Dooley, Chizik: Onus on players as well
July 23, 2010
HOOVER, Ala. (AP)—Tennessee coach Derek Dooley and Auburn’s Gene Chizik bothsay the onus isn’t just on agents to follow the rules, college athletes know thedifference between right and wrong.
“A lot of this has got to go back to the young guy,” Chizik said Friday.“He’s got to have an allegiance to his school. He’s got to have an allegianceto his teammates. He’s got to have an allegiance to his coaches and to hisuniversity. The bottom line is, I think everybody probably does a really goodjob of trying to educate their kids.
“If they know right from wrong and they choose to do wrong, then they don’treally have an allegiance to the people that I just mentioned. They know rightfrom wrong.”
It was a slightly different message from the first two days of theSoutheastern Conference media days, when coaches were on the attack againstunscrupulous sports agents.
Investigations are ongoing at Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Floridafor alleged improper contact, along with North Carolina. The rash of issues ledCrimson Tide coach Nick Saban to liken the actions of those rogue agents to thebehavior of a pimp.
Dooley and Chizik both said the athletes are willing participants.
“At the end of the day, it’s the responsibility of the player to not takeit,” Dooley said. “And I don’t know any other way to put it. It’s aresponsibility of the player that if somebody comes up and confronts you inpublic and wants to fight you, to walk away. It’s a responsibility of the playernot to break the law. So it’s a responsibility of the player not to break therules of the NCAA.”
Several players agreed with that sentiment, including LSU linebacker KelvinSheppard.
“Both sides are responsible,” Sheppard said. “Both are adults.Definitely, players need to take ownership and know certain rules they need toabide by as a college athlete.”
Tennessee and Auburn are among schools that hired consultant Joe Mendes, aformer NFL executive, to help educate and manage players’ dealings with agents.
“This is not a new problem,” Chizik said. “This did not happen this weekfor the first time. This is an ongoing issue that everybody is aware of, and Idon’t know what the right legislation is to kind of put a cap on this thing.
“I know that it’s been a problem that everybody’s been aware of, and thisisn’t the first time. It’s one that’s challenging in terms of being able to getour hands around it. Whether it’s the NFL or NCAA, I’m sure that there’s goingto be a brighter light shined on trying to find some legislation somewhere to beable to regulate it. But it’s hard to regulate.”
LSU cornerback Patrick Peterson said he was approached by agents or theirrepresentatives “maybe three times a week” at the start of his junior year.
“It was pretty crazy,” Peterson said. “It was wild. I knew how to tellthose guys it’s not the proper time for all this, it’s not the right moment.I’ll talk to you when it’s the right time.”
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