Lloyd Carr: Clueless, or Gutless?

In case you haven't seen it yet, Men of the Scarlet and Gray just made a fine post regarding the Adrian Arrington situation at Michigan. In case you haven't heard yet, the UM wideout is facing a charge of domestic violence after getting in an argument with his wife and allegedly assaulting her. For a nice synopsis, check out the timeline on MotSaG that summarizes up the suspicious order of events. I applaud sportsMonkey for not jumping to conclusions. As Ohio State fans, we all got defensive when people did it regarding the Maurice Clarett situation, and it's only fair that every situation is handled like so before the details come out.

Of course, one can't help be at least a little suspicious at what happened, especially after looking at the timeline. If all of these allegations are 100% accurate, then it really brings up some serious questions as to the whereabouts of Lloyd Carr's integrity as not just a coach, but also a person. I agree with MotSaG wholeheartedly in their contrasts from Carr's handling of the Arrington issue to how Mack Brown handled the Tarell Brown situation. As just about everyone remembers, Brown was arrested for posession of marijuana and a handgun. Although as the week wore on it became more and more apparent that the charges would be dropped, and Brown very well may have been in the wrong place at the wrong time; regardless, Brown suspended Brown anyways, because it was the right thing to do. It was a stupid choice on Brown's part to be in the situation that he was in, and he deserved to be punished for it. It also goes without saying that Brown's decision was much tougher, because it happened to his top cornerback on the week of the biggest game of the season. And although Arrington isn't exactly a bench warmer, and his role would be increased due to the Manningham injury, he still wasn't even the go-to guy for Chad Henne in the Iowa game, and it wasn't in a #1 vs #2 game. The action that Carr should have taken should have been a no-brainer at the very least, and he still didn't do it. He may have been doing what would give the team the greatest immediate impact, but it is unfair to Arrington, and it's unfair to himself to allow him to get into these situations and
not have any sort of repercussion.

The ironic thing is, when guys like Tressel suspend players for their off the field issues, the the school instantly gets unfairly labled as a university filled with renegades constantly breaking the law. However, when there is a punishment or little to no suspension, the public turns their eye to it. Where's the justice in that? I guess it just goes to show nowadays that nice guys finish last, and that you should win, regardless of the cost.

Looks like the Buckeye Battle Cry had his input on it as well, which gives three Ohio State blogs talking about the same exact off the field issue with a player that isn't even at OSU. Man, the 18th can't get here soon enough.

Programming Note: "The Issues of the Nation" has changed it's site and URL to "Tough Vote", and I've updated that on the sidebar. He's also made a fantastic first post regarding the situation in Iraq. Plus, he has a fantastic banner, and whoever made that deserves a pat on the back.