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The McDaniel case remains a mystery
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Two months ago Clemson sophomore linebacker DeAndre McDaniel was arrested on assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature charges. Two days from now the Clemson Tigers open the season against Alabama in Atlanta.
So, what’s been the hold up?
The Charleston Post and Courier writer Larry Williams reported Wednesday night that punishment is unlikely for McDaniel. And with that, a poor message is being sent.
A week ago, McDaniel was accepted into pre-trial intervention and will face community service and some strict guidelines to abide by for months to come for the incident that took place between he and now former girlfriend Abra Weeks on June 21.
And despite conflicting reports from Weeks and alleged witnesses, where the fault lies is something we the public will probably never know.
What’s also unclear is why McDaniel has been allowed to practice with the team while it’s been unknown what his playing status would be.
Coach Tommy Bowden is running the show on this. Clemson’s policy with players in trouble comes down to the head coach. He makes the decisions on suspensions and punishments. Then athletic director Terry Don Phillips reviews Bowden’s recommendation and all sides move through the system.
Many schools, including South Carolina, take the decision out of the coach’s hands and let the athletic department sort out the details while the player is suspended. If it looks like the charges won’t stand, it’s easy to reinstate. Players know beforehand that any arrest will result in an automatic suspension.
Clemson doesn’t have the same troubled record recently of schools like South Carolina, Georgia, Penn State or Alabama, so it’s easy to defend its policy. However, a lack of arrests isn’t something to hide behind when punishing a player.
Last season linebacker Cortney Vincent’s DUI resulted in a punishment of not even a quarter of the bowl game against Auburn. And his status wasn’t known until the last minute. Several months later, Vincent was dismissed for violating team rules. Clearly, a lesson was not learned.
Now, it’s hard to read into this message. McDaniel did something wrong. I don’t know what it was because I wasn’t there, but it’s likely if he was truly innocent he’d be prepared to prove it in a court of law. And PTI is nothing to play around with. The state of South Carolina calls it a “rehabilitation” program.
Remember that playing football is a privilege, not a right.
So, punishment is needed. Sitting out the Alabama game and possibly a game to be named later sounds adequate.
It’s unclear what he’s thinking, of course, but the impression Bowden is giving is that he needs the player to help him win on the field.
I’m not saying that’s what he’s doing. I’m pointing out what it looks like. But like the entire situation, what’s fact and fiction is very cloudy.
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Entering Pre-Trial Intervention does not mean you are guilty of anything. Many people accused of a crime accept PTI to avoid the risks of a trial. Many innocent men have been convicted of crimes they did not commit. Besides, you never know when you might get a Gamecock or two on the jury.
I expect no less for a former sports writer for the Daily Gamecock rag.
Any moron with two brain cells can look at Clemson and USC's discipline issues and see which school's disciplinary policy is more effective.
in response to UseCommonSense
I agree about the news reporting in the area (AIM). Not just sports but most articles written by AIM. Most articles are incorrectly reported.
It’s not the people from this area it’s the transplants writing the local news.
I do like the reporting of Greg Wallace from AIM.
what mystery??
they were going to delay the trial until the season was over until PTI was researched to be available.
he will play
It always amazes me how whenever a Carolina player does something and is arrested (underage drinking, etc...) the Clemson fans come out in force to say Carolina's discipline policy is not strict enough. I am a Carolina alumni who happens to live in the upstate and around a lot of Clemson fans. I am also upset and embarrassed any time a Carolina player gets into trouble. The problem here is people are trying to compare a man who possibly assaulted a woman to underage drinking and other misdemeanor type charges. Also, many of the Carolina players who were arrested had their charges dropped later. This particular player chose to forgo a trial and enter into PTI. No this does not mean he was guilty but many people do have to wonder why he decided to do this instead of trying to prove his innocence in a court. Was there not two or three other football players that gave statements that would have allegedly proven him innocent. It amazes me how the Clemson fans are so willing to automatically assume that this girl is lying and was out to get him. Was she not treated at a hospital? I think another thing that alot of people are looking at is Tommy Bowden coming out in ads to stop violence against women and he did not even make this player sit out or suspend him while the facts of the case were being sorted out. The fact is both schools have problems with a handful of players here and there and neither school has the perfect solution to deal with it. But I wish that whenever a Clemson player gets into trouble the fans at Clemson would stop trying to automatically turn the attention to Carolina and how discipline is handled there. This is a Clemson issue not a Carolina one.
in response to clemson96jdh
Regardless of who you think handles the situations better, this one has to be embarassing for Clemson University. For a program that just ran off Ray Ray who's story was know nationally, it is pretty pathetic to have somebody like DeAndre on scholarship. Also, the fact that Clemson has seemed to take on this huge Christian attitude (especially during recruiting), this is a black eye on the university's record. And an ever bigger black eye on Tommy Bowden's record. For a man who claims to live such a Christian life shouldn't be sending the message to kids that "it is alright to physically harm a female as long as you are a high profile athlete." I didn't expect a harsh punishment from Bowden, but the fact that there is no punishment is a disgrace. Other parts of the country will look at it and think that only in the south this could happen. Kansas State just suspended their 3rd leading tackler for 3 games for a DUI. Maybe both USC and Clemson should start taking notes. I was even more shocked to see that the Athletic Director and President of the University were in a agreement with Bowden. Any other student would've been expelled from Clemson.
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