Last Chance U

Maybe they're confused, like the rest of us, it's not called "Last Chance CC."

 

I've only seen one episode this season, but watched last season, and I am amazed how time and time and time again, the coaches have to beg for effort during the games.

Most, not all the players, look like they are on lithium.

 

At what point do you stop listening to the guy shouting RUN TO THE BALL RUN TO THE BALL RUN TO THE BALL RUN TO THE BALL RUN TO THE BALL RUN TO THE BALL .... Fuck you, you run to the ball.
Cracked me up with they interviewed Coach Holly's wife, Holly. Yes, Holly Holly.

 

Sing it out.
Sing it strong.

Yeah.

 

It's the lack of effort academically that galls me. Most of them have to get through only one semester of pure remedial stuff and have a 2.0 by December. If they can't even do that, I wouldn't want them on my football team anyway.

 

If you listen to them talk, it's clear that their entire hopes rest on football. With the rare exception, they're all banking on playing pro football. And that's incredibly sad, because they're (obviously) not all going to make it, and then where do they go?

A coach I covered some 20 years ago would always say that he would drill his kids on just going to school, playing the game and getting a degree. As he put it, these football factories are set up to just push these kids through the system, if they're willing to just show up to class a few hours a day. Everything else is handled for them. They have an academic adviser making their schedule (the easiest one they could make while working toward a degree), they have multiple tutors, they have a study hall, they have all the resources they need to graduate with minimal effort. One of his players was a struggling high school student, barely made the required 2.0 to stay eligible throughout high school. He got to college, "played the game" and graduated in three years with a degree in general studies. And he'll readily admit to you that had he just been a regular student, he would have A.) never gotten into college and B.) never gotten through one semester. But because he was a football player at a Power 5 school, he had someone handling everything for him and all he had to do was show up to class.

So, knowing this and seeing it firsthand while serving as a trainer for a D-I college basketball program when I was a student, it frustrates me to no end to see all these resources they have at their disposal and they just blow it off. I would have loved to have someone like Miss Wagner when I was going through college. Can't imagine that program will be in very good shape going forward. I believe the players when they would say she's the brains behind the whole operation.

 

"These football factories are set up to just push these kids through the system, if they're willing to just show up to class a few hours a day. Everything else is handled for them. They have an academic adviser making their schedule (the easiest one they could make while working toward a degree), they have multiple tutors, they have a study hall, they have all the resources they need to graduate with minimal effort."
You just described, perfectly, East Mississippi's approach. As dumb as some of these kids appear to be, every one of them should be able to get a degree from this school or have enough of a GPA to transfer to some place like Auburn or FSU. If they'd apply themselves and put in anywhere close to the time they spend on video games, it would be a snap.

 

Word is now that Independence Community College in Kansas is going to be "Last Chance U" season 3. Garden City, the defending NJCAA national champion, turned it down.

Independence's program has struggled for years, so I don't know what would make that school a great subject. Garden City's coach, though, would have been gold for that show.

 

The episode I watched last night, No. 6 I think, featured EMCC's game against Coahoma Community College. The Coahoma coach seemed like a great guy. He pointed out that his program, winless for three years, is actually Last Chance U. He said the star players at EMCC will always get another chance. His players were not recruited and were all walk-ons. Playing there was really their last chance. If not, they were done with football.
Is it possible to get Brittany a job at Independence CC?

 

Nice fucking concussion protocol work with that Wright kid in episode 2. That trainer needs to be fired.

 

Love how he tried to play it off as "It's hard to diagnose a concussion." Um, no it's not. If the guy stands up and says he feels like he needs to puke and then complains of a headache, he's got a friggin' concussion. If he says the stadium is spinning, he's got a concussion. If he says the lights are bothering him, he's got a concussion.

At the same time, it seems like that Wright kid was injured a lot and I wonder if it was a situation where the trainer just doesn't know when to believe the kid is really injured or just trying to get some sympathy.

 

What galled me was when the trainer led the kid to the locker room then left him for no apparent reason, and the kid was walking around by himself, dizzy and complaining of the pain. Even the poorest county in Mississippi has paramedics on duty. Where the hell were they?