OT: Cliff Harris Dismissed From Oregon

Submitted by hart20 on

Cliff Harris has been dismissed from the Oregon Ducks by Chip Kelly. He was suspended for their first game of the season against LSU for driving 118 mph in the whole "There's weed in the car, but not really because you're Cliff Harris so you can go" deal. He hasn't played the last 5 games after being suspended indefinitely on October 25th for driving on a suspended license, without insurance, and without wearing a seatbelt. Then on November 25th he was cited for marijuana possession. Now he's been dismissed from the team after clearly demonstrating a lack of any self-control. 

It'll be interesting to see how this affects their game against Wisconsin. Oregon's defense didn't really change much in the 5 games Harris was suspended for. They even held Luck in check. And Wisconsin is a run first team anyways so...

Also, anyone heard any news about the NCAA investigation into Chip Kelly lately? For his involvement with Lyles and buying recruits? Back when it broke, people were saying that he'd have to go.

Link:http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=ap-t25-oregon-harris

LSAClassOf2000

December 6th, 2011 at 5:33 AM ^

I imagine that Harris can finally devote all of his time to that sales job, so long as he doesn't personally consume the inventory. Football was taking time away from the actual business. 

UMgradMSUdad

December 6th, 2011 at 6:52 AM ^

Situations like this always make me wonder if a bit of tough love early on might have helped.  If Kelly had manned up and punished Harris early on, maybe he wouldn't have had these more recent problems.  The only message he could have learned earlier was "I'm special; I don't have to worry about rules because coach is going to look the other way."

One lesson all coaches, parents, and teachers should have learned early on: players, children, students will push the limits, and things work out much better all around when there's a threat of real punishment for breaking the rules.  Also, it is far easier to start out tough and loosen up than to go in the opposite direction. And treat the star player the same you would any other player. Giving special breaks to some is neither good nor fair to anyone, including the star athlete.

benzduck

December 6th, 2011 at 8:19 PM ^

 

Harris had to sit out the biggest game of the year, the opener vs LSU, the one everyone was watching. Not having his experience returning kicks was a factor in the loss. He never earned his starting job back the entire season. This as a returning consensus AA, and a projected high NFL pick, if you believe what people were writing last summer, before he smoked it all.

The penultimate infraction -- caught DWS without a seat belt -- was seen by some as a piddling technicality. Kelly banned Harris from all football activities at that point and put him on notice: Get it together or you're gone. (A coach like Urb would have made him stay after school or something.)

CH13's problem wasn't that the coaching staff was coddling him. He never did believe  the rules really *did* apply to him, and couldn't adapt when everyone (including teammates) got tired of his games. You aren't hearing a lot of griping about the discipline taken from the Oregon players. Or the fans. And believe me, we really could have used him on the field, especailly against bloody USC.

Duck fans tend to be frustrated at what they call a lack of transparency regarding player discipline. Nobody really knew what was going on with Harris, other than he wasn't listed on the usual two-deep, and when he was only seeing intermittent PT, fans couldn't understand why. Guess we know now; he's just a bit of a knucklehead who hadn't earned his way back, and blew his last chance.

It is oddly fitting that the last time Harris touched the ball in an Oregon uniform, the 2010 AA punt returner caught a punt on the 2, ran backwards and was tackled for a safety in a 45-2 win at Colorado.

 

Cigarro Cubano

December 6th, 2011 at 10:50 AM ^

Bout damn time he dismissed this moron.  " Lack of self-control"  .  that's the polite way to put it.

 

More like a thug & dumbass kid.   Finally Chip... Finally, a wise decision.