Harvard player dismissed

[bulldog10jw]

http://www.boston.com/sports/articles/2006/09/23/flop_show_at_harvard/

It certainly looks like none of these incidents are hurting them. They must have great depth.

[Ivytalk]

Enough depth to beat Brown today by 17 on the road, bulldog! It's hard to tell from the story whether Murphy overreacted or whether the player in question really crossed the line. It seems that the team itself is not of one mind on this.

[bulldog10jw]

Enough depth to beat Brown today by 17 on the road, bulldog! It's hard to tell from the story whether Murphy overreacted or whether the player in question really crossed the line. It seems that the team itself is not of one mind on this.

I have never heard of these "skits" before. What's involved?

[Sam Adams]

Murphy blew it. Kicking a guy off the team for a skit about why harvard is not going to be a D1A program is just stupid. If Murphy wants to outlaw the skits then thats one thing, but don't agree to have comedy skit night and then act like a cry baby if a skit pisses you off. The skit was not racist or sexist or overly vulgar. If it was in poor taste - thats the risk you take when you invite college football players to get up on stage and make fun of each other etc.
Shame on Harvard for allowing this coach to kick the kid off the team because Murphy didn't like the jokes he was telling.

[rcny46]

Murphy blew it. Kicking a guy off the team for a skit about why harvard is not going to be a D1A program is just stupid. If Murphy wants to outlaw the skits then thats one thing, but down agree to hold the skits and then act like a cry baby if a skit pisses you off. Shame on Harvard for allowing this coach to kick the kid off the team because Murphy didn't like the jokes he was telling.

I'm in totall agreement with you on this.If the account is accurate,then the HC's decision is are a head scratcher in my opinion.Relatively speaking,it seems that Dawson's actions were more tasteless than Toci's.

[ButlerGSU]

Murphy blew it. Kicking a guy off the team for a skit about why harvard is not going to be a D1A program is just stupid. If Murphy wants to outlaw the skits then thats one thing, but don't agree to have comedy skit night and then act like a cry baby if a skit pisses you off. The skit was not racist or sexist or overly vulgar. If it was in poor taste - thats the risk you take when you invite college football players to get up on stage and make fun of each other etc.
Shame on Harvard for allowing this coach to kick the kid off the team because Murphy didn't like the jokes he was telling.

I agree, what happened to Harvard being about free ideas? Of all places on earth you would think one would be free to express themselfs at Harvard.

[Ivytalk]

"Skit night" has been raunchy for years, and Murphy has been there awhile. In his defense, he has been a disciplinarian this year in several instances where discipline was called for. My sense is that this is a tempest in a teapot.

[youwouldno]

Ha, 'free speech' is not anywhere close to being the atmosphere at northeastern universities, or in most universities I suppose.

[Harvard Worship]

This has been just the latest in a long line of uncharacteristic disciplinary incidents that began during the offseason. So much for thinking Ivy league schools were immune to all the disciplinary nonsense that goes on in I-A programs. Maybe that's the real reason we'll never be a I-A team though: Murph's going to put a stop to this by really coming down hard. Bummer on the kid who gets to be the scapegoat, but crime (our ex-captain is awaiting trial for battery) and shenanigans aren't really welcome among the sort of scholar-athletes we want to see at Harvard.

[Umass74]

Did anyone else see the quote in Matt Dougherty's latest Extra Point

"Harvard coach Tim Murphy dismissed wide receiver Keegan Toci over a performance he made at the team’s annual Skit Night on September 7. The Harvard Crimson reported that Toci did a skit on the 20 reasons why Harvard will never rise to I-A. Toci is the fifth player to be suspended or dismissed since April, and his dismissal was reportedly met with mixed reaction by the Crimson team"

He threw the player off the team because of a skit ??? :eek:

Any Harvard fans know WTF that was about?

[bulldog10jw]

http://www.anygivensaturday.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13995

[MplsBison]

The reason they won't is simple. Like the rest of the Ivy League presidents, the Harvard president hates football and will do anything to minimize its cost to the school.

[ASU Kep]

That is the most insane thing I've ever heard.

[Pard4Life]

The dismissal was moronic. Murphy is becoming tyranical. We might be seeing their 4th stringer October 14.

[Ivytalk]

As bulldog points out, this is old news. Murphy may have overreacted, but the team still played its butts off for him against Brown last Saturday. It's water over the dam.

[Apps32]

but crime (our ex-captain is awaiting trial for battery) and shenanigans aren't really welcome among the sort of scholar-athletes we want to see at Harvard.

Of course not, but beating up one's girlfriend and giving reasons why HU will not go I-A are nowhere close to being in the same ballpark. Suspend the kid, that's one thing, but kicking him off the team altogether?

[WMTribe90]

Man, I really respect coach Murphy and have met him in person, but he went way over the top on this one. IMO this is not an offense that warants dismissal from the team. And, if the article is correct, his "justice" would appear to be very unven given that Dawson's sexually explicit skit was given a pass. He also created a huge media story where there was no story to begin with. Should have canceled the skit night and ran Dawson and Toci after the next practice and called it a day IMO. He should reinstate the kid.

[AmsterBison]

Note to football players at Harvard: It's OK to suggest that another player performed oral sex on a coach but deprecating the program upsets the dignity of Harvard and will get you kicked off the team.

On shenanigans: Shenanigans are are fine as long as they are cheeky and fun. Shenanigans that are cruel and tragic are not shenanigans at all.

[carney2]

Does anyone have any idea where this leaves Murphy? Does he have one foot out the door?

[Umass74]

Sorry about the double thread. I looked before and did not see it. Getting old I guess.

Still, Harvard students doing skits. If you're easily offended, that's asking for trouble.

I would think a coach would say something like "Son, that was out of line. That's 50 sets of stadium steps."

But tossing the kid off the team?

[*****]

better consider that it was not a normal skit, Murphy is not a tyrant.

[Ivytalk]

Does anyone have any idea where this leaves Murphy? Does he have one foot out the door?

I hope not, because he's done a great job. But he has interviewed before at Delaware (to name one), and I believe Navy was interested before they hired Johnson. I predict that he will finish his career with a I-A program.

[ngineer]

For many years we had skits at Lehigh on the last day of "two-a-days" at a night called The Steak Fry. Alum football players come out and cook steaks for the team and then followed by skits by the different squads: OL, DL, DB, RB, LB etc. Over the years they got pretty raunchy at times, but it was 'in house'. When Hank Small took over the program in the late '80s he was 'horrified' by the skits and just banned them-to the dismay of many. When Higgins took over in '94 he reinstituted the "Steak Fry" and got many football alums reconnected to the program and it has continued today. As long as everyone is aware of the skit night is about the how can anyone complain?

[Harvard Worship]

I hope not, because he's done a great job. But he has interviewed before at Delaware (to name one), and I believe Navy was interested before they hired Johnson. I predict that he will finish his career with a I-A program.

It would be really sad to see Murphy go. He's been a great fit for the program. He's only 3 games shy of 2nd place on the list of Harvard coaches with the most wins, and only about 5 seasons away from breaking Joe Restic's 117-victory record.

Wasn't there some talk about two years ago about Murphy interviewing for other jobs & then deciding to stick with the Crimson? I seem to vaguely remember that. Let's also take into account that he's had success as a coach at the I-A level (at Cincinnati). I'm sure there are plenty of schools that would kill to have him, if he were thinking about leaving Harvard.

[MR. CHICKEN]

Ha, 'free speech' is not anywhere close to being the atmosphere at northeastern universities, or in most universities I suppose.

NEW ENGLAND....PURITANS.........NO SHORT SKIRTS....NO SHORT SKITS!