Who is to blame?

This time of year is a time of great anticipation into America's great pastime, and it's football (no apologies to baseball fans, in 10 years it'll be a niche sport that will battle hockey for ratings). Whether it's parents getting their children ready for their Pop Warner games, to the NFL fantasy drafts that are being conducted as we speak, everyone is excited for the action to begin on the gridiron. No more so do we see the passion of the sport than on the collegiate level, where you can see more than 100,000 fans fill the seats on any given Saturday. Students are displaying the colors of their alma mater with pride, thinking that this is their season to finally break through and win it all. In Champagne, Illinois, however, those students are simply wondering who will be the head on the sidelines after the news broke that former football head coach Tim Beckham was fired this afternoon among allegations that he mistreated former Illini offensive lineman Simon Cvijanoic. 

Once other former players informed the Chicago Tribune that Cvijanoic's claims are true, and the university performed an internal investigation, they released their coach of three years a week before the season starts against Kent State. Granted, the Athletic Director would've been justified in releasing Beckham after comprising a 12-25 record, but once these claims were released, they had no other choice. Cvijanoic stated that when he sustained injuries in 2013 & 2014 that Beckham urged him to continue playing, even after dealing with psychological problems due to shoulder and knee injuries that ended his career. He also mentioned being pushed to play after tearing his labrum, with Beckham's offensive line coahc telling Cvijanoic that the injuries were in his head.

This isn't about wins and losses, and forget about scholarships, this is about a person's livelihood vs. the old adage of "win at all costs." The latter mentality is what led former Ohio State Buckeyes coach Woody Hayes to hit a player during a game, or current Washington State coach Mike Leach to get fired in 2009 after claims that he mistreated a player while at Texas Tech. Coaches who are being paid top dollar are in this quandary of doing the right thing by their players vs. getting them out there, healthy or no, to get that win against Rival U. We see it all the time, a coach allowing players who have questionable actions being allowed to play, but this is on a completely different level. This is short-sighted thinking at worst, treating the player more as a commodity and less as an individual. 

Parents entrust their children to these coaches to attend their program with the belief that they will train up their child to become successful on and off the field. These players should not feel as if they are unable to express their challenges for fear of not being allowed to play the game their love. We have seen some coaches show compassion in these types of situations, but then this is the opposite end of the spectrum, in which the seriousness of an ailment goes beyond a simple "tape him up." 

We teach children to be tough and handle pain, but there is also a time to use discretion and wisdom to deal with a delicate injury. Coaches must understand that when left untreated, the greatest harm to a student-athlete isn't the physical pain, it's the mental scars that remain long after they hang up the helmet.