Did Chip Kelly Get It Right in Eugene?

Hopefully the offseasn troubles of the Oregon Ducks has finally came to an end yesterday in a brief press conference held yesterday afternoon by Head Coach Chip Kelly. Kelly spoke for only a few minutes and did not take any questions from the media. He spoke about his two star players, LaMichael James and Jeremiah Masoli, and what suspensions he would be bringing down on them. James and Masoli were both due in court yesterday and pleaded guilty to lesser charges in both of their cases.

Masoli pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor burglary charge and recieved 12 months probation, has to serve 140 hours of community service and owes $5,200 in  restitution to be paid within 10 days. Oregonlive.com has provided a link to the court documents. When it comes to Masoli and playing quarterback for Ducks, his season is over before it was ever started as Kelly suspended him for the entire year. Masoli has not used his redshirt season yet. This will probably be the choice of Masoli therefore he has a shot at playing the next season in 2011.

James was in court earlier that day and pleaded down to a misdemeanor charge of physical harrassment. James originally had been charged with five misdemeanors including one count strangulation, two counts fourth-degree assault and two charges of physical harrasment. This was very tricky situation as James had broken up with his girlfriend and was dating a new girl when his ex-girlfriend came over to see him. This can take a long time to explain, you can read all the details in the court documents. Kelly decided to only suspend James for the season opener against New Mexico.

The question now is did Chip Kelly get this right?  I am not to sure. The punishment against Masoli was correct mostly due to the fact Masoli lied to Kelly and told him all along that he did not take the computer and was no where near the SAE house at the time of the theft. Kelly suspended Masoli more for lying them for the actual crime.

In regards to James I am not so sure. The main reason for this is because Kelly suspended backup LB Kiko Alonso for the entire season for a DUI, was this punishment a little harsh, yes, but he still decided on it and must enforce it. He cannot go back against a punishment he already levied out, like he did in the LaGarrett Blount situation. The fact that James gets one game for pleading to a lesser charges and Alonso gets the season for a DUI is a little unsettling to me. It looks a little like since James was the star and Kelly needed him next season that he gave him a less severe punishment. I am not saying this is what happened I am just stating what it looks like.

Should Oregon Fans Be Worried Yet?

Chip Kelly probably wishes the bleeding would stop in Eugene, OR. Kelly has done almost everything that he can to make the best out of what has become a very ugly off season within the Duck camp.

Just this morning Kelly announced that LB Kiko Alonso will be suspended for the season following his DUI arrest early Saturday morning. Kelly also has kicked WR Jamere Holland off the Duck team for making comments about the coach and racial slurs on facebook.

Most duck fans though are still waiting on the outcome of star RB LaMichael James whose court date is set for March 24th on battery charges.

Kelly has done a good job of controlling the situation in Eugene as best as he can. The media is starting to question some of Kelly's decisions but as anyone knows the media that is bound to happen. Kelly just needs to start being a little more specific about why players are being suspended or kicked off and why some players are still being able to participate in all activities even though their actions might be more severe. All the media needs to do is get a scent that something is not right in Eugene and it will be all over it. I got faith in Coach Kelly that he plays this the right way for the long term of the program.

Oregon RB on House Arrest

LaMichael James, Oregon RB, was supposed to be released late yesterday or today and placed on house arrest. James will have to wear an ankle monitor and is due back in court on March 24th. Yesterday both the AD Mike Belotti and HC Chip Kelly released statements about the incident. The Ducks need to get everything under control some how or they are going to tarnish what could be the best season in the history of their program next year.

Should Oregon sacrifice its program?

I have been pretty opinionated about the situation that happened to LaGarrette Blount and the Oregon football team in its season opening loss to Boise State. For those who have not been following college football this year, LaGarrette Blount a RB for Oregon, punched a Boise State player and knocked him to his knees after Oregon lost to Boise State. Blount while walking to the locker room, was being taunted by the Boise State fans, went after a couple fans in the stands and had to be restrained by one of his coaches and security personal. Blount was suspended from the team for the rest of year the next day by the University of Oregon. Blount was also suspended in February from the team for "failure to fulfil team obligations".

Chip Kelley, the head coach for Oregon, has released an announcement stating that if Blount fulfils all the requirements that he and the University of Oregon have laid out for him, they will consider reinstating him for the Nov. 7th game against Stanford. I think this is huge mistake on the part of Chip Kelly and the Oregon program. Perhaps they should have not suspended him for the year, but since they did they need to stick to the punishment. You can not go back on your punishment once it is handed out. If you say he is suspended for the year then stick to this. The message you are sending to all your players and future players is that you can do what you want when you are a part of this program as long as you are remorseful afterwards. This is not the message that you want to associated with your program. I think the punishment fit the crime, if Blount had just punched the Boise State player suspend him for 4-6 games, but the fact that he went after the fans is totally unacceptable. Blount should be happy that he did not have assault charges brought against him for the punch he threw. I know if I was out and a guy started mouthing off to me and I knocked him to his knees with a punch there is a pretty good chance I could be spending the night in jail. Blount needs to just stay in shape and enter the draft in April and hope that someone drafts him, this will be a bigger problem then most think since he is going to be known now as a player with character issues.

I firmly believe that Kelly and Oregon Football need to seriously reconsider reinstating Blount, they will sacrifice there program and how University of Oregon Football is viewed nationally if they do reinstate him. Next time something like this happens take more than 24 hours to issue a punishment and make sure you issue the right one, but you can never go back on a punishment once it is handed down or you lose all control of your players and what they think they are allowed to do.