Or perhaps people are really reconsidering their motives when deciding where to focus their funding. For example, maybe instead of focusing on just helping athletes, they are focusing on helping other vulnerable kids, like kids who have shown potential to succeed academically, artistically, socially, etc.
Not sure I understand the relevance of this? These were huge college boosters. The prize was getting him to Ole Miss to play football, and they knew he had a very good chance of success there. The NFL, the book, the movie, the foundation, the speaking tours, and the endless self-congratulations were gravy.
For example, they created the phony conservatorship so he could play football at Ole Miss, not so they could sell away his rights to his story without his consent. Yet that is what they allegedly did.
Guessing what players have a âvery good chanceâ of success in college football is a fools errandâŠdoes your experience suggest otherwise?
Twoin18âs example suggests otherwise. Regardless, I agree that all low ses students should have greater opportunities and resources directed their way because the states wonât do it as we all knowâŠyet depending on private donors to do so is obviously not a panacea. Itâs competitive out there for getting donations of time and/or money.
A foolâs errand? Are the coaches âfoolsâ for engaging in aggressive recruiting? About every major college program that thought they had even an outside shot was fighting for Oher. Of course there are no guarantees, but the point of aggressive college recruitment/boosterism is to get young athletes with a high potential for success into their program. That was the case with Oher. He was a known talent with tremendous potential. That there are no sure things doesnât really impact the calculus.
Michael Oher was 20 and a sophomore in college when the book was written. In 2009, the movie was released and he was an NFL player. Once the movie was a hit, he and the Tuohys went on the speaking tour. According to the court filings the Tuohys did not use the power of the conservatorship⊠it was in place strictly for the NCAA. Given that Michael was part of the publicity for the book and movie I doubt that any decisions were made without his knowledge.
Nope thatâs their job, although I donât know what âaggressiveâ means.
What we know is that at every level of football the coaches, staff, and others working in the industry are poor evaluators of talent. Mel Kiper Jr will tell you that. Every coach will tell you that. If youâd like the last word you can certainly have it. But since it seems you donât have experience in this world, I am not engaging more about this, and stand by everything Iâve said. I guess I will never understand why people want to strongly opine about things they donât really know about.
Your point is lost on me. Why does it matter if there are guarantees in college recruiting/boosterism? Why does it matter if in your opinion coaches and boosters are âpoor evaluators of talent?â I think it is obvious that, at every turn, Oher would not have been given the special help he was given were it not for his outstanding athletic potential, and those who were helping were in a position also benefit. Are you denying this?
And by the way, I do have experience in this world, but my experience or your experience donât really change the fact that Oher was singled out for help by those who saw his potential to help various football programs and therefore themselves.
Can you provide a link to the filings where this is established? Because from the looks of the filngs Iâve seen, this is not accurate. For example, the âSettlement of Accountsâ indicates that the âConservatorâ was paid by the studio/producers and then in turn cut Oher a check (after fees and commissions were deducted.)
So while the Conservatorship may have been originally created as an end-around the NCAA rules. It was used and was still being used with regard to the movie deal as recently as April of this year!
The coaches wanting him is the movie version, not the facts. A friendâs father did approach the high school to get both kids admitted, Michael as a sophomore and his (Tony) son as a freshman. The son was admitted, Michael was not. The principal, not the coaches, said Oher had to go to a public high school to get his grades up and Oher did that in the fall. Tony still tried to help him get into the christian school (Briarcrest?) and it became clear to everyone that Oher could not get the help he needed at the public school (which was an online program with special help) so the principal, not a coach, made a decision that Oher could attend but not play sports until his grades improved.
In the spring they let Oher play jv basketball. Sean Tuohy was the asst basketball coach, not football. Sean had played basketball for Ole Miss and was also the radio announcer to Memphis basketball. They finally let Michael play varsity basketball for a few games in the spring of his soph yr. Thatâs when Sean Tuohy first met Oher, not when he was being admitted to the school.
In the fall of junior year, Oher was allowed to play football (and he continued with basketball). At that point he was NOT living with the Tuohys but I think Sean had paid for his school lunches and Leigh Anne had bought him some clothing. He was staying with other families, black families, whose kids attended Briarcrest. He stayed with the Tuohys a few times, and it became more common in the spring of his junior year. He turned 18 in May of junior year and the Tuohys asked him to stay with them for his senior year. If they wanted him to go to Ole Miss, right then they should have said/thought/acted like âOh, we canât have him live with us, because we are boosters and he wouldnât be allowed to play at Ole Miss.â Instead, they let him move in and made everything more complicated for Oherâs college career. But remember, he was FAR from eligible for college at that point even though he was 18 and going into his senior year.
Oher was very good at basketball, but it was felt he was better at football, especially if he wanted to play in college.
At that time, I think his gpa was 1.xxx. At that time, there was NO WAY he was going to college. That summer they started the program to have grade replacement and get his gpa up to at least 2.3 ish to be eligible for NCAA play (not just at Ole Miss, but anywhere).
Sean was a basketball star at Ole Miss and yes, was a big booster for basketball. Oher decided on Ole Miss. They thought he would go to LSU to play for Sabin but Sabin left to go to the NFL. Then âtheyâ (they being the high school staff and everyone else) thought Tennessee - so much so that the high school coach, Freeze, took a job at Tennessee. The Tuohys filed for the conservatorship on Dec 6 and Oher signed his National Letter of intent on Feb 2. It was NOT a long term plan by a booster to take this already enrolled student into their home to get him to go to Ole Miss and play FOOTBALL. If the Tuohys were spies for Ole Miss, wouldnât they have tried to get another family to take him in so that they wouldnât have been influencing boosters and gotten him for the basketball team? The Tuohys were boosters financially, but had no history of mentoring youths to get them to go to Ole Miss. Sean had been helping high school athletes in a minor way for years (money, rides, lunches) and their help for Oher started out in a minor way too, with a place to sleep, food, clothings, and then tutoring help.
Ole Miss had a coaching change that year and no one had their eyes on Oher or other players. There were a lot of moving pieces.
I think Oher has an argument that the conservatorship was mishandled and proper accounting wasnât done, that the right reports werenât filed. He will have to show he was HARMED by those mistakes, that they didnât look out for his best financial interests. IMO, that is going to be a hard show, as the author made similar deals for other book/movie deals. The conservatorship should have had some payments run through it while Oher was in college and then closed when he was done with the NCAA (beginning of senior year at the latest) and before he signed his NFL contracts (and contracts with his attorney and agent). But there wouldnât have been a lot to put into the conservatorship at that time - his share of the book deal and maybe a signing bonus for the movie? Oher wasnât working while in college.
Iâm familiar with the facts. Everyone involved, from the friendâs father âBig Tonyâ (who ran a neighborhood athletic program),to the coaches, to the school were well aware of Oherâs athletic potential. Not sure why you and others want to continue to downplay the athletic angle.
Because some did want to use Oherâs size to get him into the hs to play sports, and the principal said no, that he couldnât attend the school. Principal did say if he got his academics up, heâd reconsider. No coach had any say in it at the beginning. Big Tony approached the principal, not a coach.
Then the principal was asked again because Oher was trying really hard but there was no way he could meet the academic standard the principal had set by attending the public school program. The principal said okay, he can come but canât play sports. He attended academically and played jv only after he improved academically.
Michael wanted to play sports, especially basketball. Some schools use sports as a carrot and IMO this principal did. Michael could play only after proving himself academically. Michael admits the only reasons he went to public school at all in 9th grade was to eat free lunch and to play sports - he wasnât that interested in academics. For 10th grade it was the opposite, as the lunch wasnât free and he couldnât play sports (until the spring).
Iâm not downplaying the sports. No question thatâs what got him into college and probably the only reason he even wanted to go to college. I do not think the Tuohys had anything to do with him getting into or attending the high school or playing football or basketball. They didnât meet him until he was already enrolled in the school. I do think their actions had everything to do with him being eligible to play in college, but not because of some big plot they developed as soon as they set eyes on him and his size.
They told him he had to get his grades up or he couldnât attend. He didnât get his grades up and they brought him in anyway, and shortly thereafter he was playing sports, despite is sub 2.0 gpa. Shocker.
You are right. They never should have let him in, never should have given him a chance, never should have let him play sports even if thatâs all he wanted. He should have stayed in public school.
Of course I said no such thing. If you have to pretend I said something I didnât say in order to try make your point, then perhaps you should reconsider?