William Gholston Suspended for Wisconsin

by Pete Rossman on Oct 20, 2011 4:21 PM CDT in Michigan State Spartans Football

Today the Big Ten did what many expected it to do by suspending William Gholston for one game. The press release is here. My thoughts:

Yes, Gholston's actions did merit a one game suspension. The Big Ten rules clearly state that "Striking or attempting to strike or otherwise physically abusing an official, opposing coach, spectator or athlete" merits sitting for a game, and that's what Gholston received. It doesn't matter whatever Taylor Lewan said or what he did, a punch is still against the rules, and a dirty act regardless.
That said, I don't believe Gholston is a pathologically dirty player. These were isolated incidents where his emotions got the best of him, and he reacted rashly. This is the first incident of him being in trouble, and what pissed me off most of all this week was at least one national sports columnist calling him a "thug". I think most of us wouldn't want to be defined by the dumbest things we've done, and I hope Gholston's extended that courtesy in the future.
I wish Mark Dantonio and Mark Hollis would've stepped in and given the suspension before the Big Ten had to. That said however, it's not unprecedented for the Big Ten, and not a school not to suspend a player that threw a punch in a game (see Jonas Mouton, 2009). MSU's decision not to suspend Gholston will only be magnified due to other off the field transgressions in past years, fair or not.

That's the last you'll hear me talk on this subject. Actual football talk tomorrow.

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Comments

I also wish

we would have suspended him. It’s an EASY move to do to actually bring up the rep a little.

by hascow on Oct 20, 2011 4:24 PM CDT reply actions

im so tired of hearing about this crap

so blown out of proportion

by chuggingspartan on Oct 20, 2011 4:44 PM CDT reply actions

Not really.

by vikeguy on Oct 20, 2011 8:25 PM CDT up reply actions

Blown out of proportion by media

I will also say that I think he’s being punished for the wrong transgression

Schadenfreude ist die schoenste Freude

by Seer on Oct 20, 2011 4:45 PM CDT reply actions 1 recs

Now that's a fact!

by vikeguy on Oct 20, 2011 8:26 PM CDT up reply actions

Hard to escape the racial coding in the term "thug."

Which national columnist went there?

by lesmanalim on Oct 20, 2011 4:55 PM CDT reply actions

Not sure which columnist Pete is referring to, specifically, but it’s been a pretty common reaction across the college football blogosphere.

by Tyler T. on Oct 20, 2011 4:57 PM CDT up reply actions

Michael Wilbon did on PTI

I can see how you can call his actions thuggish, but to call him a thug is out of line.

The Only Colors - SBNation's Michigan State University Community

by Pete Rossman on Oct 20, 2011 4:57 PM CDT up reply actions

Was going to say the sa

White Sox fan; Jeppson's Malort man

by KarkoviceIsHawt on Oct 20, 2011 6:48 PM CDT via mobile up reply actions

Was going to say the same thing

That’s by far worse than him being defined by a dumb act. Would anyone call, say, Blake Treadwell a ‘thug’ if he did the same?

It’s outrageous how casually that gets thrown around.

White Sox fan; Jeppson's Malort man

by KarkoviceIsHawt on Oct 20, 2011 6:51 PM CDT via mobile up reply actions

This is the first incident of him being in trouble, and what pissed me off most of all this week was at least one national sports columnist calling him a “thug”.

This remains the stupidest response any national columnist or football fan can have to incidents like this. Media-types and fans follow a sport that glorifies violence and thuggish behavior, and then experience shock when individuals sometimes cross that artificial barrier separating good violence we encourage and the morally offending kind.

If you tell big men to run into each other at high speeds, you will eventually find instances of that morally offending kind. It’s inevitable.

by Tyler T. on Oct 20, 2011 4:56 PM CDT reply actions

He got suspended move on.

10, 15 years ago nobody gets suspended. In fact big ten suspended players starting in 2009.

by spartynation on Oct 20, 2011 5:02 PM CDT reply actions

Your point is exactly what?

by vikeguy on Oct 20, 2011 8:21 PM CDT up reply actions

please quit trolling

that’s all you’re doing.

by one23 on Oct 20, 2011 9:37 PM CDT up reply actions

Woodson vs Boston in '97

How come Woodson or Boston Didn’t get suspended for the Bowl game in ’97 when they had a fight on the field???? See link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-omw2lvx30

Answer because the people who run the Big Ten are complete hypocrite douche bags Jim Delaney most of all. Delaney begged the NCAA to let ineligible players play in OSU bowl game to help ratings and because HE wanted to beat the SEC. HOWEVER, they had to vacate the win so it looks even worse now. Not to mention we were robbed of a BCS berth.

Turn the page one year and Wisconsin is the Big Ten’s only hope to be in the BCS national title game so Delaney ignores the fact that Lewan was throwing ethnic slurs at Gohlston and suspends him to help Wisconsin get out of EL with a win.

If all rulings were consistent I would have no problem with the suspension, but the hypocrisy of the Big Ten over the past year makes me want to puke in a trash can.

I can’t wait to see Wisconsin in the Big Ten title game we’ll settle it there GO GREEN

by MSUMC25 on Oct 20, 2011 5:20 PM CDT reply actions

B10 title game? Isn't that a bit presumptuous at this point in time?

by vikeguy on Oct 20, 2011 8:23 PM CDT up reply actions

Methinks this will mean

More Taiwan Jones on Sat, esp bc looks like we aren’t getting Hoover back this season.

I also think the likelihood of LT’s rs being burned is minimal to zero.

by MSUDersh on Oct 20, 2011 5:21 PM CDT via mobile reply actions

This is good omen...

Each time we had a debate about whether a player should play and that player did play, there were epic disasters: Winston @ PSU ’08; Rucker @ Iowa ’10.

Hopefully Gholston feels the pain of not being able to contribute and learns from this. The kid turned 20 three months ago, and never had any issues on or off field before. There is still plenty of opportunity for a 6’7" 280lb behemoth to learn you can’t deal with everything through force.

by DP99 on Oct 20, 2011 6:26 PM CDT reply actions

A Question

What is the actual protocol for suspension here? Dantonio/Hollis are getting stick from some circles that they should have been proactive with a suspension. Are they allowed to be, or do on-field transgressions have to be handled by the conference?

http://pittsfieldindex.blogspot.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pittsfield-Ratings-Index/142673082487903

by PittsfieldIndex on Oct 20, 2011 7:56 PM CDT reply actions

Protocol

The school gets three days to do a review and submit a report to the conference. Then the conference decides whether or not to accept the school’s decision.

by Seth9 on Oct 20, 2011 8:05 PM CDT up reply actions

So what you're saying

When the conference tells a school it is looking into a matter, the school may already decide on (or maybe recommend) a suspension, but now discipline is in the conference’s hands?

by MSUDersh on Oct 20, 2011 9:11 PM CDT via mobile up reply actions

Or is it once a school knows the conference is considering discipline, it holds off, in order not to penalize the player twice?

by MSUDersh on Oct 20, 2011 9:13 PM CDT via mobile up reply actions

I was raised to believe that punching a wolverine was a public service.

Jim Delany and my dad would NOT get along.

"Everyone who drinks is not a poet. Maybe some of us drink because we're not poets." - Arthur Bach

by Spartan D on Oct 20, 2011 9:14 PM CDT reply actions 2 recs

Look...

Gholston seems to have a great reputation before these incidences, which really is unfortunate because of how this has played out. However, I’m not sure what the apology on his part mattered. First of all, it was a half hearted apology. “Although provoked…”, is a part of the apology. He was explaining the Lewan incident. And it’s understandable, because, anyone with a brain realizes he was provoked. Now, anyone that watched this game, knows the other incident was the late “pile on” of Denard Robinson and the twist of his helmet while on the bottom of the pile. If Gholston, MSU, or the Big Ten thinks that this was part of the problem, then they’re going to need 3x the amount of ref’s for next years game.

by TitaniumTim on Oct 21, 2011 7:14 AM CDT reply actions