Tommy Bowden: Class Act

M

mmbt0ne

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EDIT: Ugh title.

Remember Ray Ray McElrathbey, the kid from Clemson who took in his little brother and was allowed help from the school and fans since his parents were useless?

Well, according to some sources, he's left the team while planning to graduate early.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3283608

CLEMSON, S.C. -- Clemson running back Ray Ray McElrathbey, who made national headlines two years ago for taking custody of his younger brother, has left the football team, Tigers coach Tommy Bowden said Saturday.
...
"He's not playing this spring so he can get his classes in order so he can graduate in August," Bourret said.

Well, that's not the way James Davis or the local newspapers see it.

Link 1
Link 2

James Davis, a senior tailback for the Tigers, said McElrathbey told him he didn't have a choice.
"He said something about how they weren't going to renew his scholarship," said Davis, who has been friends with McElrathbey since their high school days in Atlanta. "It really surprised me. But there's a lot of stuff you can't say. It's something I guess everybody has to learn to live with."
...
"We're pretty good at running back right now," Bowden said.


Meanwhile, they still have a scholarship going to thrice arrested and currently suspended LB Courney Vincent.
 
This whole thing seems overblown. First of all the guy is graduating this summer so it's not like he's out on his ass; he gets to leave with a degree. RayRay wasn't going to play in the NFL anyway, so, what?

Oh, and Bowden offered him a Graduate Assistant scholarship on top of that.
 
mmbt0ne said:
He offered that scholarship the Monday after the Charleston Post & Courier report.
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Ok.

RayRay is graduating. Perhaps Bowden was frank with him about his playing time (or lack-thereof) and NFL potential, and they decided it would be best for him to just walk away. Then the story comes out that Bowden pulls a scholly away from a good man who's caring for his brother, and TB decided it might be a good idea to offer him a Grad Assistant job to quell the backlash.

It's a possibliity, but no one knows what happened.
 
There was a recruiting story a couple of years ago where Clemson reneged on an offer to a commit a few weeks before signing day and the player had to scramble and ended up going to a D-IAA school.

I thought this story didn't sound that bad until I heard that Bowden offered the graduate assistant scholarship after the story came out.
 
Most people know baby bowden had cracks in his character the size of the St. Andreas fault

What has amazed me is how the Clem's son faithful have been satisfied with HIS mediacrity. I believe Clem's son has worse than (or as mediocre) GT record over the past 5 years AND this is with NO recruiting standards.
 
He's a BOWDEN.

Has there EVER been a Bowden with character? I can't think of one.
 
Leatherjacket said:
BeeJ, that is a STUPID statement.......and, if YOU had any CHARACTER, you would be ashamed of yourself.
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Ermm?

Name a Bowden with character and we'll talk. Certainly not Daddy Bowden, who's cheat-to-win philosophy is well documented. Certainly not nail-the-coed Terry. Now Tommy cuts a guy loose instead of letting him play on STs for his final year, and gives him a grad assistant spot in hindsight to avoid the public heat.

Am I missing one?
 
To cross reference an earlier thread, this is part of why Dodd pulled us out of the SEC. Back in the '60s, before it was an NCAA rule, the SEC came up with the idea of scholarship limitations. Knowing things just like this would happen, Dodd argued against it.
Now, to counterpoint, Ray Ray's football scholarship got him his degree (which is better than what happens to some), so in some ways Clemson's obligation is fulfilled. But, this is exactly what Coach Dodd feared would happen, and it is.
 
As for the Bowden argument, there is not one with character amongst the ranks of the head coaches (as noted by beej). As for Jeff, who knows, and as for those not in a public role, no one could say. But judging from those in the public eye, the family reputation isn't looking too strong these days.
 
Didn't the Free Shoes University crew give Jeff almost a million to go away?
 
Honestly guys....why is this such a bad thing?

Clemson doesnt NEED another running back. They are looking out for their own financial interest and have ZERO obligation to someone who cant really contribute to the team (because he is behind two of the best).

Why SHOULD the scholly a player that will touch only practice grass?
 
gsu_paintballer said:
Honestly guys....why is this such a bad thing?

Clemson doesnt NEED another running back. They are looking out for their own financial interest and have ZERO obligation to someone who cant really contribute to the team (because he is behind two of the best).

Why SHOULD the scholly a player that will touch only practice grass?
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Again, this is what Bobby Dodd was big against. The commitment needs to be both ways, for the school and the player. The player can't just transfer without a hardship exemption or sitting out a year, yet the school can decide any year they choose to let a player go just because he isn't as good as their recruiting scouts said he would be. Doesn't seem right. If you offer a kid a scholarship, you should have to fulfill that, unless he does something to deserve having it taken away. Now again, in this case, he got the degree, so the case could be made that Clemson fulfilled its commitment. But what if he hadn't? What if he was just on track to graduate, and not ahead like he was? Do you think that would have changed how ol' Tommy would have handled things?
 
Y'all might want to dig a little deeper into this story. There are rumors that Ray Ray wasn't exactly holding up his end of the scholarship bargain either.

Personally, since he has a younger brother to care for, he needs to be out looking for a job anyway, not trying to continue playing football while someone else foots the bill on little brother.
 
Y'all might want to dig a little deeper into this story. There are rumors that Ray Ray wasn't exactly holding up his end of the scholarship bargain either.
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Why do that when they can just believe the AJC 100%? At least that way they can throw around the term "classless", a true favorite among GT fans.
 
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