nobody asked…

Surprise, surprise! The NFL has suspended Minnesota Vikings running back Onterrio Smith for the entire 2005 season for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. The entire story is here.

Back in 2000 Coach Phillip Fulmer kicked Smith off the University of Tennessee team after he tested positive for marijuana. He went on to have an outstanding college career at Oregon and was a fourth-round pick of the Vikings in 2003.

Fulmer caught a lot of flack from fans and media for not giving Smith a bit more slack, and of course that resurfaced again and again as his stats at Oregon got national media attention.

Coach Fulmer was right in that situation, as he has been in others. With all the off-field problems the Vols (and most other major college sports programs) have had, one of the toughest duties of a coach or athletic director is maintaining firm enforcement of policies and rules as they relate to off-field conduct.

Kids will be kids. Eighteen-year olds will make mistakes. Some of them, like Onterrio Smith, are on their way to becoming multi-millionaires. As they enter college it is none-too-soon, and for many may be too late, to start learning to be accountable for their own actions. It’s as simple as what I was taught at a very young age…you play with fire, you’re gonna get burned! Unfortunately, too many of them never learn that.

Ya did good Coach Fulmer! Keep up the good work! Go Vols!