The Sports Report: Three former UCLA football players sue Jim Mora, school https://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sports-newsletter-20190530-story.html
My two cents:
1) If what is alleged is true, things like helmet to helmet drills, it is contrary to practice protocols almost ever D1 school (if not all) implemented as SOP. This should be worrisome from not only a callous attitude towards players, but also optics as UCLA touts its concussion research.
2) There also are allegations that staff mishandled concussions and other injuries, and that Mora shamed injured players into playing injured, which also runs contra to stated current practices by every D1 program. There is one really bad accusation about rushing a guy with concussion issues back into games (the guy probably would have been told not to play that season with so many concussions)
3) There is a trade-off with physical play in practice. Though some drills clearly are not done anymore, there is a need to build up some level of toughness so as one expert puts it, you don't want to take your first hit on Saturday or Sunday. By way of example: Dangerous football drills that you'd never see now https://usat.ly/2inR1sF via @usatoday. I'm not sure there is a precise formula for toughening a team up. Cal clearly had become soft under Sonny (they go physically pushed around), and that changed under Wilcox somehow. There can be slippery slope to these suits, in a contact sport. That said, I don't think that is this case here: helmet to helmet drills, as suggested by plaintiffs, in the last 10 years just isn't not consistent with good practices.
Just so people appreciate, this is the plaintiffs accusations in the story as it has been reported. No response from Mora or UCLA (UCLA won't comment).
I'm surprised by that in the three suits, plaintiffs are only asked for $15 million given the alleged conduct.
My two cents:
1) If what is alleged is true, things like helmet to helmet drills, it is contrary to practice protocols almost ever D1 school (if not all) implemented as SOP. This should be worrisome from not only a callous attitude towards players, but also optics as UCLA touts its concussion research.
2) There also are allegations that staff mishandled concussions and other injuries, and that Mora shamed injured players into playing injured, which also runs contra to stated current practices by every D1 program. There is one really bad accusation about rushing a guy with concussion issues back into games (the guy probably would have been told not to play that season with so many concussions)
3) There is a trade-off with physical play in practice. Though some drills clearly are not done anymore, there is a need to build up some level of toughness so as one expert puts it, you don't want to take your first hit on Saturday or Sunday. By way of example: Dangerous football drills that you'd never see now https://usat.ly/2inR1sF via @usatoday. I'm not sure there is a precise formula for toughening a team up. Cal clearly had become soft under Sonny (they go physically pushed around), and that changed under Wilcox somehow. There can be slippery slope to these suits, in a contact sport. That said, I don't think that is this case here: helmet to helmet drills, as suggested by plaintiffs, in the last 10 years just isn't not consistent with good practices.
Just so people appreciate, this is the plaintiffs accusations in the story as it has been reported. No response from Mora or UCLA (UCLA won't comment).
I'm surprised by that in the three suits, plaintiffs are only asked for $15 million given the alleged conduct.