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September 29 - October S, 2010
SPORTS
Win or Lose, Coaching
Is a Stressful Profession
Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio suffered a heart attack the
same night his team achieved a stunning victory over Notre Dame.
NFL Players Must Take
Concussions More Seriously
COLUMN
Andrew McNeil
Contributing writer
adrewmc 1 @aol .com
B eing the head coach of
a football team entails
much more than the X’s and
O’s that take place on the side
line during game day. It is a job
that requires almost 18 hours a
day, six days a week to be suc
cessful. Countless hours are
spent devising the game plan,
analyzing your opponent’s
strengths and weaknesses, and
figuring out how you’re going
to exploit them.
All of this can become very
stressful on a person and the
long-term ramifications of
this stress are becoming more
evident with the health prob
lems University of Florida
head coach Urban Meyer and
Michigan State head coach
Mark Dantonio have experi
enced recently.
Both Meyer and Dantonio
have had complications with
their hearts, which probably
has a lot to do with the life
style they are forced to live as
coaches. Coaches often eat a
lot of unhealthy food, worry
about being father figures to
over 60 young men, and try to
put a winning product on the
field season after season.
Although there are a lot of
stressful aspects of coaching,
it is still one of the most grati
fying professions.
“There is nothing like put
ting the game plan together,
seeing it unfold to perfection,
and being able to touch the
young lives in a positive way,”
says Morehouse College foot
ball coach Rich Freeman.
Freeman attributes the high
amount of stress to the pressure
placed on coaches to turn pro
grams around overnight. The
pressures to win are immense
and it seems that a coach’s job
is always on the line.
Having to worry about win
ning every game can really
take a toll on a person. These
pressures used to be strictly
for nationally recognized pro
grams, but now it has become
an expectation in smaller pro
grams such as Morehouse. The
smaller programs don’t have
the same kinds of resources,
but are held to the same stan
dards to produce on game day.
Freeman describes coach
ing as a high-risk, high-reward
profession, but it’s not a job
that you can be successful in
on your own.
“First off, you need to have a
love for what you do,” he said.
“You need to have the support
of the administration and most
importantly you need to have
a strong relationship with the
Lord and have faith.” Freeman
also praises his wife for the
endless support she gives him
both at home and at the work
place.
What’s happening to Mey
er and Dantonio will prob
ably become more common in
football if the current trends in
the sport continue. No one is
immune to it.
“It can happen to anybody;
that’s some of the risk of doing
what we do,” Freeman said.
Arshon Howard
Staff Writer
jaarsj @ Comcast .net
T he NFL and concus
sions seem to go hand
and hand. Many NFL players
would rather play with a con
cussion risking their health
than be taken out of a game.
Concussions have always
been one of the negative as
pects of the NFL, but the league
is starting to realize the long
term effects that they have on
their players. The NFL really
needs to look at their players,
who often feel as though play
ing the game is more important
than their health.
Detroit Lions linebacker
Zack Follett suffered a con
cussion after delivering a big
hit on a kickoff in the first half
during Sunday’s loss to the
Eagles. Instead of Follett be
ing taken out of the game, he
stayed on the field.
“My whole family was
down visiting from Califor
nia,” Follett told the Detroit
News. “So the last thing I was
trying to do was get out of
that game. 1 just kept on play
ing doing what I had to do.”
He’s an example of players
who are willing to do any
thing to stay on the field no
matter what the circumstance
is. They would rather endure a
concussion than worry about
the long-term effects that a
concussion may bring.
“1 was able to play and get
through it,” Follett said. “Af
ter the game, that’s when the
headaches started to set in and
I will just have to worry about
it when the time comes. I’m
not too worried about it.”
With this type of attitude,
the NFL should want to crack
down even more on their
concussion policy and watch
players throughout the season
to make sure that there aren’t
lasting effects.
The NFL’s policy states that
players who suffer a concus
sion cannot return to practice
or the game that day. They
then must be free of all symp
toms and pass a battery of
tests, including one admin
istered by an independent
neurological consultant. It
sounds good, but coaches
and sidelines doctors seem to
bend that rule and allow play
ers to return to the game.
This was evident with Eagles
linebacker Stewart Bradley
suffered a concussion during
the game against the Packers,
but was back in the game just a
few plays after that. One could
tell that Bradley wasn’t in the
right state of mind because
once he was back in the game
he stumbled like a punch-drunk
boxer and fell.
Players need to be re-edu
cated on the effects of a con
cussion, regardless if they are
reluctant to confess their feel
ings or possess a fear of being
sidelined. NFL players need to
be more concerned with their
long-term health, rather than
the glory of their playing days.
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