Timing on MSU suspensions

First, some meta-stuff.

I realize there are a lot of threads on this topic.  Reflective of very large interest, they all get rather large and filled up in a short period of time.  So I am not particularly sorry about starting another one.

Second, for reasons that I'll get into, I think that there is some urgency with the issue of public pressure being exerted on Jim Delany, Bill Carollo and the B1G offices, to act on suspensions of William Gholston and Marcus Rush.

Developments of the last couple of hours are that Mark Hollis has issued a statement saying that MSU is looking into the matters:

http://spartannation.com/2011/10/18/statement-from-michigan-state-athletic-director-mark-hollis-on-the-hoopla-around/ 

And then Mark Dantonio did his usual Tuesday presser and said that they were, uh, looking into the matters:

http://www.msuspartans.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/101811aab.html 

The news on both of those fronts is that MSU did not use the day to preemptively suspend Gholston for one game (which, by any reasonable account is inevitable), which is something I feared.  I had a bad feeling, that a fast announcement of a one-game suspension of Gholston might end the entire matter, cutting off debate about additional games for a Gholston suspension, and a suspension of Marcus Rush as well.

Now, a new Spartan strategy may be emerging:  Delay.  Put off the Notice/Response/Appeal/Et cetera timeline until such time as they can string it out so that their starters on defense can all be available for Wisconsin, and maybe even foul things off until Sparty hosts Minnesota in 17 days.

Many of you will have seen Adam Rittenberg's online column about the B1G protocols for unsportslike behavior investigations. 

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/36066/no-word-on-possible-gholston-discipline 

I confess, it threw me when I first read it.  Because I distinctly recall no such protocol when Jonas Mouton was suddenly and summarily suspended by the Conference, on a Thursday before a Saturday game.  Michigan did not appeal or object.  But I never thought that we could appeal or object.

Then it occurred to me; at the time of the Mouton supsension, the first of its kind that most of us could recall in the Conference, many of us (I know I did) commented that it was such a crappy ad hoc affair, that the Conference would have to set out some clear guidelines for future cases.  And in fact, I now think that the Conference Rules that Rittenberg pointed everybody to were rules that Delany cooked up in response to the observations about how irregular the Mouton suspension was.  That is, they post-date the Mouton suspension.

And they might now give Sparty a chance to delay and obfuscate things until Wisconsin and perhaps even Nebraska have passed.

Now this is even worse than an attempt by Dantonio to confine the damage to Gholston (and keep Marcus Rush on the field).  Dantonio and Hollis might be trying to foul off any player discipline to the week of Nebraska or even Minnesota.

This should only increase the public stink over this mess.  Call Jim Delany's office, and let him know about your concerns.

(847) 696-1010

(http://www.bigten.org/school-bio/big10-school-bio.html) 

SUSPEND MARCUS RUSH AND WILLIAM GHOLSTON.  NOW.