Oliver should've let it go, but Applewhite shouldn't have put him in that position. I don't care about the underlying issues or any tension between them. They aren't teammates. Applewhite is the head coach. If he has a problem with Oliver's decision not to play, he should handle it in his office. Trying to remove the jacket from his shoulder in the middle of the game is childish.
Applewhite should of just let him support his teammates even though he wasn't going to be a Cougar for the rest of the year as a player. It is very petty, it is cold. Nowadays, the best prospects of NFL is going to do the same thing by not playing to risk draft status. At least Ed is there to throw support to his teammates even though he could of just stayed away from games. Thumbs down for Applewhite.
Applewhite should have let it go. Oliver has meant a lot to the Cougars and there doesn’t need to be any bad blood at all. If Applewhite wants to be pissed at someone, he needs to go see his hand picked DC.
That's reasonable - but then there's no reason for him to be at the school or on the team. There's no reason they should be providing him free housing, free food, free training facilities, free medical care, access to coaching, etc.
As if it's "free" and the charitable largesse of a non profit entity like the University of Houston and the NCAA is a kindness, and as if these "free" benefits were in any way commensurate with the players value. ...if the terms of Oliver's employment were stipulated like that maybe I'd be amenable to this argument, but since its not, so that the NCAA can ruthlessly exploit its athletes in order to siphon money to coaches and others, it's hard to not just laugh and laugh and laugh.
Supposedly applewhite asked multiple people to take off the jacket. So you have to also ask ed. If that’s true I wish Ed acted a bit more maturely. I fully understand not risking his NFL career, but If Ed is completely walking away from the team over this, that’s weak ****. It was a tough game for the team - king on crutches. And you’re just going to disappear because you can’t wear a starters jacket? That being said I fully agree about the DC thing.
Do we know if it was Major or Oliver who decided not to come back out after the half? As of late, the best prospects have been sitting out meaningless bowl games, not regular season where conference championships are still in play (although we're seeing with Bosa this season). Of course none of this makes a difference if Oliver is truly injured and simply cannot go. As petty as it is, if Major asked other players to take the jacket off, Oliver should be held to the same standard.
Houston HC Major Applewhite said after Thursday's win over Tulane that he has not spoken with junior DT Ed Oliver since the two had a heated halftime exchange regarding a coat. "I heard he had left [after halftime]. I want him back. I want him part of our football team. If he wants to play, I want him to play," Applewhite said postgame. The whole bizarre situation came about after the coach took a coat off of Oliver's shoulders just before halftime. The team has a rule that only active players can wear this particular coat, and Oliver was not suited up due to a knee injury which has now cost him four consecutive games.
with some national pundits and local, clowney is still seen as lazy and doesn't care about football just because his head coach in college, spurrier, held a grudge at clowney for sitting out games. in the end, it didn't hurt Clowney but it shows you, it's always personal with coaches.
If the player didn't feel it was good value, he did not have to sign on. You seem to treat these players as too stupid to make to their own economic decisions and that they are being forced to play college football. More realistically, Ed Oliver realized that playing college football was a smart way to make millions of dollars. No different than endless other people who take low pay or crappy jobs as a means to a bigger payday down the line. The agreement between the University and players is pretty well established. The university provides the player with a scholarship. The player participates in team activities and gets an opportunity to showcase their talent. If all goes well, the university makes lots of money and the player gains lots of fame. Either party can terminate the relationship at any time (not sure if a university can pull a scholarship midseason or not), but as long as the relationship is ongoing, but parties have pretty well established obligations.
Why wouldn't it be? It's probably personal for many of the other players on the team too - they are still risking injuries and putting in all the work for their team while one of their key players walks away. Even if they have legit reasons, those are personal reasons, not team reasons. It was Clowney's right to do it, but he knows he's alienating people along the way - that's the (fairly minor) cost of it.
.....Except for when the NCAA is in court defending itself from antitrust and labor suits - in which case this well established series of obligations vanishes, as the NCAA has repeatedly taken the positions for the last half century that these obligations are not really even that obligatory, merely a voluntary noncompensatory arrangement and it is not at all analogous to people taking low pay or crappy jobs because these student athletes aren't performing labor or jobs at all, merely demonstrating their love of studenting and athleting from which the NCAA happens to be the benevolent beneficiary. I'm in the business of celebrating slave revolts against a corrupt system, so any transgression of that system against the tinpot dictators like Applewhite (who has his own ethical/honor issues) is morally/ethically justifiable, in my opinion. But if you want to take the Lochnerian view of the universe in the perverse landscape of the NCAA, to each his own.
Yup. Not to mention there are usually financial incentives with total wins, bowl wins, etc...It's definitely the smart choice for a lot of players that do it and don't think most people blame them for it. But whether it's Major, Spurrier, Herman, Urban, etc...they'd much rather them playing for sure, but never in the best interest of the program to express it.
Jackets are for players, specifically starters to help them stay warm & loose. I assume we don't actually have that many of them since this is Houston Texas we're talking about. Oliver wasn't playing, so no jacket. Simple as that. Ed refused to take off the jacket when instructed to by an assistant. Major then had to pull rank. Ed handled it like a child (which he basically is). Nobody gets special treatment. Dumb hill to die on for Ed. You're in the clear buddy. Go cash in. That little tantrum could cost him a million+ dollars.
Major said he did not speak to Oliver at halftime, so it must have been Ed's decision. Ed keeps saying "I want to play, might play next week, etc" but at this point I'm tired of it and don't care. I think he's outright lying and unwilling to level with us. You could argue he's waiting for a "meaningful" game to come around, but really, this week was an elimination game for us and he didn't dress despite bouncing all over the field in pre-game. He hinted he wants to/will play if able vs. Memphis next week as it could decide the division... I'm not holding my breath. If SMU beats Memphis tonight week, he will 100% sit out. If Memphis beats SMU... give him a 5% chance of playing.
Wait. What about if the Coogs have to play an away game in a cold climate? Are you telling me they don't have enough jackets for all players to wear? This just doesn't make sense. I know that TDECU stadium has a reputation for being an oven about 364 days per year, but the Coogs have to have more than a few jackets for players to wear. As for Oliver. Yes, he didn't help himself in any way with that tantrum.
If a policy is in play, no matter if you like it or not, then as a player it needs to be followed. it's not like that rule was just made up last night. Im in the boat that there isn't any special circumstances for any player. The situation could of been handled differently of course but it was going to get heated regardless from what happened.
