Around the League 2/20
Out in West Texas, they came to their senses and kept a very good football coach. In Michigan, they are saying good bye to a very good man.
And there’s more information on the possible effects of steroids. Read on.
From the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram:
All it took was a simple talk between Texas Tech football coach Mike Leach and chancellor Kent Hance to hammer out one of the most contentious contract negotiations in Red Raiders history. Thursday’s short discussion ended with Leach happily agreeing to a three-year extension to remain coach of the Red Raiders through the 2013-14 school year. Counting the two years remaining on his current contract, Leach’s new deal — which he signed Thursday — is worth $12.7 million.
Leach said he doesn’t know if the contract would have been finalized without Hance agreeing to meet him alone Thursday. Hance said they met for about three hours, but contract talks only lasted 10-15 minutes. “I really appreciate his efforts in ultimately bringing this entire thing together,” Leach said. “Me and my family are thrilled to death that we’re going to be in Lubbock for another five years, because it’s become a part of our family.”
The four sticking points that held up the deal were resolved to Leach’s satisfaction. In the previous contract proposed by Tech, Leach was to pay $300,000 a year for every year remaining on his deal if he wanted to buy it out and coach elsewhere. The new contract does not include a buyout clause. Tech also would have had the power to dismiss Leach – and subject him to a $300,000 penalty per year remaining on his contract – if he interviewed for another job without getting permission from athletic director Gerald Myers or Hance. Now, Leach just has to notify Myers or Hance if he is interviewing elsewhere. Tech proposed to pay Leach $300,000 a year for each year remaining on his contract if he’s terminated. The new deal pays Leach $400,000 a year if he’s terminated.
On the fourth point, Tech wanted to own Leach’s personal property rights naming rights, his likeness and any money generated from books and movies, and TV and radio appearances. Hance, however, said that was misconstrued, so they agreed to keep the parameters of Leach’s previous contract.
Generally, college presidents aren’t able to solve athletic department problems, which is why they change positions as often as athletics directors and coaches. In this case Texas Tech chancellor Kent Hance was able to overcome the egos of his head coach and athletic director and solve a problem for the best interest of the university. That’s his job and now Leach and Myers can get back to doing their jobs, rather than getting locked in a spitting contest.
From the Associated Press:
The NFL’s steroids era appears to have left a legacy of joint and ligament injuries as well as mental issues among those using the performance-enhancing drugs, according to a new survey. The findings, released Friday and published in the March issue of the American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, come from a comprehensive health survey of 2,552 retired NFL players from the 1940s to the 1990s, conducted by the University of North Carolina’s Center for the Study of Retired Athletes.
The study found that those who used steroids had significantly higher rates of herniated disks and knee ligament and meniscus injuries, plus more elbow, foot, ankle and toe problems than those who said they played steroids-free. It also found a link between steroids and depression, attention deficit disorder and increased alcohol consumption. “Our findings speak to the ‘snowball effect’ or compounded medical problems that appear to accompany steroid use,” said Kevin Guskiewicz, a director at UNC’s department of exercise and sport science and a senior author of the study.
Over the last several years there has been more money spent and more studies started and continued on the long-term physical effects of playing football on the professional level. It’s long overdue. This study wants to link long-term problems to use of performance-enhancing drugs. That may be a stretch. The study reveals that most of those former players who admit to using steroids were offensive and defensive linemen. Those position groups are going to have higher rates of injuries, especially to the back, neck and knee, even without PED use. Pain is going to bring increased alcohol consumption and depression, so there’s no surprise there either.
But these types of studies must continue. Too long these guys have been forgotten. Yes, they made the decision to play a violent game, but that doesn’t mean the league, owners, current players or fans can walk away from the aftermath.
From the Detroit News:
Brad Van Pelt’s gifts were not solely of the athletic variety, although he was crazy-good in any sport imaginable. His greatest asset was simply that he was such a nice guy. Imagine that. An athlete who made the College Football Hall of Fame, who was nearly good enough to have cracked the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and who was the biggest thing to come out of Owosso since near-president Thomas E. Dewey, withstood all that hero worship, all those accolades at Michigan State, all the NFL glory, and still treated people as if he was just another dude from Shiawassee County.
Van Pelt died Tuesday at his home in Harrison, in northern Michigan, according to a Michigan State University representative. It was not long after finishing a round of golf that only Van Pelt would have played on a winter day Up North. He complained of chest pains afterward. But he said no to an ambulance and instead went home, where he later died from an apparent heart attack. He was 57.
Just 57 years old, Brad Van Pelt died way too early. Whether it was genetics, whether it was lifestyle, or whether it came from a long football career can only be speculated upon in the days after his death. This story tells the tales of Van Pelt after he left the Giants, of a failed business and failed marriage, to turning his life around by working on an orphanage and housing project in Mexico
It sounds like the football world lost a very good man.
