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Alstott Is What's Missing From Football These Days

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 8, 2008

My family and friends know I love football. Really love football.

I have been a Bucs fan since the franchise's inception in 1976. I worked security at the Old Sombrero and "Ray Jay" all but two of my 29 years at the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. They paid me to shake Bart Starr's hand, to watch Mike Alstott run around the stadium, two hours before the first home game after 9/11 and shake every law enforcement officer's hand and tell them how much he respected them and what they do. Thank you, Mike.

However, the Florida State University football program is once more a disgrace. The lack of institutional control has reared its ugly head, again.

I just read where Gino Hayes, FSU's star linebacker, is going pro. Good. I don't think he missed a down of playing time for threatening Tallahassee police officers and requiring them to use their Tasers on him. Did you know there were multiple players suspended from their bowl game who attended high school in Pasco and Hillsborough counties? Only now is FSU taking middling actions to prevent this from occurring again.

It should come as no surprise the University of Miami football program has fallen on hard times. In 2001, the university brought in a new president, Donna Shalala, and football coach, Larry Coker, to clean up the troubled program infamous for its bad-boy behavior. The October 2006 brawl between Miami and Florida International University was further evidence that Shalala and Coker had failed their primary mission: to clean up the program.

As coaches and athletic directors struggle nationwide with this growing epidemic, we must ask, "Is the only way to have a successful program to look the other way when trouble arises?"

Now, to South Florida, my alma mater. Welcome to Division I-A football. Does this show how you're going to respond to such serious academic allegations regarding your players? "Uh, well, er, maybe the professors have to look into it," they say. Please. Just stop. Has USF resorted to the big boys' game plan when addressing academic mediocrity: ignore it?

Folks, this starts in Pee Wee football. The superstars who win games for the coaches are coddled. In 2001, I watched a now-fired high school football coach pick up players for summer practice, buy them meals and then throw them the keys to his Mercedes so they could take a spin around the parking lot.

I saw firsthand another coach and principal allow their star player, who had just been arrested by deputies for armed robbery of a pizza deliveryman, play the next Friday, with his home monitoring device all taped up. When deputies questioned the morality of his being charged with a felony, using a gun and being allowed to play, the administrators claimed that all the facts were not known.

We need to hold principals and coaches accountable in how they hold their athletes accountable for their actions. Nobody seems accountable anymore. There is always an excuse. "I came from a broken home." So did I. "Life is hard." Get used to it.

I like National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell. His no-nonsense approach will clean up pro football. Maybe he should run for president. I nominate Alstott to be his vice president.

Best wishes, Mike. Please stay in Tampa.

Rod Reder is a resident of Lutz.

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