My thoughts on Graham.

[AzzurriDawg4]

I think it is unfair to call this guy Ed Orgeron just because he is a motivator and he cuts his own hair. His mannerisms and ideology, I am not concerned about. He does appear to be a good football coach - he knows how to win. However, I still believe a Graham hire will depend entirely on his coordinators.

Does Tulsa have a really young defense or are they just not good? That certainly has to concern you a little. I can promise you that if we go 4-8 losing our games 48-42 we will be just as mad about our defense as we have been the last 5 years with our offense. That is not to say that Graham will automatically suck at fielding a good D in Starkville, but just that defense could quickly become as big of a sore spot as our offense has been in recent years. We aren't that far removed from Ron Cooper, so I know yall remember how that went.

Pretty cool how many of our "targets" are coaching this weekend: Gill, Mullen, Wilson, Graham, Holtz

I admit I bought into the PetersEn hysteria. Oh well. Such is the natural result of a coaching search. My hopeful list remains:

Petersen, Whittingham, Wilson, Graham, Gill

If Mullen is truly being considered, I slide him somewhere in the middle.

 

[RonnyAtmosphere]

..Let me ask you a question: If you were interviewing for jobs right now, what do you think your chances of getting hired would be with a wrongful death lawsuit hanging over your head?

</a><a href="http://www.tulsaworld.com/sports/article.aspx?articleID=20080923_94_Tuls000521">http://www.tulsaworld.com...ID=20080923_94_Tuls000521

The answer is, about 0.

A school with the recent history of Jackie Sherill's shenanigans can't afford to hire a guy with a wrongful death lawsuit hanging over his head.

I'm not commenting on the merits of the lawsuit; I'm commenting on sheer appearances.

Graham is a bull-in-the-china-shop type that MSU can't afford to take a chance on.

That's my take on Graham.

 

[AzzurriDawg4]

The most morally upright person in the world can be hit with a wrongful death lawsuit in our world of lawyers and litigation.

Do you really believe coaches should be held liable for conditioning-related deaths? Since neither you nor I know any of the details of this kid's death, I refuse to pass judgment on Graham and his intentions. However, coaches have been pushing players to their limits since the origin of football. It is horrible to lose someone to dehydration or exhaustion, but it is a risk that is always present and I fully believe every school does their best to prevent it.

 

[RonnyAtmosphere]

...if you or I tried to get hired with a wrongful death lawsuit hanging over our heads, we would eventually have to go on welfare.

But if a college football coach is charged with wrongful death, then "that's different."

No, it's not different.

Sherrill sullied State's reputation with his crap; all that will return upon hiring a coach with a wrongful death lawsuit pending. Like I said, I'm just commenting on sheer appearances. Whether the lawsuit is frivolous or not is beside the point.

Lastly, of course I think a coach should be responsible for the conditioning activites of his players.

If you are getting paid several million dollars to coach, you better damn well have your conditioning demands under control.

Dooley & Graham are the 2 Byrne should dismiss out of hand.

 

[War Machine Dawg]

In today's litigious environment, it's damn easy to be sued for pretty much anything. Hell, I could probably sue you for libel right now. Probably wouldn't win a damn thing, but I could get the suit to trial. The lawsuit doesn't bother me a bit. Dead kid + grieving, pissed off parents + lawyer = automatic suit. I'm willing to bet that when all the evidence is out, the procedures used to prevent such a tragedy in Rice conditioning practices will be exonerated.

 

[vandaldawg]

But he seems like a good football coach, and it's hard to argue with what he has done at Tulsa. However, when a poster put this link up a few days ago...

</a><a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=3687222&sportCat=ncf&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab6pos2">http://sports.espn.go.com...potlight&lid=tab6pos2

I read the whole thing and just got a bad feeling about the guy. Like the stereotypical used-car salesman (sorry if any of you out there are, but you know what I mean) or a like a schister revival tent preacher. I don't know why I get that douchey feeling from this guy, but that article definitely lead me that way.

 

[8dog]

to get hung up on that is ridiculous.

As Azzurri said, perfectly good people get hit with suits all the time.

 

[8dog]

I know someone who has a serious suit hanging over their head and landed a great job recently.

 

[RonnyAtmosphere]

to get hung up on that is ridiculous.

As Azzurri said, perfectly good people get hit with suits all the time.

To get hung up on it is the wise course of action when many millions of dollars & the well-being of a SEC school's football program is at stake.

What if State hires Graham & then Graham is found guilty? You ever think of that?

State being stuck with a football coach who is found guilty of wrongful death would put MSU football on the same level as SMU for the next 20 years.

Byrne would ruin his credibility forever if he is dumb enough to take a risk on a coach who even has a 1% chance of being found guilty in a wrongful death case.

 

[karlchilders.sixpack]

This will be taken care of the Univ. unless Graham actually did something, purposely and illegally to kill the guy.

Just like when MSU got sued when we had Stowers die from a broken leg in JWS first year.
</p>

 

[8dog]

he would simply be liable for a certain amount of money and everyone would move on. And yes, perfectly good people are found liable for stuff all the time they shouldn't be. Juries like to give away money.

 

[MSUCostanza]

A first-year law student could see this is a frivolous lawsuit that will be taken care of by Rice or dismissed outright. What concerns me about Graham is football-related. Everyone in the free world knows that Graham had nothing to do directly or indirectly with that player's death. It was just a tragic accident.

 

[thelaw]

I admit that I stupidly got my hopes up for Petersen- oh well.

If we get Dooley I will be depressed. A coach that loses to Army & Nevada is not someone I want for next year. I have faith that Byrne isn't going to disappoint.

We'll see...

 

[Incognegro]

the kid was in obvious pain and showed huge signs of dehydration. coaches are urged to see to an athletes well being whenever they see signs like that. football's graduated from the primal state that it once was when water was considered for the week. yea I honestly don't think he will lose the case, but regardless...he should've known better. I know athletic trainers actually tell their coaches what they should and should not do when concerning the health of their players. and when you have the coaches telling their players don't assist him when he was clearly suffering...that doesn't sound like that he shouldn't be held accountable for it in the least bit? I mean...am I missing something?

 

[8dog]

I mean, how dare they still employ this guy?

 

[Incognegro]

But it's definitely something to be considered. It wasn't an incident that he premeditated but it was something that could have been prevented. And they did a poor job of doing that.

 

[RonnyAtmosphere]

A first-year law student could see this is a frivolous lawsuit that will be taken care of by Rice or dismissed outright. What concerns me about Graham is football-related. Everyone in the free world knows that Graham had nothing to do directly or indirectly with that player's death. It was just a tragic accident.

Graham is named in the lawsuit, dumbass:

Tulsa football coach Todd Graham will be named in a wrongful death lawsuit in Texas state district court along with Rice University, the NCAA and others by the parents of Dale Lloyd II, according to a press release from the Houston-based Lanier Law Firm.

I think a first year law student understands the ramifications of having your name included in a wrongful death lawsuit.

But even as you admit, you don't know nothing about no lawyerin' & you're just judging Graham on lack of coaching skills. Or something.

 

[8dog]

Tulsa obviously doesn't give a ****.

 

[Incognegro]

you're telling us that you want us to be like Tulsa now...?

 

[8dog]

seriously, that's not what I said. My point was that a respectable university has apparently weighed in on the situation and at this point said they don't care. But you and Ronnie do so Im torn.

 

[Incognegro]

I think that he will get acquitted from the charges. It sucks that the situation happened, but I'm saying it could have been prevented. Also, the point was already asked...what if he isn't? Is he really the type of coach that you want to take a gamble on. Also, why didn't him and his staff prevent that from happening. If you see someone showing obvious signs of dehydration, are you sure you want to keep running him? This isn't the first time that this has happened so it should be common knowledge now what's overdoing it and what's on the lines of sanity.