Last Chance U

They also get guys who either washed out of Division I programs for disciplinary reasons (like DeAndre Johnson or DJ Pettway a few years ago) or transferred out for playing time reasons and didn't want to sit a year (like John Franklin).

And about the players going to class, it's not that simple. Many of these guys are almost certainly functionally illiterate and/or come from non-existent home lives. They have ZERO study skills. They've been passed thru the system all their lives because they were great athletes. But if you go to JuCo and graduate there, you can transfer to D1 without ever having to pass the ACT or SAT.

As for Stephens, just like the players, he's in junior college for a reason. There are some very good coaches in junior college and some of them make it out (Steve Campbell, formerly at Mississippi Gulf Coast, is now head coach at FCS Central Arkansas), but in many ways coaching in JuCo is like doing porn -- you can never go back to the mainstream.

And yeah, Brittany Wagner is the real star of this thing. Some SEC school is going to hire her as one of its 200 support staffers before long.

 

If that's the case, it would be kind of funny if they had a second season and had a scene where she was telling the players about the offers she was getting from SEC schools.

 

You got me curious last night, knowing my alma mater renovated the stadium recently. It seems at least a handful of JUCO power houses are really upgrading. Hutchinson CC, where I went, has this stadium and a 7,500-seat basketball arena that's being upgraded. The city, which has a population a little less than 50K, so not tiny like Scooba, helps pay for it all. Hutch High plays football there and both venues host high school state championships. The arena also hosts the JUCO national hoops tournament, so they are nice venues for the city to have.


Salt City Bowl - Hutchinson Kansas: Gowans Stadium

 

Pretty riveting series. I'm through 4 eps and will finish soon. Then again, I'm a sucker for all those types of shows. The Showtime series following FSU should be good, too.

 

I've known Buddy Stephens for a long time, and a bigger prick has never walked this earth. He's one of these guys who will shake your hand and buddy up to you, all while trying to figure out a way to stab you in the back. The worst part is, his obnoxiousness has infected the whole college there.

The show itself is well done, but the consensus at the juco where I work is that it makes all of us look bad.

 

Watching first episode. Definitely riveting TV. Thanks for the thread. I wouldn't have come across it otherwise.

The one person who will have the brightest future because of this is Brittany Wagner. Tami Taylor in the flesh. She is captivating. At least a 6.

Her role reminds me of when I had to run the four-year-old room on Wednesday nights at church. It's repetition, talking slow and redirecting attention.

Watching some of these EMCC players who can't be bothered to go to class makes me think that we are at the point where the NFL should start a minor league for the men who have no use for college.

Never a good sign if English is the only language you speak and you still require subtitles.

 

I would be worried as well. Not all Jucos are Last Chance U but this would make people think they're full of idiots who can't read, make bad decisions. Or both.

 

What are these guys doing besides class? Scooba is nearly an hour removed from the nearest Walmart, much less actual fun. You'd think they'd go just to look at coeds if nothing else.

 

There were several football players from my time at Hutch CC that washed out for various reasons, but outside of Shaun Hill there are two guys who stood out to me as being great representations of what JUCO programs can do.

One guy was from our rival high school, a farm boy from a town of a couple hundred people who loved to party and fight and generally get in trouble while coasting by in school. But he fucking loved playing football. I ran into him in the library early my freshman year and told him I never really expect to see him in there. He just said "it ain't high school anymore."

Another guy was a non-qualifier from inner-city Florida. Most of the other guys there from Florida has D-I talent, but flamed out at some point down the line. Leo went on to KU, got a degree, started working for the company that runs the Citrus Bowl and now is the AD at a post-grad prep school in Florida helping a lot of kids like him. He also had a baby with a girl from my hometown when we were at Hutch and seems like a great dad.

A lot of people are just never going to take advantage of their opportunities, but the ones that do can show the value of these places.

 

How did this guy turn out, do you know?

 

I haven't talked to him in several years, but last I heard he was selling tractors near where we grew up, so he was doing fine.

 

A good watch. And if nothing else, it got me to read Must Win, by Drew Jubera, the sportswriter who gets occasionally interviewed. (I think he also wrote an article on the school in GQ?) A clear win.