LSU’s Miles may help Goodell in the long run

By Robert Rousseau  |   Wednesday, May 30, 2007  |  Comments( 0 )

LSU Tigers
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Last week, LSU backup quarterback Ryan Perilloux was arrested for attempting to gain entry into a Baton Rouge riverboat casino. Apparently, he tried to use his brother's identification to accomplish it. Soon after the incident, LSU head coach Les Miles suspended him indefinitely from the team.

Over a month ago, new NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell handed out two of the harshest suspensions in league history to Tennessee Titans cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones (out for the whole 2007 season) and Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry (eight games). Jones was facing felony charges in two states (though he wasn't convicted -- at least not yet) and Henry had been arrested four times in three states since 2005. In the past, the league would've waited until the player was convicted of the crime before handing anything down.

Not anymore.

"Your conduct has brought embarrassment and ridicule upon yourself, your club, and the NFL and has damaged the reputation of players throughout the league," Goodell wrote to both players. "You have put in jeopardy an otherwise promising NFL career."

The thing is, both of these guys were stars at the college level. In fact, Henry (a former West Virginia star) was once ejected from a game at Rutgers after committing several unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. Jones, on the other hand -- another ex-Mountaineer -- has a problematic history that goes all the way back to junior high school (he was kicked out of two of them).

In other words, we all could've seen these problems coming well before their NFL careers started. Along with that, Jones' Westlake High School coach, Dallas Allen, seemed to have the right idea with Pacman as did some of his other coaches -- including those at West Virginia -- some time ago.

"I said what I meant and meant what I said," said Allen in regard to disciplining Jones.

Perilloux, meanwhile, is a great athlete who was Rivals' top-rated dual-threat quarterback coming out of high school in Reserve, La. Further, after this season he's the likely successor to Matt Flynn as the Tigers' starting QB.

It's because of Perilloux's talent that Miles should be given credit. First, Miles didn't get blinded by his young signal caller's potential. Second, Miles did not shy away from disciplining Perilloux because the recent infraction was just a misdemeanor. You see, like Goodell, Miles isn't waiting for the final result -- the smoking gun is just fine. After all, earlier this season Perilloux's name surfaced in connection with an alleged counterfeiting ring.

And that was enough for him.

Miles (who kicked three players off his team on April 19 for varied arrests) understands that he is in a position to teach his players a lesson. Words and actions do mean something.

Thus, Dallas Allen's "I said what I meant and meant what I said" is a sound philosophy.

Again, Miles should be applauded for his attempts at showing players -- very talented ones at that -- how it should be done. Whether it works is irrelevant. After all, way back in high school, Allen tried to teach Jones some lessons that didn't stick.

But the fact of the matter is that school is for learning and teaching. And if what Miles is teaching gets through to Perilloux -- as it did once with Ohio State coach Jim Tressel and a Heisman Trophy winner named Troy Smith -- then Goodell may not have to deal with a Perilloux problem later on.

Original college football insight, courtesy of RealFootball365.com
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About Robert Rousseau

Robert Rousseau is a sports writer that has been published in a variety of print and online venues. He’s been writing for RealFootball365.com for almost three years now. When Rousseau isn’t writing about college football he tends to be penning mixed martial arts pieces for MMAFighting.com or...
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