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COLUMN: An apology to Paul Rhoads

Chris, thank you for writing this. There should be many more Clone fans echoing your thoughts and words. Yes, it was time for my friend Paul Rhoads to go as head coach. He was not winning enough games. True, he was not hip or trendy but he did do things the right way. Paul left with his head held high because his honor was never questioned.
 
Open letter time?

Seriously, though....there are those who think that "Honor Before Victory" is antiquated, lame, and should be thrown away.

Look at Baylor. Read the report and don't look away or brush it off. Read it as if someone you care about is one of the victims. If you aren't willing to put honor before victory, that's what you're arguing for. It doesn't say "Honor Without Victory", it merely states that honor must come first. I'd rather have our record over the last 10 years and hold my head high than have Baylor's and know that this is what was done to get there.
 
00clone said:
Open letter time?

Seriously, though....there are those who think that "Honor Before Victory" is antiquated, lame, and should be thrown away.

Look at Baylor. Read the report and don't look away or brush it off. Read it as if someone you care about is one of the victims. If you aren't willing to put honor before victory, that's what you're arguing for. It doesn't say "Honor Without Victory", it merely states that honor must come first. I'd rather have our record over the last 10 years and hold my head high than have Baylor's and know that this is what was done to get there.
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Out of curiosity, where could I find the report?
 
It was time for him to go but he led a football program to 3 bowl games. And I truly think he tried to do it the right way.
 
Good article CW. I agree with you.

Rhoads may not have won as much as we all would have wanted and he may have been an "old school" guy who didn't embrace change, BUT he never embarrassed the school I graduated from and am proud of, and I commend him for that.

For me, I would not trade ISU's last 4 years with Baylor's last 4 years with what we now know about how Baylor was doing it. I know there are probably some on here that would, but not me. I'm too proud of my school to ever want football players getting away with raping women just for winning more football games. That would NEVER be worth it in my book.

With all that being said, is ISU perfect.... no, of course not. We've had our full share of players having run-ins with the law, but to my knowledge we haven't had players raping women with the head coach and administration covering it up. That is disgusting.
 
As most people age, not a slap at anyone just a general fact of life, the need to nonstop win erodes and gets replaced with a stance with honor and respect. Having kids will hasten that process as they age. Success can defined in more ways than just a win you realize.
 
Nice job CW, I haven't always been happy with ISU sporting results, but at least we have handled the problems as they come up.
 
Nice article. When news of his firing broke, which to me was an acceptance by the University that the facts were as bad, or worse than, reported, I started thinking about how embarrassed you'd be if you showed up and supported that program. Granted, I'm sure there are alot of really good kids on that team that don't condone the behavior of their coaches or teammates. However, to think about providing support, be it financial or cheering at games, for a program that was so laissez-faire about rape would make me sick.
 
clonedude said:
Good article CW. I agree with you. Rhoads may not have won as much as we all would have wanted and he may have been an "old school" guy who didn't embrace change, BUT he never embarrassed the school I graduated from and am proud of, and I commend him for that. For me, I would not trade ISU's last 4 years with Baylor's last 4 years with what we now know about how Baylor was doing it. I know there are probably some on here that would, but not me. I'm too proud of my school to ever want football players getting away with raping women just for winning more football games. That would NEVER be worth it in my book. With all that being said, is ISU perfect.... no, of course not. We've had our full share of players having run-ins with the law, but to my knowledge we haven't had players raping women with the head coach and administration covering it up. That is disgusting.
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I have thought about if I'd trade the rhoads era for the briles era. And it's hard to say, I don't know what it would feel like to win 10 games ;). I'm not sure if I could separate the wins from the program. I do know that if I were a Baylor fan today, I'd be waking up just sick. But I do know that I had a lot of fun watching rhoads teams--especially the first 4 years. I'm glad that I don't have to let those memories go because it turned out the guy leading them was a bad human. And you are right, Iowa state isn't perfect. they've given players second chances.
 
Chris - I don't think you were wrong to question what CPR has done over the years with the lack of branding and trying to relate to kids of today. Just because Briles appears to be a POS - that doesn't mean it was not wrong of you and the fans to expect more out of CPR. CPR did the right things when it came to kick kids off the team even it meant losing games, however he did not bring the level of excitement and sexiness to ISU like Briles did to Baylor and HOPEFULLY Campbell is going to bring to ISU.

We are all hoping Campbell can turn the image of ISU football around to attract good kids (both off and on the field). If he has a kids that doesn't meet the standards off the field - hopefully he is gone.

CPR doesn't need a bunch of apologies from us for doing the right thing - he got a big fat check for it doing the right thing off the field.
 
A thank you for not being a deplorable human being is a bit much.

"Thanks McDermott for being a nice guy. Yeah you sucked as a coach but thanks for being nice about sucking."
 
Chris don't apologize for something Baylor did. It's no one's fault they deceived people for years but the people in charge.
 
erikbj said:
Chris - I don't think you were wrong to question what CPR has done over the years with the lack of branding and trying to relate to kids of today. Just because Briles appears to be a POS - that doesn't mean it was not wrong of you and the fans to expect more out of CPR. CPR did the right things when it came to kick kids off the team even it meant losing games, however he did not bring the level of excitement and sexiness to ISU like Briles did to Baylor and HOPEFULLY Campbell is going to bring to ISU.

We are all hoping Campbell can turn the image of ISU football around to attract good kids (both off and on the field). If he has a kids that doesn't meet the standards off the field - hopefully he is gone.

CPR doesn't need a bunch of apologies from us for doing the right thing - he got a big fat check for it doing the right thing off the field.
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My opinion hasn't changed on the branding, etc. I feel guilty about comparing Paul directly to the scumbag Briles for all of these years. I pointed at Baylor and said, "Those guys get it. They are doing it right."

On the surface, yeah, it was awesome.

Deep down....now we all know the truth.
 
BCClone said:
As most people age, not a slap at anyone just a general fact of life, the need to nonstop win erodes and gets replaced with a stance with honor and respect. Having kids will hasten that process as they age. Success can defined in more ways than just a win you realize.
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Yeah, but this is an activity of leisure for fans, and a relatively expensive one for most. The definition for success under those circumstances is to have fun. Lucky that most ISU fans REALLY enjoy tailgating. But regardless of whether you do it with honor or not, watching your team get its *** kicked is not fun under any circumstance. I'm not condoning doing anything like Baylor did, but it doesn't mean I'm going to walk around with head held high proclaiming ISU football a success because we didn't cheat.
 
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