Chicago - MSU football head coach John L. Smith is excited about what happened in the off-season for the MSU football team.
"The off-season has been positive," Smith said. "This has been the best off-season we've had."
However, when asked about the off-the-field legal troubles for his football players, which include an arrest for drunken driving and an assault and battery charge, Smith said he wasn't including that in his answer.
Smith said it's the off-field area where the team must learn to hold each other accountable. He added it starts with the leadership on the team and the peer pressure to keep players "in line" by their teammates.
"There's nothing better than peer pressure - nothing better than peers holding each other accountable," Smith said.
"Until they assume (accountability), it's (a coaches') responsibility. You have to control it, and that just means if something happens, you have to deal with it."
Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said he would like to take some of that responsibility away from the coaches, if he had the option.
Delany said he does keep an eye on the off-field situations at the 11 Big Ten schools.
"It's something that I pay a little bit of attention to," Delany said.
"I kind of like the Wisconsin model. I've recommended the rest of our schools look at that model because it has some triggers in it that are not driven by coaches' control or (athletic directors') control.
"Essentially, if you are arrested for a violent act, felony, drug-related offenses - it's an automatic suspension from the privilege of playing, pending a student-athlete review.
"Sometimes student-athletes are reinstated, sometimes not - there are two sides to these stories, sometimes three and so we would be wise to go that route."
Delany added that with all the different levels of punishment - from team, school and local authorities - he likes the idea of a "one-size-fits-all" policy, in which the discipline for rule violations or any other disturbances has been set ahead of time.
Smith said a blanket policy is wrong and nothing is black and white.
"It's all gray area or somewhere in between," Smith said. "In our philosophy, we do have some things that are black and white - you just don't do this or you will be gone."
One of the clear issues, however, is testing positive for drug usage.
Smith seems to be willing to give players a second chance, but only if they take the proper steps to correct whatever problem they have.
"It's like your own kids: Anytime someone makes a mistake, you feel a little bit let down," Smith said. "You're going to give that kid an opportunity to correct the problem and if he doesn't, then you've got to correct it.
"That's part of their maturation process - they're going to make some mistakes."
Smith did not comment specifically on players, only saying Jaren Hayes is still suspended indefinitely and Jason Teague's situation is not yet resolved.
J. Ryan Mulcrone is the State News sports general assignment reporter. He can be reached at mulcron3@msu.edu.
