OT: Former Texas A&M Trainer pressured

Submitted by Eskimoan on

So a former Texas A&M athletic trainer says he was pressured into clearing "good" players, and that other trainers were fired for refusing to jeopardize the safety of their players.

I find this disturbing as I'm sure it happens in a lot of programs. I could be wrong, as I hope I am. Thoughts??

 

 

 

http://www.thescore.com/ncaaf/news/946510

Jon06

January 28th, 2016 at 7:00 AM ^

Illinois was in the midst of all kinds of academic and fundraising scandals when Beckman got fired. I'm not sure he would have been fired so readily if he had been a better coach and the administration wasn't already so beleaguered. But it was an appropriate response, and I hope TAMU takes their responsibilities here equally seriously.

bacon

January 28th, 2016 at 4:45 AM ^

Good players? I would have thought at this point they'd be getting pressed to clear anyone who can play qb given their qb transfer rate.

LSAClassOf2000

January 28th, 2016 at 6:44 AM ^

FRANKEL: If you said to a coach, "Coach, I know we said it was gonna be four weeks, but we need an extra week." What would the coach say to you?

KAPCHINSKI: You would be challenged on your character, your credentials. You know, maybe you were the wrong guy for the job.

If you wanted to create a culture where eventually something catastrophic to happen to a player (or a worker - this applies to a lot of environments), exchanges like this, repeated over the years would be the way to go. 

That being said, it's definitely a good thing to see the things slowly moving away from that sort of culture, even though these claims are always troubling when you hear them. 

UMProud

January 28th, 2016 at 7:08 AM ^

This is one person making these claims who is also involved in a lawsuit claiming age discrimination against the university.  I also can see coaches saying something to the effect of "are you sure he's not ready" etc as I suspect most trainers lean towards more rest when possible.

This guy has a long career I'll grant that but based on what I read I'm not sure I would throw the Aggies under the bus just yet.  People who make claims like this and who have a financial interest in a lawsuit pending against the claimant always make me cautious.

ldevon1

January 28th, 2016 at 7:15 AM ^

He never gives any specific incidents or dates, and he never says if these players were concussed (which is the biggest issue) when they were cleared to play. Things have changed dramatically in the past 5 years and continue to change. I'm sure players at Michigan were cleared to play in the past a little before they were actually 100%. 

PopeLando

January 28th, 2016 at 8:23 AM ^

I rewatched the Penn State game from this past season. There is no way that Hackenberg didn't have a concussion in the second half. I hope that he underwent concussion protocols and passed, but I saw no evidence of that during the game, and no news reports afterwards.

The guy is a first-class jerk, but he didn't deserve that. Nobody deserves to have their health deliberately sacrificed by a coaching staff. Hope these A&M allegations are just sour grapes by a disgruntled former employee.

Vote_Crisler_1937

January 28th, 2016 at 9:23 AM ^

My wife came to the same conclusion - he very likely had a concussion and needed protocol. She was shocked that he came back in the game as she was pretty sure he wouldn't have passed the protocol. She is a Michigan educated brain doc who runs a concussion clinic.

On the subject of this topic:
As a former injured athlete I can say that I experienced a lot of pressure and negative treatment from my coach to get over it and not be injured but he always capitulated to what the trainers said. I believe he only did so because he feared losing his job if he trainer spoke up to the AD.




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Magnus

January 28th, 2016 at 8:50 AM ^

I worked with a high school coach who did the same sort of thing. Needless to say, I was not a fan. And if the kids couldn't play, he would treat them like crap.

XiX

January 28th, 2016 at 11:05 AM ^

I don't think it's the NCAA's responsibility to correct this as it is the Presidents of each institution. The problem, though, is that CFB brings in so much money that there really isn't a huge incentive to put proper protocals in place unless there is a lawsuit or, in UM's case with Shane Morris, pressue from the media, students, parents, etc.

Sadly, I think it's going to take something tragic before people take this seriously.

Wolfman

January 28th, 2016 at 12:20 PM ^

is not going to simply follow orders. I recall handing the ball off to a RB on a sweep going to the right.  My responsibility was to simply carry out the bootleg fake to the opposite direction. I saw the DE standing there and could not pass up the opportunity to spin him so I made a perfect block, according to those that watched and remembered it. He ended up doing a flip, but in the ensuing huddle I could not recall one play from our playbook. I simply said, "Dan, I will hand the ball off to you and you go right."  We pulled that play off and my teammates ordered me to get off the field.  I recall the coach standing there asking me if I was giving up already and I was so  out of it I couln't even give the standard response of "Fuck you."

I don't know how long I was out, but I do remember clearly coming back around and began asking questions like , "What's the score, who's ahead,?" Things of that nature. Have no idea how long I was setting there, apparently o.k. but scared shitless. I asked the coach for the play book and he handed it to me with a "what the fuck" look on his face.  As the team was spread out on the grass during half-time, I was busily turning pages and realized a sense of relief as the plays started coming back to me. Within a few minutes I recalled all the plays and told the coach I was good to go. At that time - would have been the fall of 1968 - guessing it was not out of the ordinary because he showed no reluctance in allowing me to go back in at the start of the second half.

I do know that later, when I became a coach myself, probably due to that incident more than any other thing, I did not allow any player, no matter how much they pleaded to re-enter a game until I had clearance from the team doctor who donated his time, probably for that very reason. Realize, as OP stated, cfb brings in big bucks but I would gladly get fired before ever allowing someone to play while having even the smallest doubt as to his health. Some things are simply understood as wrong and I can't imagine anyone being let go based on their concern for someone's health.

Think it was Aikman who realized he had his bell rung one time too many and was wise enough to give up his million dollar paychecks because he had the common sense to realize possibly walking around in that state on a permanent basis was not worth the price, no matter how many zeros were at the end of it.

ericmj

January 28th, 2016 at 7:47 PM ^

I can't speak for TAMU specifically but I have a quite a bit of experince as a team physician both in college and pros.  For every team I've ever worked with, the doc has to clear an athlete.  The trainers are there to assist and apply treatment.  I've never seen a coach ask a trainer for clearance.  They certainly will ask them if the athlete will be able to return, what is the injury, etc, but clearance has always come from the doc directly to the coach or indirectly through the trainer.  It my repsonsiblilty and my license on the line if I mistreat an athlete, not the trainers.  Even in high school this applies.  

With the Morris incident, I believe Dr. Miller didn't actually see the play that concussed Shane. I haven't spoken to him so I don't know the story for sure but I didn't see him get evaluated by the medical team.  Hoke thought he came out for a minor leg injury and not a concussion.    The medical team never cleared him to go back because they were unaware of the injury, same with Hoke.  A minor leg injury wouldn't need to be eval'd and cleared routinely. This is the reason behind installing a medical team member in the coaches box, so that a play is not missed.  Believe me when you are on the sideline, standing behind 80 rather larger football players and coaches, it can be hard to see every play and injury.  I'm 6'4" and still have a hard time seeing the play sometimes.  I also think Dr. Miller was evaluating another injured player at the time and had his back turned.

Unless TAMU is totally different from

USC, U of M, Dodgers, Lakers, Kings, Ducks, Angels, Pirates, PGA, then this guy's story is seriously exaggerated.  Seems more like a disgruntled former employee.  

As stated by others, it would be legal suicide for  teams to do anything other than rely on their physician to make medical decisions on their athletes.

I have never felt any pressure from a coach about allowing an athlete to return, and if I ever did, I would ignore it.  

Ironically the only time I've ever been pressured to return an athlete was by the head trainer himself for the Dodgers.  I refused to clear the injured player and he was furious.  Luckily Joe Torrey is a great guy and had my back.  (Turns out the player did have a very serious and season ending injury.)

The point is, it's not up to the trainers, it's the doc's responsiblity.

-Eric