Brown, university examine ways to keep athletes on right side of the law after summer of arrests
12:09 PM CDT on Friday, October 5, 2007
By BRAD TOWNSEND / The Dallas Morning News
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AUSTIN – Grim-faced, University of Texas football coach Mack Brown used words like "painful" and "devastating" while emphasizing the need to "take a crisis and turn it into a positive."
He wasn't referring to last week's loss to Kansas State or vowing a turnaround against Oklahoma on Saturday at the Cotton Bowl . He was addressing the summer arrests of six Longhorns players during a four-month span. Publicly, Mr. Brown has focused his energy on this season and "probably the best group of kids we've ever had." Privately, Texas officials are assessing how to bolster recruit evaluations and summer monitoring of players.
"I move forward, but I don't move on," Mr. Brown said. "I think about those kids every day that are in trouble.
"Now, it should not take away from all those kids who are doing everything right."
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Texas is 4-1, but its uneven play has raised questions about whether the incidents that resulted in one player dismissal and five suspensions have had a carry-over effect. Closer-than-expected wins over Arkansas State and Central Florida preceded the 41-21 Kansas State loss, the worst home defeat in Mr. Brown's 10 seasons at Texas.
It was two days before the Kansas State game when Mr. Brown, athletic director DeLoss Dodds and other UT officials sat down with The Dallas Morning News to discuss the university's athlete-support system and recruiting guidelines and what changes, if any, they might be considering.
At the time, Mr. Brown said he did not believe the off-the-field issues were affecting the team's play. But he said it is hurtful to everyone in the Longhorns family that the entire team has been stigmatized by the alleged actions of a few.
"I do think, as painful as the incidents are that have happened to us, it will help us get stronger," he said.
Mr. Dodds and university President William Powers have voiced support for Mr. Brown, who has enforced a zero-tolerance policy and levied stiff suspensions. Two players were suspended three games each for DWIs; three others are suspended indefinitely.
"We've worked hard at this, so this is a shock to us," said Mr. Dodds, who was joined in his office by Randa Ryan, senior associate athletic director, and Brian Davis, assistant athletic director for academic services
"And we're going to fix it, not that we've got that far to go to fix it, in my mind. But we're very aware of what happened, and we're really going to get on it and fix it."
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