BleedGopher
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Per Chip:
Former Gophers coach Glen Mason had a zero-tolerance policy on hazing, which he addressed at the start of every fall camp. Mason told me his perspective was shaped by his college coach, Ohio State's Woody Hayes, who did not permit hazing in any form.
"You were a vital member of the team and everybody would be treated with respect," Mason said, recalling Hayes' message to players.
Mason had a near-hazing incident happen in his first season as Gophers coach in 1997. Veterans concocted a hazing scheme for fall camp. An assistant coach found out and stopped it before alerting Mason, who called a team meeting.
"I was livid," Mason said. "The language I used … I challenged them."
Mason said he stood nose-to-nose with one of the veterans who organized it.
"I said, 'I'm going to tell you something: Either you are going to abide by the rules of this team — my rules — or you're gone. You better make up your mind right now.' " Mason recalled.
A player who was on the team and at the meeting said Mason "ripped into guys like nothing I had ever seen."
Mason said the whole notion of hazing made him that angry.
"Who wants to be demeaned like that?" he said. "There's just no place for it on a team."
www.startribune.com
Go Gophers!!
Former Gophers coach Glen Mason had a zero-tolerance policy on hazing, which he addressed at the start of every fall camp. Mason told me his perspective was shaped by his college coach, Ohio State's Woody Hayes, who did not permit hazing in any form.
"You were a vital member of the team and everybody would be treated with respect," Mason said, recalling Hayes' message to players.
Mason had a near-hazing incident happen in his first season as Gophers coach in 1997. Veterans concocted a hazing scheme for fall camp. An assistant coach found out and stopped it before alerting Mason, who called a team meeting.
"I was livid," Mason said. "The language I used … I challenged them."
Mason said he stood nose-to-nose with one of the veterans who organized it.
"I said, 'I'm going to tell you something: Either you are going to abide by the rules of this team — my rules — or you're gone. You better make up your mind right now.' " Mason recalled.
A player who was on the team and at the meeting said Mason "ripped into guys like nothing I had ever seen."
Mason said the whole notion of hazing made him that angry.
"Who wants to be demeaned like that?" he said. "There's just no place for it on a team."
Glen Mason and others: Hazing is a 'beyond dumb' tradition in sports that can't end fast enough
We shouldn't need a reminder. But we got one, as we watch Northwestern's football program go up in flames. Hazing needs to die. Period.
www.startribune.com
Go Gophers!!
