NCSU starting the year out right!

[raleighjeepguy]

Raleigh, N.C. — Four football players from North Carolina State University were cited Saturday on drug charges.

A Raleigh police officer working off-duty at the College Inn Apartments, at 2717 Western Blvd., smelled what he thought was marijuana coming from an apartment, according to a search warrant released Monday.

The officer searched apartment 360 and seized three bongs and three plastic bags and a cigar containing marijuana among other things.

Four men – all players on the N.C. State football team – were cited for possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. They are:

* Jake Vermiglio, a senior starting left tackle from Rochester, Mich.,
* Markus Kuhn, a junior defensive tackle from Weinheim, Germany,
* George Byran, a junior tight end from Castle Hayne, and
* J.R. Sweezy, a junior defensive tackle from Mooresville.

Vermiglio, Bryan and Sweezy were listed as starters at their positions on the Wolfpack spring depth chart. Bryan was named to the All-ACC first team as a tight end for the 2009 season.

This is not Sweezy's first brush with the law. He was charged March 18 with armed robbery and assault in his hometown for an alleged attack on David Scott Magnuson, 64.

 

[awheelterd]

whoops. guess they should have turned a fan on.

 

[UTfball68]

Sad to see the thugs taking over in the college ranks. I saw it first hand. While it did offend me to lump all college athletes into the thug group, it's getting hard not to. When is integrity of the school gonna start meaning more than putting butts in the stands. I think if they raised the entrance standard for athletes, that would eliminate the majority of the problems. I dunno if any of you guys know, but athletes usually only have a score half of what other students need to have on standardized tests. Example, when I was going through it, any school outside of the Ivy League would aloow you to go there on scholarship if you had a 3.0 gpa and an 800 out of 1600 on the SAT. If you had a 1.0 gpa, you needed a 1200/1600 SAT. Pardon me, but what happened to the STUDENT in STUDENT-athlete.

 

[awheelterd]

i really dont care, i just want to see my team win. if i have to work a little harder in the classroom than them, it doesnt bother me just so long as they win on the field or on the court

 

[UTfball68]

i really dont care, i just want to see my team win. if i have to work a little harder in the classroom than them, it doesnt bother me just so long as they win on the field or on the court

And therein lies the problem...making excuses for the guys just to win. If academic standards were raised across the board, everyone would have to adhere to it and in theory competition should remain the same, while talent level may drop a bit. How about rewarding the guys that take care of their business on and off the field.

 

[kaiser715]

They ought to just let them play, and at the end of 4 years give them a diploma in "Played Football for 4 Years". No need to clog up a classroom and pretend they are students.

 

[Ron]

Sad to see the thugs taking over in the college ranks. I saw it first hand. While it did offend me to lump all college athletes into the thug group, it's getting hard not to. When is integrity of the school gonna start meaning more than putting butts in the stands. I think if they raised the entrance standard for athletes, that would eliminate the majority of the problems. I dunno if any of you guys know, but athletes usually only have a score half of what other students need to have on standardized tests. Example, when I was going through it, any school outside of the Ivy League would aloow you to go there on scholarship if you had a 3.0 gpa and an 800 out of 1600 on the SAT. If you had a 1.0 gpa, you needed a 1200/1600 SAT. Pardon me, but what happened to the STUDENT in STUDENT-athlete.

Taking over?
Hell if anything it is cleaning up.
In '95/'96 I went on recruiting visits to Clemson, South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia I was given or offered pot or worse on every single recruiting trip I went on. I was also dumb enough to probably never say no either.

NCAA drug testing happened in summer and before the first game, we used to call this final cuts.

I am still very close to several players within the Clemson program and I can assure you it is much cleaner than it was then.

Also while I graduated with a fine GPA and busted my ass in the classroom, as long as the NCAA continues their program of indentured servitude with their "student athletes" they get what they pay for imho.

 

[central09er]

yea the football players are alright they are kinda thugish but most football players stay in school for 4 years.

its the basketball players that most should look down on.

but i also think atheletes whould be held to a higher standard than regular students because they are the ones that represent more in public than normal kids. plus us "normal" kids are paying for their tuition.

 

[awheelterd]

like i said before, i dont care if they smoke dope or take easy classes. i just want championships

 

[shawn]

as long as the NCAA continues their program of indentured servitude with their "student athletes" they get what they pay for imho.

x2 ... but what could the NCAA do? They can't pay the athletes. That would "ruin" the "purity" of the "sport" and take a big cut out of the millions NCAA makes off their labor.

i just want championships

At NCSU? That's asking a bit much. If you're going to set goals, set achievable ones: "I hope they finish with a winning record" or "I hope they beat Western Carolina"

I can suggest a few other schools to follow if you're interested in switching sides, though...

 

[Ron]

plus us "normal" kids are paying for their tuition.

This is the point that always upsets me.
Sure an athlete gets a "free" or "reduced cost" education.
Bt did you have to get out of the rack 7 days a week for "optional" weight room work (Oh its optional alright, because the NCAA says it is. But if you miss it, it is optiona that you get cut also)

What about someone else setting your class schedule?
No dodging the tough professors or 8 AM classes, you get what fits the football teams schedule.

By the way, things you do/did everyday welcome to kicked out of school if you get caught. I swear it was like being an animal on exhibit at the zoo.

I never took less than 18 hours per semester while on the team (ratcheted it up to 20+ after I got hurt), I had weight training 7 days a week for 90 minutes, I had cardio 5 days a week for 2 hours, mandatory position meeting for 1 hour a day 7 days a week, AND THEN PRACTICE..plus school work and studying.

Yep what a free education.

And for the work that myself and 90 friends did the university makes $30 MILLION annually....seems fair to me

 

[UTfball68]

Taking over?
Hell if anything it is cleaning up.
In '95/'96 I went on recruiting visits to Clemson, South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia I was given or offered pot or worse on every single recruiting trip I went on. I was also dumb enough to probably never say no either.
NCAA drug testing happened in summer and before the first game, we used to call this final cuts.
I am still very close to several players within the Clemson program and I can assure you it is much cleaner than it was then.
Also while I graduated with a fine GPA and busted my ass in the classroom, as long as the NCAA continues their program of indentured servitude with their "student athletes" they get what they pay for imho.

Well I must say, we see things differently. I just graduated from Tennessee in December and played ball there for the last 5 years and I haven't seen anything clean up. Hell, piss tests are a joke, you literally get 3 chances before they even start talking a one game suspension. And usually, the 'randomly picked' participants are the same clean walk ons or freshman. And the kicker is, you usually know a month ahead of time when a drug test is coming because the lifting coaches would say 'if you guys have anything in your system, you probably need to come see us.' I had buddies at most of the top 25 schools and spread across the south east, and that seemed to be the standard. And that's coming from a STUDENT-athlete who graduated with a 3.4 gpa and 2 degrees in Accounting and Finance with a minor in International business.

 

[UTfball68]

This is the point that always upsets me.
Sure an athlete gets a "free" or "reduced cost" education.
Bt did you have to get out of the rack 7 days a week for "optional" weight room work (Oh its optional alright, because the NCAA says it is. But if you miss it, it is optiona that you get cut also)
What about someone else setting your class schedule?
No dodging the tough professors or 8 AM classes, you get what fits the football teams schedule.
By the way, things you do/did everyday welcome to kicked out of school if you get caught. I swear it was like being an animal on exhibit at the zoo.
I never took less than 18 hours per semester while on the team (ratcheted it up to 20+ after I got hurt), I had weight training 7 days a week for 90 minutes, I had cardio 5 days a week for 2 hours, mandatory position meeting for 1 hour a day 7 days a week, AND THEN PRACTICE..plus school work and studying.
Yep what a free education.
And for the work that myself and 90 friends did the university makes $30 MILLION annually....seems fair to me

Now I gotta agree with you on this statement. I'm not even sure how many universities have student tuitions covering athletic scholarships. I know at UT, the scholarships are donated and there is small fund reserved for from what the sport made that year. But yeah, people who say athletes have the easy life, I'd like to see you live it. My day usually started at 5am to be running by 6 until 730. Then you go puke and shower and in class by 8...if not you get more running even earlier. You go to class from 8-230, then meetings from 3-5. Then you get to practice from 5-730. You're usually home around 8. Then you get to work on school work, ie homework, papers, group projects, studying. That usually took me til 11. Watch a little tv, fall asleep and start all over again. And somewhere in that day, you had to find time to eat and get a 'voluntary' workout in 4 out of 5 days.

 

[awheelterd]

At NCSU? That's asking a bit much. If you're going to set goals, set achievable ones: "I hope they finish with a winning record" or "I hope they beat Western Carolina"

I can suggest a few other schools to follow if you're interested in switching sides, though...

its a free country biatch, i can dream

 

[336wheeler]

This is the point that always upsets me.
Sure an athlete gets a "free" or "reduced cost" education.
Bt did you have to get out of the rack 7 days a week for "optional" weight room work (Oh its optional alright, because the NCAA says it is. But if you miss it, it is optiona that you get cut also)
What about someone else setting your class schedule?
No dodging the tough professors or 8 AM classes, you get what fits the football teams schedule.
By the way, things you do/did everyday welcome to kicked out of school if you get caught. I swear it was like being an animal on exhibit at the zoo.
I never took less than 18 hours per semester while on the team (ratcheted it up to 20+ after I got hurt), I had weight training 7 days a week for 90 minutes, I had cardio 5 days a week for 2 hours, mandatory position meeting for 1 hour a day 7 days a week, AND THEN PRACTICE..plus school work and studying.
Yep what a free education.
And for the work that myself and 90 friends did the university makes $30 MILLION annually....seems fair to me

Conversely... if you don't really give a shit about athletic programs, then you get upset about what that tuition money COULD have gone for. Trust me. Sure the football players work hard - everybody works hard though, if they want their work to get recognized. I support an institution that should put my tuition money into programs for EDUCATION, not football. Yeah, it might help out the university as far as incoming fan money goes... but skimping on certain education departments that can't get the appropriations they need in order for an athletic program to succeed is horse shit. It might be cool if an athlete wants to further themselves after college athletically, but the money that it takes to make them "fine athletes" should be used elsewhere. I realize that college athletes have a small social horizon outside of athletics and that it is very time intensive, but they should NOT be the ones that carry the school on their shoulders... it is academia we're talking about here, remember. Athletes might have it rough, but if every student put that same amount of effort into their school work (and had some sort of "coach" figure to perpetuate their efforts) ... the amount of proactive accomplishments that would take place would be dangerous. I'll get off my soap box now.

 

[Archdukeferdinand]

skimping on certain education departments that can't get the appropriations they need in order for an athletic program to succeed is horse shit. It might be cool if an athlete wants to further themselves after college athletically, but the money that it takes to make them "fine athletes" should be used elsewhere.

College football is BIG business. Teams at the BCS schools are profitable as hell, between ticket sales, TV deals, merchandising, etc...


A short search shows that in '05 Texas, Ohio State, Florida, and Michigan were the top-grossing football programs in that year- and their athletic programs (all sports included) were all profitable, ranging from 3 to 17 million dollars. The football programs all contributed 30-40 million dollars of PROFIT to their athletic programs.

This means the football players, (scholarships and walk-ons) are typically part of the highest earning portion of an athletic department, and their hard work goes to pay for operation of sports that aren't profitable - not a big TV or merchandise market for fencing, or synchronized swimming, for example.

I can understand not wanting to short other areas of education to advance the athletic department but that's far from the case. If athletic departments are run correctly, they don't encroach on other student's funds to operate, they end up turning a profit and thus enrich the experience of other students.

 

[UTfball68]

Conversely... if you don't really give a shit about athletic programs, then you get upset about what that tuition money COULD have gone for. Trust me. Sure the football players work hard - everybody works hard though, if they want their work to get recognized. I support an institution that should put my tuition money into programs for EDUCATION, not football. Yeah, it might help out the university as far as incoming fan money goes... but skimping on certain education departments that can't get the appropriations they need in order for an athletic program to succeed is horse shit. It might be cool if an athlete wants to further themselves after college athletically, but the money that it takes to make them "fine athletes" should be used elsewhere. I realize that college athletes have a small social horizon outside of athletics and that it is very time intensive, but they should NOT be the ones that carry the school on their shoulders... it is academia we're talking about here, remember. Athletes might have it rough, but if every student put that same amount of effort into their school work (and had some sort of "coach" figure to perpetuate their efforts) ... the amount of proactive accomplishments that would take place would be dangerous. I'll get off my soap box now.

A couple corrections here. Scholarships aren't provided through the university, most schools handle them through private donations. I know we had to write a thank you card (2 if you were out of state tuition) to the donor every year for providing us the opportunity to go to school and play football. So no need to get riled up over that. That's like someone getting riled up over what you do to your own rig. A donor has the money to pay for an athlete to go to school, so they do. Tennessee's is called the Volunteer Athletic Scholarship Fund...and all that money is donated.


Secondly, even if the scholarship money did come from the university, where's the smart investment...an art department that has never once made the university any money, or the football team that made somewhere between 50-55 million dollars (each year the 5 years I was there). It's smart finances.

Lastly, most athletic departments are self-sufficient. Some sports are in the red, but usually the bigger sports help support them.

 

[336wheeler]

My point is, it's a college. Not the NFL.

If athletic departments are self-sufficient, then that's awesome (ideal operation). However, I feel like my particular experience (especially winding down from 3 national championships) is jaded... as the cost of renovating our stadium was a huge endeavor, thus appropriating funds elsewhere... and diminishing from the quality of education overall.

 

[Ron]

Conversely... if you don't really give a shit about athletic programs, then you get upset about what that tuition money COULD have gone for. Trust me. Sure the football players work hard - everybody works hard though, if they want their work to get recognized. I support an institution that should put my tuition money into programs for EDUCATION, not football. Yeah, it might help out the university as far as incoming fan money goes... but skimping on certain education departments that can't get the appropriations they need in order for an athletic program to succeed is horse shit. It might be cool if an athlete wants to further themselves after college athletically, but the money that it takes to make them "fine athletes" should be used elsewhere. I realize that college athletes have a small social horizon outside of athletics and that it is very time intensive, but they should NOT be the ones that carry the school on their shoulders... it is academia we're talking about here, remember. Athletes might have it rough, but if every student put that same amount of effort into their school work (and had some sort of "coach" figure to perpetuate their efforts) ... the amount of proactive accomplishments that would take place would be dangerous. I'll get off my soap box now.

conversely to your converse...
I went to Clemson and that is what I know, so lets talk about their numbers through this post.
1) THE NCAA prohibits schools from using academic funds to pay for athletic scholarships. PERIOD
2) The athletic booster fund, along with ticket sales pays for 100% of student scholarships, sport specific facilities and coach salaries.
3) Clemson was home to the first collegiate athletic booster program in the country, IPTAY (originally I Pay Ten A Year) today I pay $2500 each year for THE RIGHT TO PURCHASE season tickets at $500 a seat. There are 42,000 IPTAY members....the top level of parking seats pay over $10,000 a year plus the $500 per seat. When was the last time anone offered to pay to hear a dictation on quantum physics at ASU?
4) IPTAY donated $11 MM to Clemson U general education fund last year, athletics pays for academics, not the other way around. In fact I have heard that if football was removed from the school over 80 Universities would FOLD in less than 3 years.

 

[Ron]

Well I must say, we see things differently. I just graduated from Tennessee in December and played ball there for the last 5 years and I haven't seen anything clean up. Hell, piss tests are a joke, you literally get 3 chances before they even start talking a one game suspension. And usually, the 'randomly picked' participants are the same clean walk ons or freshman. And the kicker is, you usually know a month ahead of time when a drug test is coming because the lifting coaches would say 'if you guys have anything in your system, you probably need to come see us.' I had buddies at most of the top 25 schools and spread across the south east, and that seemed to be the standard. And that's coming from a STUDENT-athlete who graduated with a 3.4 gpa and 2 degrees in Accounting and Finance with a minor in International business.

We will have to agree to disagree then, by the way Mark Smith was a groomsman in my wedding ( I am sure you know who that is ) And sure drug use is still rampant, but when is the last time you saw needles passed out in team meetings?
It used to be the norm.

Hell I watched a coach piss for a player and write his name on the test label while a tester laughed about it. I know how crooked it is/was, but I still dont think it compares to the 80s....

 

[rockcity]

Taking over?
Hell if anything it is cleaning up.
In '95/'96 I went on recruiting visits to Clemson, South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia I was given or offered pot or worse on every single recruiting trip I went on. I was also dumb enough to probably never say no either.
NCAA drug testing happened in summer and before the first game, we used to call this final cuts.
I am still very close to several players within the Clemson program and I can assure you it is much cleaner than it was then.
Also while I graduated with a fine GPA and busted my ass in the classroom, as long as the NCAA continues their program of indentured servitude with their "student athletes" they get what they pay for imho.

a "fine" GPA is just enough to graduate, right?



These State guys are amateurs, have they not heard of dryer sheets in the paper towel tube??? C'mon

 

[awheelterd]

a "fine" GPA is just enough to graduate, right?
These State guys are amateurs, have they not heard of dryer sheets in the paper towel tube??? C'mon

 

[central09er]

personally i dont care if you're a #1 draft pick you go to college to get an education and i don't really care how much working out and other crap you have to do, don't whine when you didn't pay a cent for college. your the one who signed the scholorship and you're the one who knew before hand what you had to do every day.

and athletes get first choice at classes so they can choose what they want, and just like any other person you have to work your classes around your schedule.

as far as drugs and steroids go thats sad that the university doesn't care or maybe they don't know about whats happening and maybe they need to clean some of this crap up.

and the reason you write letters to the "donors" is to make them feel special so they will donate more.

 

[Ron]

and athletes get first choice at classes so they can choose what they want, and just like any other person you have to work your classes around your schedule.
[...]
and the reason you write letters to the "donors" is to make them feel special so they will donate more.

1- No no they do not. In my case and everyone else I know, you have little to no say in what classes you take. you select a major and your AA assigns your classes.

2 - Nah, its called class...just like sending thank yous to folks who give you a wedding gift...just another life lesson taught on the football field