Newspaper Page Text
Monday, November 11
THE MAROON TIGER
PAGE 12
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OPINION
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Morehouse Football Program: Just Pathetic!
By Bryan N. Cambrice
Staff miter
Pathetic! That sums up
Morehouse College's athletic
program in a nutshell.
If football is supposed to
be the crown jewel of any
college's athletic program,
then ours lost its sparkle. After
a surprising, but exciting 2-0
start, they dropped seven
straight games; the last three
have all been shutouts. These
be sent.
Our worse defeat, not
surprisingly, came at the
hands of Howard University.
At no time during this fiasco
did our guys make it past
Howard's fifty yardline. Why
was that? How do you let
somebody come on your own
home field and score forty-
nine, unanswered points
during your own
homecoming? Where is the
pride?
How do you let somebody come on your own home
field and score forty-nine,unanswered points
during your own homecoming?
Where is the pride?
guys have no business going
on an all-expense paid trip to
South Africa. I know
Morehouse is going to be
receiving lots of publicity for
this "historic" event, but a
more deserving team like
Grambling or Southern should
There's no nice way to say
this, but to put it plainly,
"Coach Maurice 'Mo' Hunt
has to go." He's a nice guy but
being a nice guy doesn't
necessarily make someone a
good coach. He
accummulated more losses
than wins during his initial 10
year coaching stint at
Morehouse. When he left
Morehouse for Kentucky State
University, he did not find
much success there, either.
And much the same has been
true since his return for the
1995 season. In an interview
with the AUC Digest
following the depressing loss
to Howard, he stated that his
team seems to have "lost the
zeal to win." In other words,
"Guys, I don't know what's
going on with my players
and don't know how tO]
motivate them." He's lost
control! This admission 1
provides an excellent reason
to remove Hunt from the head
coaching spot. Athletic
Director (A.D.) Joshua
Culbreath, needs to find
someone with the ability to
encourage, motivate and
push. It's not the players'
job to coach themselves.
When I came here as
freshman in 1993, the athletic
program here was fairly
decent. Along with the
traditional football, basketball,
and trade "programs, there was
soccer, swimming/ diving, and
baseball. But because of
budget cuts, a lack of vision on
the part of the school and the
previous A.D., the
scholarships allocated for the
non-traditional programs
were eliminated.
Unfortunately, the non-
traditional programs lacked a
broad base of support, despite
the fact that the teams were
extremely successful.
The diagnosis is clear: the
Morehouse
and lay out a philosophy or
strategy in order to carry that
vision out. Second,
Morehouse has to be willing to
spend the money to upgrade
its facilities and to offer
competitive scholarships in
order to recruit talent.
Morehouse administrators
always seem to claim
that the school is
strapped for cash
but anyone
with a little
bit of
intelligence
can see that
successful
t h 1 e t i c
1 s
suffering from a lack
of vision and a clearly defined
philosophy to implement this
vision. This absence is
endemic to Morehouse and
evident in everything she
does. My solutions to this
mess are simple, but effective.
First, the athletic director, just
as the College President, must
develop a vision for the future
rogram is
a gold
mine.
If the
College is
not willing
to take athletics
seriously, the school
should drop down into a
less competitive conference
such as NCAA Division III, or
maybe we should eliminate
sports altogether and focus
solely on academics. But I
believe suen moves are drastic
and unnecessary. We can no
longer limit ourselves to a
pursuit of acedemic
excellence. We must strive for
excellence in all spheres of
society including athletics.
Reminder: Criminal Record Lasts a Lifetime
By David P. Baugh
Guest Commentary
Recently, I had a
clergyman call me from
another state. A member of his
church who, while a student
more than 10 years ago at a
Richmond college, was
arrested for shoplifting. The
woman stole a bracelet worth
$4.
Like most young people,
her sole concern was staying
out of jail. She pleaded guilty
and received a suspended
sentence and a fine.
She graduated and went
to work for a major company.
Recently, she was up for
promotion to an executive
position and the misdemeanor
theft conviction was
discovered. She was
immediately fired.
The clergyman wanted to
know what could be done to
clear the young woman's
record. He thought that after
so many years the record
would have been purged.
I had to tell him that the
record could not be cleared
and that she would not get her
job back. The record would
remain in place all her life.
Every day I am in court
and I watch young people, and
some not-so-young people,
plead guilty to cases that will
destroy their opportunity for
meaningful employment.
Shoplifting, writing a "hot"
check and stealing cable
services are all convictions
involving moral turpitude that
will keep a person from
getting a job, passing a
security check or being
licensed in many professions.
It makes no sense for us,
as a people, to strive for equal
rights and equal access to jobs
and have only applicants with
criminal records to offer for the
positions.
Someone needs to remind
people that a criminal record
lasts forever.
If someone is not willing
to relegate himself or herself to
a job where they must
frequently ask, "Would you
like to super-size that?", that
person must not shoplift, or
David Baugh, Esquire
write bad checks or steal
anything.
If a young person is
arrested on one of these
charges, they should do
everything possible to avoid a
criminal record.
Avoiding jail is not the
only concern. Being doomed
to a life of inferior jobs will be
the consequence of pleading
g - guilty to any theft offence.
A lawyer may be
Q expensive, but a criminal
3 record can cost more in a
n>
Z* lifetime that can be imagined,
o
>-h
5 David P. Baugh is a Richmond,
^ Virginia attorney.
S’
3 EDITOR'S NOTE:
©
s
>. This letter originally appeared in
S the Richmond Free Press and is
reprinted with the written
2 consent of the publisher/editor.
A lawyer may be expensive, but a criminal
record can cost more in a lifetime that can be
imagined.