Costa's case in context
The alleged assault case against linebacker Rick Costa raises the question: how often does this sort of charge get brought against Maryland athletes?
The Sun obtained documents in 2007 outlining 97 cases of Maryland athletes' alleged misconduct from the fall of 2004 to October 2006. By far, the largest number of incidents involved positive drug tests (39) and drinking (16 alcohol-related violations). Eleven cases of plagiarism or other academic misconduct also were chronicled, along with a dozen for fighting or assaults.
The problem is that it's very difficult to compare these numbers to other schools. That's because not all colleges keep the same records, have the same rules or test for drugs in the same way.
Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen has been known to dispatch assistants to bars to try to keep players out of harm's way. The alleged Costa incident -- he's accused of punching a police officer -- occurred at about 2:25 last Sunday morning at the Cornerstone Grill & Loft, which was scheduled to close at 3 a.m. You can't reasonably expect the football coaches to be "on duty" at that hour, so it's up to players to act responsibly and police themselves.
Comments
Jeff, I really enjoy your blogs. It's hard to live up here in Hershey, PA in the middle of Penn State country and get any news on the Terps. Again the whole key to the Terps success or failures comes down to how our offensive line performs. We need the running game to kick in and fast.
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Thanks much. And I agree about the offensive line, which has been something of a mystery.
Posted by: Paul | November 12, 2008 10:28 PM
Ralph does an outstanding job emphasizing academics and teaching his kids about responsibility for personal behavior. No matter what ever happens on the field these are two things that really matter to RF - he wants all of his players to graduate and be responsible adults and successful after college no matter what they do. Youre right, he cant baby-sit 24/7. Its never going to be perfect because kids will be kids and sometimes the only way they learn is by making mistakes. Hopefully the mistakes are severe ones. Rick Costa had no business in a bar at 2am. Period. He let down his team, his coach, and himself at possibly the most important point in the season. It doesnt matter if he's an all-american or a bench warmer. He is part of a team. Now he has to live with the consequences. But no matter what they are or how guilty he may or may not be - Ralph wont abandon him. You always love em, but sometimes its difficult to know when to hug em or when to smack em. I really dont want to be there the next time Rick has to face Gloria. That will be worse than anything RF has to say to him.
Posted by: terps06 | November 13, 2008 12:52 PM
Curious about the stats you produced. What was the breakdown by sport? I think that is important to give everyone perspective, especially, the high profile basketball and football programs. If only 15 of those cases are football and basketball, the balance other sports, than it doesn't look so bad. If all of those incidents are solely football, than that is a different perspective.
----from Jeff----
I wish I could give you a breakdown, but the document didn't include names, specific dates and sports because of privacy concerns.
Posted by: Scott G | November 14, 2008 6:37 AM