to learn that my daughter may now “keep secrets” about her health, well being and academic performance. But, I also understand the rules and the values they protect; in the end, I support them.

What concerns me is the “rush to judgment” based on inference and innuendo that leads to the acceptance that there were, in fact, crimes committed — yes, crimes — and the suspensions were punishment for them.

Could they not just as easily have been academic violations, violations of team rules about timeliness? Neatness? Who knows?

And, because of the protections, we don’t know whether CRN is handling these violations correctly or not.

Here’s what we know. Unlike many other coaches, he’s not swept problems under the rug or punished them with trivial things like laps. These suspensions have been significant — made the more so by the fact that the punished players seem to lose their spots in the rotation and have to “earn there way back in”. The players suspended last year never got back to where they were.

But, we don’t know if the problem is really serious. Are three drug violations properly punished by a one game suspension? Seems light to me. Even if they would not be punished, in any way, by other schools.

Oh, but there I go, speculating — bad me.

My bottom line: This is one of those areas where I do not think we are entitled to know more,.

These are areas where we should not speculate and, by repetition and republication, create the belief that these are drug charges.

And, finally, these are areas where I trust CRN to do the right thing — trust him more than most other coaches who I believe would probably not do much — especially if the rules breakers were starters.