Posted on 04/10/2008 8:06:36 PM PDT by NonValueAdded
UCF football player Ereck Plancher showed signs of distress during "mat drill" workouts last month before he collapsed and later died, four of Plancher's UCF teammates told the Orlando Sentinel.
Plancher, a 19-year-old receiver from Naples, was taken to a hospital on March 18 and was pronounced dead about an hour after the drills.
A preliminary autopsy was inconclusive. Further tests are under way to determine the cause of Plancher's death.
The UCF players, who asked for anonymity because they fear retribution from football coaches, said Plancher's final practice was more intense than the basic conditioning workout described by UCF officials.
(Excerpt) Read more at orlandosentinel.com ...
ping
That's irrelevant. This guy obviously had some unknown health problem.
I don’t see how the coaches were at fault.
And if they are found to be at fault then all sports should be outlawed, because the description of what happened is the description of every single workout for every major sport both male and female on the college level, as well as the high school level, and worst on a professional level.
If there’s any truth to the description of the workout, the coaches are toast. Sorry but this wouldn’t be the first kid with an unknown health problem. With early season workouts in the unseasonably warm temps we’ve had in Central Florida, it was completely predictable, albeit in hindsight. The teammates also should have shouted out, “hey coach, I don’t think he’s faking it.” Were there no trainers on the field, no pre-workout briefing then or previously on signs of heat stroke and other forms of distress? Nope, we need an urban flood warning for all the saliva flowing from the local lawyers hearing this.
You are right about that. Still, I think this kid would have died no matter what kind of practice they had. He had some issues that were going to happen with physical activity, it was obviously only a matter of time. If not during practice, it would have happened during a game or some other time like working out. It's so terribly sad. No one should die at such a young age. I feel for his parents.
How do you think he would have done at Marine Corp Boot Camp?
It could have been dehydration. And as for the account by the coaches, George O'Leary is the infamous resume padder.
UFC ping
Sounds like Sickle Cell Trait to me.
Sorry for this athlete’s death. Not the coaches fault either...
As long as we keep the illusion that college football is amateur, the coaches will be held to a higher standard of care. I'm pretty sure that will happen here, especially since it is a state school.
wow.....just wow
The player said after he recovered enough to go back to his room, he still was too ill to walk or go eat. He said the team totally abandoned him, gave him no help at all except for his room-mate who brought him food etc.
When he got well enough, he phoned Steve Spurrier at Florida and asked if he would give him a scholarship. Spurrier told him to come on down and he would be on scholarship. He said Spurrier and the Florida staff were like night and day in their treamtment of the players, compared to O'Leary.
If he had sickle cell I’m pretty sure it would have been known and he wouldn’t have been playing football.
I didn’t read the entire article, but although the coaches might not have any criminal culpability, they could still be in hot water (with the NCAA) for simply being present at off-season workouts.
There are supposed to be NO coaches present—all off-season workouts are (nudge, wink) ‘voluntary’.
At the risk of sounding like the old ex-jock that I am....
OH MY GOD!
Football players at every level in every town, city, county and state in this great country have been doing drills like this in intense heat for many many years, and coaches push them farther than the players ever could by themselves.
That’s football. The players know it.
OK, here I go: When I was a player, coaches didn’t allow us to have water during practice—we had to tough it out. That’s the way it was. Practiced twice a day, full-contact, in 100+ degree weather, 100% humidity in the middle of august, Lincoln Nebraska. NO water til after practice. NO rest stops. NO breaks to catch our breath.
That’s just the way it was. These guys, as tremendous athletes as they are now (far better than we ever were) have no idea how tough it was 30 years ago. I know I can’t imagine how tough the guys in the 40’s and 50’s had it compared to us!
We’re a country of namby-pambys. (I think that’s a word, but if it isn’t, it means P*SSIES!!!)
Three problems with blaming the coaches:
1. Planchard was a Florida boy. No acclimatizing needed here
2. Temperature that day was 68 degrees. I wouldn’t be surprised if some had jackets on
3. It’s been over a month and the cause of death has not been determined. I don’t even think they’ve given a *preliminary* cause of death has been issued
The military is very careful about hydration, even back in the mid 70s. We were regularly doused with showers every couple hours during Airborne Training and plenty of opportunities to drink water.
O’Leary will keep his job only for as long as the school can maintain a position that the football staff did noting wrong. This will only br in an attempt to minimize legal liability. When they finally come to the point where liability can no longer be denied, they will cut him and his staff loose.
O’Leary will never get another coaching job at any level.
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