Nebraska...not feeling Frosty anymore

[entropy]

http://www.kfab.com/media/podcast-good-morning-show-TheGoodMorningShow/tom-osborne-comments-on-lawrence-phillips-25969523/

TO talks about LP, visiting him in Prison and sending him letters in prison

also talks about the passing of A. Fiala

[UMStan White]

Taking him the playbook?

[THE_WIZARD_]

STFU

[iam416]

Wizard makes a cogent point, but he'd make an even better point if he'd STFU.

[THE_WIZARD_]

I'll take that under advisement.

[Wild Hoss]

I see quite a bit of this also, and there's a definite pattern among violent criminals; childhoods marked by poverty, divorce, neglect and abuse of all kinds. Its a brain-damaging cocktail, and Phillips got a double shot.

He's not evil; he does evil things because he's broken. He's a mad dog.

Regardless of whether its his fault or not, a mad dog needs to be put down. Phillips is now, sadly, where he always destined to be; by himself, in a cage.

It's stupid to try to nail Osborne or vilify LP.

The world of crime and those who live in it are not anything like those of us who post here. That's for a ton of reason not worth going into.

After I graduated from Emory University's Physician Assistant Program, I worked in one of the two maximum security prisons in Georgia. I stayed there for almost 5 years before leaving for private practice. Getting to know the life of prisoners and criminals was interesting. The ones that I'm talking about here are those on Death Row or who have life sentences or a lot of hard time without parole. I'm not talking about the petty, repeat offenders and there are way too many of them in US prison systems .... another story altogether.

Most of them have significant mental health issues and brought these to prison, they didn't develop them there. They get good treatment. Some of them become different people when they are properly managed from a mental and physical health standpoint. Some don't because they are not candidates for therapy being so seriously impaired, criminally insane/sexually deviant, they require institutionalization in the few beds that the state of Georgia has for that purpose. I think it is around 60 and that is not nearly enough.

LP obviously has problems. He is certainly responsible for his own actions but you'd be surprised how difficult it is for these kinds of criminals to discriminate from right actions and wrong ones. They simply lack the frontal cortex activity to do that. Medications can help but a good deal of this is from the social and environmental context which they came to be and where they are now. For many, it is unlikely they will ever escape that dungeon that was created around them and for which they had little control over.

[Wild Hoss]

Osborne, Nebraska, and Phillips' needs were aligned in the fall of 1995. Most people don't know, but Phillips' reinstatement was contingent on the fact that he wasn't coming back for his senior year. His play would benefit NU of course, but it also provided a leash with which to restrain him, and served as an audition for the NFL to speed him on his way.

In retrospect, it clearly wasn't worth it but nobody can know that at the time. It did keep LP in check as intended, and helped get him drafted in the 1st round, so that at least financially he should have been secure when Osborne let go of the leash. Not sure what else, or what better, could have been done, short of not recruiting him in the first place. Rolled the dice there, and paid for it.

[UMStan White]

Less than two weeks after Phillips helped Nebraska secure the 1994 national Championship, he pled not guilty to charges of assault and vandalism dating to an incident in March 1994.[3] Though Phillips was formally charged on November 18, having failed to complete the requirements of the pretrial diversion program, the hearing was delayed until after Phillips participated in the rivalry game against Oklahoma and the important Orange Bowl game to secure the National Championship.

Shortly before the start of the next season, Phillips eligibility was in question for receiving a $100 lunch from a sports agent during the 1994 season.[4] When Nebraska officials became aware of the violation, Phillips allegedly reimbursed the agent. The NCAA ruled Phillips eligible just in time for the season opener, but continued to investigate other unspecified issues involving Phillips.[5]

When the 1995 season finally arrived, Phillips became an early front-runner for the Heisman Trophy. In Nebraska's second game of the season against Michigan State, Phillips had 206 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns on 22 carries. After only two games, he was averaging more than 11 yards per carry and had scored six touchdowns.

Phillips was arrested for assaulting his ex-girlfriend, Kate McEwen, a basketball player for the Nebraska women's team, and was subsequently suspended by head coach Tom Osborne. The case became a source of controversy and media attention, with the perception arising that Osborne was coddling a star player by not kicking Phillips off the team permanently. Osborne walked out on a press conference when asked "If one of your players had roughed up a member of your family and had dragged her down a flight of steps, would you have reinstated that player to the team?"[6] Outraged Nebraska faculty proposed that any student convicted of a violent crime be prohibited from representing the university on the football field.[7] Osborne defended the decision, saying that abandoning Phillips might do more harm than good, stating the best way to help Phillips was within the structured environment of the football program.[citation needed][8] Osborne reinstated Phillips for the Iowa State game,[9] although touted freshman Ahman Green continued to start. Phillips also played against Kansas and Oklahoma.

Despite pressure from the national media, Osborne named Phillips the starter for the Fiesta Bowl, which pitted No. 1 Nebraska against No. 2 Florida for the national championship. In the game, Phillips rushed for 165 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries and scored a touchdown on a 16-yard reception in the Cornhuskers' 62-24 victory. The performance boosted Phillips's draft stock. With Osborne's encouragement, he decided to turn pro a year early."

Yeah just a poor boy lost in the Big City but Daddy Osbourne has a plan for salvation and redemption. Turned out well don't ya thinK?

[THE_WIZARD_]

Hindsight is 20/20 Stan. As it turned out...nothing would have helped LP. I guess crystal balls are readily available in AA...not Lincoln. Shucks.

UNL didn't need LP as much as LP needed UNL. That's a fact. UNL would have won the 1995 MNC with or without LP. Fact. Get over it. Still butt hurt over 97?

[Jeff Buchanan]

There are countless stories of people helping other people in need when (a) they didn't deserve to be helped and/or (b) that help never turned the helpee around.

IMO, if only one person's life is improved by lending a helping hand, it is a helping hand worth having advanced.

I'm glad Osborne walked out of that press conference. The question was asinine (and I remember it being a lead sports story when it happened and I was on Osborne's side even then). I guess the question that Osborne might have asked the reporter could have been: Do you have children? ..... OK, let's say your 17 year old kid is charged with assault? I guess in your case, you would have thrown him out on the street to fend for himself. Have I got that right?

As I write that, I'm pretty sure there are a handful of parents that would do jus that. None of them would be on my list of parenting models. That's just me, just so you know where I stand and just so you know there is room for alternative approaches to leadership.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Osborne helped numerous kids who got in trouble and many turned their lives around...but you don't hear about those kids...just the failed attempts...just the nature of the business. The easiest thing Osborne could have done is booted him and washed his hands of him. That would have been easy. Then if LP would have gone on a shooting spree their would have been knocks on Osborne for that. Not every kid can be reformed. But every kid should at least be given a chance to succeed. In LP's case he has been given several chances and has blown them all big time. He's just a lost cause...of course easy to see that now.

[UMStan White]

I appreciate your comments Wiz. I may have been too flip in condemning Osbourne.

[THE_WIZARD_]

No worries Stan. Thanks.

[Wild Hoss]

The easiest thing Osborne could have done is booted him and washed his hands of him. That would have been easy. Then if LP would have gone on a shooting spree their would have been knocks on Osborne for that.

Yep...hence the leash. Oz specifically stated in one of his books that he was very concerned what LP might do to McEwen, Frost or himself if he was put out on the street, and history has proven that concern to be entirely legitimate.

LP's story was just never going to end well, because he's not a functional human being. Benning's piece that was linked earlier is a testament to that...its probably a near-miracle that he didn't go Krakatoa long earlier.

[entropy]

hoss... I don't recall any problems LP had prior to recruitment that would lead to your comments that UNL rolled the dice... In fact, I was pretty sure he had a clean record and more importantly, wasn't a problem in school or his group home.