MedDawg said:
Something like "I don't know what he'd do if we took him out of football".</p>
Urban Meyer uses that reasoning all the time in trying to avoid kicking players off his team. I can't remember the player, but I think it was at Utah where he said he had a quick reaction and kicked a guy off for an off field mistake. Then a year or two later he found out that player had fallen back in with the wrong crowd and ended up dead at a young age. Ever since then, Meyer has been very hesitant to kick a guy to the curb for discipline issues in most cases.
Knowing Lawrence Phillips and what he did after Nebraska, it's safe to say Osbourne was right about him. Obviously, even football wasn't enough to get him on the right track, but it was his only shot at getting on the right path in life. There are a lot of players out there like that, which is why coaches often have a gray area. Not everyone can be as fortunate to grow up in a suburban neighborhood with parents that can afford good schools.
Obviously part of the reason Osborne wanted to keep Phillips was his talent, but I don't doubt that trying to give him an outlet to get him to a better life might have been part of his reasoning too.
