chevy0082 said:
How many chances does the guy get though... I heard an interesting scenario this morning though..
What if Miles were to give him a 3 game suspension? That means you have him sitting against App. State, Troy and North Texas and then he comes back for the Auburn game...
If he stays on the team Miles is making it clear that him winning games is more imporant than discipline. Agreed?
Generally I agree it is time for the hammer to come down, but this is not an easy issue.
Some examples: Joe Namath misbehaved in some manner around the Auburn game in 1963 (we lost). He was suspended for the rest of the season and made to move out of the athletic dorm. We managed to win the next two games versus Miami and then the Sugar Bowl against Ole Miss (the only sugar Bowl I know of where there was snow on the sidelines). He was allowed back and had a stellar senior year.
Snake Stabler was similarly booted in the off season between 1966 and 1967 and there was strong sentiment among the assistant coaches to boot him for good. He was allowed back, but started fall practice as 4th string quarterback. He woorked his way quickly back to number one and he also had a strong senior year.
Bryant, in acting as he did, had to balance what was best for the team with what was best for the individual, with trying to help these stars get there act together again.
Gene Stallings was more forgiving than many wanted him to be when David Palmer had two incidents pretty close together involving public drunkenness. Stallings was publicly asked why Palmer wasn't dismissed from the team, and his comment was that he was trying to help Palmer, and could help him a lot more with him on the team than off it.
The cynic would say that these players were allowed back because they were star players that the team needed. Whether that was true or the coaches had a more noble motivation I don't know, any more than I can know what Miles motivation is here. RP has been involved in a lot of well publicized incidents, but so far none of them have approached the level of the ones that Croom and Saban have dealt with in recent weeks by dismissal.