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UCF players, coach differ over football player's death

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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/orl-ucf1108apr11,0,1959050.story

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.

"Everybody was struggling at times," one player said. ". . . But he [Ereck] was running, and I could tell something wasn't right. His eyes got real dark, and he was squinting like he was blinded by the sun. He was making this moaning noise, trying to breathe real hard."

The four players said Plancher fell during the final sprint and members of the UCF coaching staff yelled at him to finish the drill.

"Ereck took off running about 5 yards and fell; the coaches were yelling at him to get up, and of course he came in last," one player said.

My two favorite teams are FAU, and who ever is beating FIU!
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Re: UCF players, coach differ over football player's death

Sad story.

That head coach at UCF sure has quite a history of lying.  If he is in this case, it should be the end of his coaching career if not more.

Teambeer is the most knowledgeable FAU sports fan I know, way smarter than me.
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Re: UCF players, coach differ over football player's death

Later, O'Leary…

Like things, love people.
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Re: UCF players, coach differ over football player's death

I don't know if they'll fire him but he's been doing this for a long time he should be able to tell something was wrong. The kid fell down and had trouble breathing. O'Leary yells at him during the huddle for a lack of effort. O'Leary denies using obscenities.

I know we have a few UCF fans that come here, what do you guys think? I know you like him and he's done a good job as your coach but should he stay?

My two favorite teams are FAU, and who ever is beating FIU!
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Re: UCF players, coach differ over football player's death

Wow, what a bunch of ridiculous responses here.  To claim that O'Leary is trying to lie about this kid's death is both irresponsible and ridiculous.  The Sentinel has a LONG history of fabricating stories and producing JUNK that is only intended to create a $hit storm to sell papers.  Period.

The autopsy hasn't even come out and yet the paper is making their own decisions on how this kid died?  Their sources are "4 players" who are nameless?

PLEASE.

This is just another disgrace in the long line of crap the Sentinel produces.  The bottom line is that Ereck Plancher died tragically in a conditioning drill that every college in America uses, including your very own FAU Owls.  How someone from the freaking Sentinel interprets a 10 minute light workout is up for debate, but the prior point is not.  In the article they described an agility course and sprints- if you were ever a football player, especially at the D1 level, you'll recognize that this is a LIGHT offseason workout.  Those workouts could easilly be done in 10 minutes, just as O'Leary and Tribble said the day of his death.

I know the childish and easy thing to say in a message board is "O'Leary lied again, omg!" but please step back and realize the context in which you speak.  He fudged a resume but that doesn't make him a career criminal.  To suggest that would lead to trying to cover up a poor kid's death is inexcusable.  Please don't fall into line with the hordes of classless USF fans who are gloating on THEIR board about how they were right, etc.

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Re: UCF players, coach differ over football player's death

Jab979 said

I don't know if they'll fire him but he's been doing this for a long time he should be able to tell something was wrong. The kid fell down and had trouble breathing. O'Leary yells at him during the huddle for a lack of effort. O'Leary denies using obscenities.

I know we have a few UCF fans that come here, what do you guys think? I know you like him and he's done a good job as your coach but should he stay?

Jab, just take a minute to think about this.  First off, every coach in college athletics gets on their players if they think they aren't hustling.  Go down to your local FAU practice and I will bet you anything there is a coach getting on a player because he doesn't think he's hustling.  I witnessed it EVERY DAY in my brief semester of D2 baseball at Fl. Southern.  Unless a coach is told of a condition, he has no way of knowing a kid is in distress or even worse about to die.  When I attended a UF practice I saw tons of guys fall down and fall behind, only to be chewed out by the coaches to no end.  It's apart of college athletics.  Not for a second do I believe that O'Leary chewed him out KNOWING that Ereck was in distress and couldn't breathe.

As for the obscenities, just put yourself in his shoes for a second.  He's grieving and feeling terrible about losing a player he brought to UCF and cared for.  That last thing he wants to blast to the media is that he chewed his @ss before dying and used cuss words.  It's not appropriate for the time.  Also, what exactly does it matter if O'Leary cussed or not?  Would it have prevented him from dying?  Would it have alerted someone that EP was in distress?  I'd say no, wouldn't you?

I've met coach O'Leary and I can vow that nobody cares more for his players and their well being than him.  He is an old school coach who works his players, but to suggest that he knew about EP and did nothing is downright wrong.  Again, the fact that the Sentinel is running this garbage NOW is absolutely absurd and I hope UCF comes down on their @ss hard.

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Re: UCF players, coach differ over football player's death

This was actually told to the Orlando Sentinel not the Sun Sentinel

My two favorite teams are FAU, and who ever is beating FIU!
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Re: UCF players, coach differ over football player's death

UCF players, coach differ over football player's death

I don't believe for one second O'Leary did anything wrong here, it was a tragic accident that unfortunately happens.  The problem for O'Leary is his character is very highly in doubt due to his past issues and anytime there is an incident that issue is going to come to the surface everytime, rightfully so.  Someone with character issues should not be coaching college kids, period but it's about winning not instilling character at UCF.

GO OWLS!
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Re: UCF players, coach differ over football player's death

UCFKnight85 said

Wow, what a bunch of ridiculous responses here.  To claim that O'Leary is trying to lie about this kid's death is both irresponsible and ridiculous.  The Sentinel has a LONG history of fabricating stories and producing JUNK that is only intended to create a $hit storm to sell papers.  Period.

The autopsy hasn't even come out and yet the paper is making their own decisions on how this kid died?  Their sources are "4 players" who are nameless?

(snip)

I know the childish and easy thing to say in a message board is "O'Leary lied again, omg!" but please step back and realize the context in which you speak.  He fudged a resume but that doesn't make him a career criminal.  To suggest that would lead to trying to cover up a poor kid's death is inexcusable.  Please don't fall into line with the hordes of classless USF fans who are gloating on THEIR board about how they were right, etc.

Due respect, UCFKnight, I don't see how the article did anything wrong.  Okay, to call for his firing now is premature, even ridiculous at this point, I agree.  But the writers didn't editorialize; rather they reported another side of this tragedy, the details of which up until now have been told only by the coaches and administration.  The players sound believable to me, and of course they want to remain nameless because they know they're done if they speak up.

Unfortunately, when you hire a credibility-challenged coach, you have to expect that people are not going to be so willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.  Maybe he and UCF will be absolved in time, but for now, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect questions and skepticism.
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Re: UCF players, coach differ over football player's death

I see no parallel between lying on a resume 40 something years ago and potentially lying to cover up a kid's death.

I challenge everyone here to go read last year's recruiting stories from UCF and see just how many kids picked UCF because they know O'Leary really cares about his players and always want what's best for him.

Current players now say O'Leary is the most caring and straight forward coach that they've ever had.  The only "Credibility issues" are those being perpetuated by the media to sell papers and cause a stir.

It's disgusting for this paper to associate blame to the coaches for what happened.  And, not surprisingly the question was never asked to these "4 players" Why didn't you alert the coaches if you saw Ereck struggling? What steps did you take to help Ereck?  These questions weren't asked because I seriously question the INTEGRITY of the Sentinel.
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