Time for a change!

     For those of us who live in Griz nation yesterday brought shock with it as both the head football coach and the athletic directer were fired.  For the majority of this town there was a high level of confusion as to the reasoning behind terminating the core pieces of a program which has won the last two Big Sky Conference titles and went to the FCS semifinal game last fall.  For those of us who don't necessarily bleed enough Griz maroon to be completely oblivious to the reality of the situation the decision made perfect sense.
     Within the past two years, the same amount of time coach Pflugrad has been in Missoula, the number of off the field incidents has skyrocketed!  There have been numerous domestic disturbances, drinking violations, and worst of all rape cases!  With all of these infractions nearly no action was taken to reprimand the players involved.  I think one player didn't get to start one game but he was allowed to come in late in the first half!  
     Now even I know that at the collegiate level all of the discipline comes form not only the coach but also the athletic directer, so in my opinion they both share the blame in the lack of punishment for their teams actions.  If your reading this and your thinking, well they can't babysit the players every second, your right they can't.  However they can punish them for making stupid decisions in hopes that they will learn from their mistakes rather than simply brushing it under the rug!  At every level of college sports this type of stuff happens and far too often programs are more concerned with wins than kids futures and morals.  I think the action taken by the president of UM yesterday was exactly what was needed to remind this entire community that this town is far bigger than Griz football!
     Take this into consideration, five years ago MSU had players getting into trouble faster than the paper could keep up with, they made the appropriate changes and brought in a "no nonsense" head coach in Rob Ash.  Since then they have continued to rebuild their program and now are legitimate contenders every year.  Yes they still have issues, the trouble will always be there because these teams are made up of kids, but now when they have an issue it is resolved and the players are held responsible.
     I love Griz football as much as anybody but I would rather have our team lose with dignity than win with shame!  I applaud the powers that be of UM for making the right change in an attempt to correct the system before it becomes unrepairable.  I just hope that the replacements for these two positions bring with them the perfect balance of discipline and leadership.  


Remember, even the changes that appear harsh on the surface are usually a good thing!