Coach Flip Naumburg's Journal

Sunday, June 5, 2005

INTERVIEW WITH A RAM'PIRE - CHAPTER III

Q- What was the first response and or action taken by the MDIA National Governing Body?

ROUND ONE

A - Between 10:00 a.m. and noon I had several phone conversations with all kinds of people. One of the first of these was with the Eligibility Officer for the MDIA. He was hopeful that we could somehow get things straightened out when we got a little more information, and perhaps there might have been a clerical error or whatever. He informed me that there would be a meeting of the Executive Board of the MDIA that evening via a conference call.

TWO RED LINES + LOTS OF PHONE CALLS = 1 BIG HEADACHE

There were two eligibility problems on our team that came to light that fateful Friday. One of them is young, and perhaps lacking in overall proper college "orientation". As it was he had only played in a couple of games, and those were against inferior opponents and in games that were not important. This one (problem) could have easily been fixed.

With any small amount of luck he now understands a bigger picture of life following this experience, and yes, I AM hopeful of and counting on the fact that boy has already felt much pain from this experience. That discomfort needs to carry with it enough weight to insure that something similar can never again happen in his lifetime.

He had dropped one of his classes, and I assume it was because he was not doing well. Why he was afraid to tell someone is still a little unclear, because he had offered himself up to me for "heart to heart" conversations on several occasions. These were generally talks initiated by him, so I felt comfortable with the fact that he felt comfortable enough with me to come to me when something might go wrong. Perhaps he didn't want to disappoint me, but the only thing that disappoints me completely is that he didn't feel like he could come to me, or that he could go to someone in the "family".

THE WIZARD OF BOZ

The other problem child was a horse of a different color. He started for us for most of his 4 years. He had played in ALL the games. He was a "leader" on our team, a senior. At times I had worried about and monitored his academics. I had been assured by him on more than one occasion that all was now well with all of that school stuff.

TIMING IS EVERYTHING AND MINE WASN'T SO GOOD

Back to the sequence of events; I again talked to our Club President and I did so actually only minutes after our prior conversation. The call to the eligibility guy had been sandwiched between the two with our President. He (President) now informs me of some extenuating circumstances with the Senior player who was found to be ineligible. Apparently he had been forced out of one of his classes in his major because he had not yet completed the prerequisite course, and therefore he couldn't get credit for it or something to that effect. He had been pushed out of the class a month prior and had been down to carrying 10 hours, but now on this Friday in May I was told that he could "get back in" said class so that he would then have 13 official hours of credit again. All it would take was a trip to the registrar's office. Great, now you tell me. I could have used that information better an hour earlier. In fact, by the end of the day we had a roster eligibility sheet that had him on it with no red line. He was then "legal" again according to this document.

We self-reported first and then asked questions later. I suppose in hindsight that was my "dumbest mistake". Boy, this would have been a cinch to "get away with". I shouldn’t have told anyone, right?

So later on Friday afternoon the player had his 13 convoluted hours. Does this mean he technically never really dropped below the required 12 hours? I guess that is the ultimate soul searching question that I had to ask myself.

ANYONE GOT ANY DRAMAMINE?

At any rate, and we were really moving along now, and the next thing that would get us closer to our judgement was that MDIA conference call and the decision that would come down from it. I had been informed that the Executive Committee would decide our ultimate fate that very night. That thought made me a little queezy.

THE PHRASE THAT PAYS – "CUT AND DRIED"

I also talked with another higher ranking authority in the MDIA on the phone before lunchtime had come around. I sought help and compassion for our (my) situation. I asked him what I could do to help our predicament. His response was one that sort of slapped me in the face, and I have not been able to get one of his phrases out of my head ever since. He said that he thought the case was a "cut and dried" one. His opinion was that we were mostly beyond rescue and or compromise, and that we had clearly broken the rules. It must have been nice that things could be so calm in his ocean. Meanwhile my lacrosse boat was already wildly rocking in troubled waters.

TSUNARAMI

My heart started to beat a whole lot faster all of a sudden after that call. I knew then that we would be fighting for our very Minnesota lives. I had the feeling that I would soon (again) be playing the part of the castaway, alone on some metaphoric island somewhere, and soon to be face to face in confrontation with the giant nothing-good-can-come-from-this that was already visible on the horizon. It was rough seas straight ahead, and I only just been hit with the first of the many waves that were on the way.

RAM THIS

Being an Aries (ram), along with the fact that we are the Rams, my thought is that this (2005) is likely not the Chinese year of the Ram. One of our ex-players notes that strange things happen "every seventh", and this would have been our seventh straight trip to the Finals had we made it. He goes on to explain that the 7th of something is the time to rest for one, and then to get after it again with renewed energy.

Q – What happened at the MDIA meeting Friday night?
A – I’ll tell me next time.

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