Wednesday, November 03, 2010

The Notre Dame Situation

I don't know much about American college football but there has been something in the news that has bothered me for nearly a week.

It's to do with the death of a student at Notre Dame College and the reaction that some media outlets have taken in the aftermath.

Declan Sullivan studied film at the college and was was helping the football team by recording the training session from - what I presume - a hydraulic crane when a gust of wind caused it to topple and killed Sullivan.

There had been weather warnings and Sullivan himself has sent a tweet on his Twitter account relaying how scary it was to be filming in those conditions a few minutes before he fell.

It's a tragic accident and one that could have been avoidable had someone senior had taken responsibility and made the call to halt the filming of practice.

But is Brian Kelly - head coach of the team - the main person at fault?

A major sports website I read have called for his head following the tragedy claiming that the buck stopped with him and he should go.

I have a hard time accepting that.

Surely there are other people below Kelly on the food chain who are capable of - and senior - to the student. They should have been the ones to make the call and disallow filming to be done on that day.

You then have to ask what about people higher than Brian Kelly on the totem pole? You know, the people that employed him in the first place.

Do they have a certain level of blame, too?

It comes across to me as a witch hunt against the coach because the team have been under performing this season. The writers seem to be using this tragedy to turn against Kelly and his staff.

It was a tragic accident and someone should be held responsible for negligence.

But not Brian Kelly.

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