A little insight into how college football works
I have had a good look at the USM program back in the early 80s and got to know coaches and players during my time there. I knew not only the outstanding players like Collier, Bayliss, Lipps, DeJarnett, etc. but others not so well known which was interesting and revealing. I will say before going into it, that I think USM at the time as I think is probably true now, a program that tried to work inside the rules and as best they could, tried to benefit their student-Athletes, but they, like all schools, have limitations which causes some hard decisions.
Scholarship limits are always something that programs struggle with because each year you have players who you signed but they don't really fit in and even though they might be good students, they aren't going to make much of a contribution to your program on field because of not being as talented as though, or simply caught in the numbers game.
The one player that always comes to my mind was a very good friend of mine at USM and I will out of respect to him just refer to him as FH. The outlook for FH out of high school was not super star level but very promising and had potential to be a starting running back on the college level. FH started his career at USM with the look of being a solid running back but due to an injury, he was sidelined for most of his first year. The second year he came back and once again suffered a season ending injury, and the coaches started to have less interest in him as the other backs were starting to pass FH reducing him to a back up to the back ups. He did get some chances and did well but he never was considered for a starter, but FH had a great attitude and focused on his studies which when he first arrived at USM was a hurdle to be clear to stay able to play football. After he saw his football career would end in college he concluded instead of transferring he would stay at USM and get his degree which he did and he told me that he was glad he was forced by the situation to appreciate the educational benefit he had. He graduated with good grades and stayed on the team but he also had another fight to deal with during this time, which was keeping his scholarship. He found that he had to be careful what he said and how he did things, when he once was going home for the weekend after talking to a coach about his disappointment of not playing and he would consider transferring but was not sure what he would do when the time came to make that decision. He laid his suitcase on his bed for a weekend at home, and when he returned he was called to Carmody's office to talk about his scholarship. He was in danger of losing it because he had told a coach he was going to transfer (he actually told the coach he was trying to decide but what FH didn't know was that the need of his scholarship being freed up for other prospects had him in the bulls eye) and so his scholarship was being considered for revoking. Carmody did decide it was a mistake and FH did keep his scholarship, but he was watched closely and had he not be careful to leave no opening that would make him look unhappy at all.
Of course that is a problem for coaches and it is totally legit, but sadly it creates the chance some player loses his scholarship on a coach twisting a player's word and using it to revoke the scholarship. Thankfully for FH, Carmody did discuss it and gave him a chance to prove the story wrong, but many probably aren't that luck.
It is a tough thing and most coaches hate to revoke a scholarship knowing it might end a promising student's college graduation and in many cases ways are found to keep them on scholarship to finish when their grades are good enough to justify it. College coaching is tough and the smaller the program the more headaches because mistakes have to be minimal and often cruel. It isn't a job for the faint of heart.
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A little insight into how college football works
