Report: FSU athletes to take mandatory life skills course
By Kelvin Hunt
In wake of several high profile off the field behavior concerns, FSU athletes will have to take a non-credit mandatory life skills course.
FSU athletes have been under the spot light the last couple of years for some good and bad things. The football team is competing at an elite level again, other sports teams are competing extremely well, but several off the field issues over the past couple of years have forced FSU to battle negative public perception problems.
The Palm Beach Post reports that FSU athletes will take a non-credit mandatory life skills course that will be piloted by 18 athletes from multiple sports.
Related Story: Jameis Winston Case Timeline
Former Nole quarterback Jameis Winston was accused of rape, but never charged for the crime in 2013. Former quarterback De’Andre Johnson was dismissed from the team last year after video tape showed him punching a female in the face at a bar. Running back Dalvin Cook was accused of hitting a female, but was found not guilty in fall 2015.
FSU President John Thrasher gave his thoughts on why FSU has continued to battle the negative press. “It’s a hangover from the Jameis thing and we see that. We’re trying to work our way out of that.”
Here are some of the details regarding topics the life skill class will cover:
"The course is open to all students, but mandatory for athletes, and will focus on life skills, including leadership, time management and social pressures, effective communication, social responsibility and financial literacy. It will incorporate some of what already has been in place, such as bringing in guest speakers along with dealing with the biggest issues facing young adults such as domestic violence and drug and alcohol abuse."
It had almost become a running joke regarding FSU athletes and run-in’s with the law. There are some that believe the FSU athletic department and Tallahassee police department work together to cover up things done by FSU athletes.
“That’s where I think last year gave us all a kick in the butt on what we need to be focusing on and how we need to be improving those relationships –I think it’s made a difference.”
However, FSU football coach Jimbo Fisher has dismissed a number of FSU athletes for conduct detrimental to the team since taking over prior to the 2010 football season.
The university has gotten a bad rap somewhat unfairly. They only had two athletes arrested, cited, or charged with a crime last year. Guess who had the most?
The University of Florida with 11.
It will probably take a while for FSU to overcome the public perception that they’re “Criminoles”, or a team full of thugs. It certainly didn’t help that they had a slew of such high-profile cases involving males a hitting females or a female accusing a guy of rape even though only one of those instances turned out to be proven true.
This life skills class is a good first step for FSU and hopefully the students will apply the life skills they learn.