Athlete (2001-2003) Michael Southall

[NCAA or BUST]

The situation is expected to be further clarified by the end of this week.

Today or Friday we find out.

[NCAA or BUST]

It's crazy to me reading all that is writen about Mike on this page and realizing how little people really know about him. He is one of the more easy going, laid back people around. He is a lighthearted individual and comes off as always in a good mood. Don't take that the wrong way; he is still full of fire. He is fiercly loyal and treats friends and teamates as family. Let's not berate Mike for his misteps in the past. Instead let's show support. We need to reward his current good behavior with positive reinforcement and an optimistic outlook. Both Mike and the entire UL athletic program stand to gain so much from his contributions, why not help him, help us.

[NCAA or BUST]

Can we please stop talking about what this will do to the program? I am more worried about the press the university will receive.

I haven't seen any what if bad press.

[DestinCajun]

What, two threads on this topic now??? :confused:

[lcitsh]

It wasn't much of a human interest story when Jessie recruited after all the other schools passed on him after his first drug arrest back at the start of his college career. It wasn't a human interest story after he was academically ineligible after he failed a couple of classes for the 2003-2004 season. So why is it one now when HE SPENT A FRICKING YEAR IN JAIL! He's a felon. He's a druggy.

Our basketball team gets a good amount of national exposure and to have a guy who hasn't played in a collegiate basketball game since when, the 2003 NIT game where we got beat by UAB or was he ineligible for that game too? This is not about human interest stories. It's about representing our university on a national level and I don't want to see him represent this university.

Finally someone gets its......

None of you get it.

[lcitsh]

I know we won't agree on everything. But I do recall you and me agreeing on Luke Aubrey. I only bring that up to point out that I am not attacking you, I agree with you on a lot of other issues. But on this one you are being harsh.

You supported UL basketball before during and after Southall's first stint. Thus, you and I have no right to bring up his prior UL stigma. You might have a point on the human interest angle, and since it wasn't much of a human interest story before, the rest of the world probably won't bat an eye now, I mean it's not like he is coming here from Kentucky anymore. If they didn't care then they won't care now.

At least not till he makes a good name for himself. If he can pull off the amazing comeback from nowhere, I still think this has all the makings of an incredible human interest success story. If he comes up short, then you are right, no one will care.

MS committed a felonious action before he came to UL; he did drugs before he came to UL. His actions at UL are not what robbed him of a year of his life, his actions at UL were the heavier than a feather trigger that revoked his free status. His year in jail was because of the seriousness of his actions before his time at UL. His relapse at UL did not send him to jail of its own accord, those actions simply revoked his passport.

When he paid his debt and was allowed to reenrolled in school that passport was renewed.

The only thing that MS should be judged on is the "right now” his current life style is the pivot point on which judgment should hinge. Currently he passes as a drug free, straight "A" student.

jmo

Finally, someone gets it...

You don't get it either.

[skankinCajun]

hes a good player, and i hope everything goes the best for him in whatever he chooses to do. if hes in a cajun uniform or not, good luck to him.

[Zeebart21]

You don't get it either.

OK, fill us in...

Help us to "get it"...

Z.

[Zeebart21]

i had just seen you looking into your review mirror.. you got home, logged on and posted all within 30 minutes? (grins)

ps. my southall thinking is.. i never was impressed with his effort on the court.. maybe kinda like the aaron brooks smiling type thing.. in that he may really may have been trying.. although to me he just seemed to give about 70% at best, in my eyes

pss. i must confess i have not read but maybe 2 or 3 posts in this thread..

psss. he doesn't play football.. so why all the emotion about something that may or may not happen in the future.. today has enough troubles for itself.. SLUh

I didnt see the S'note ride??? Was I not paying attn??? Where was I? Where am I?..

who am I.



Z.

[NewsCopy]

LOUISIANA La. - Coach Robert Lee had a tough decision to make. He had just completed an impressive first season as head basketball coach at the University of Louisiana. He had guided the Ragin' Cajuns to NCAA Division 1 postseason play and was enjoying an abundance of fan support. Then Lee got a phone call from Mrs. Lorna Southall of West Salem, Wis. She asked him to allow her son, Michael, to rejoin the Ragin' Cajuns for his final year of eligibility. On the surface, that might seem like an easy question for Lee to answer. But it wasn't. Lee was an assistant coach when former Ragin' Cajun head coach Jessie Evans recruited the high school All-State player from Wisconsin. The 6-foot-10-inch center had one of the best freshman seasons in recent UL history. He was named the 2001-02 Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year and helped his team reach the NIT tournament twice, as a freshman and as a sophomore. Southall left the Ragin' Cajuns court in 2003, when he became academically ineligible to play basketball in his junior year. Lee describes Southall as a "difference maker." But a decision to let him compete at UL again would be controversial. In 2004, Southall was sentenced to serve a year in a Wisconsin county jail for violating probation on a previous drug charge. In March, he was arrested in Lafayette for possession of marijuana. Lee said Southall is taking responsibility for that mistake. "His parents told me that everyone else has given up on Michael, and that he has a great deal of respect for me. They said that, as parents, they just had to ask me to take him back and give him one final chance," Lee said. "Michael loves basketball and they want to see him succeed both on the court and in life." The coach knew that Southall grew up in a family that values higher education. The talented center has three siblings; all have earned college degrees. Lee chose to test Southall before allowing him to rejoin the Ragin' Cajuns. He set the bar high, with the understanding that Southall would be under a "no strike policy." Failure to comply with Lee's conditions would automatic remove him from consideration. For starters, the coach demanded that Southall attend summer school and earn good grades. So the star post player took three courses - English, sociology and psychology - and made As in all of them. "I really didn't expect Michael to follow through with my academic demands, but he did," Lee said. "I contacted his professors after I saw his grades and they told me that he worked very hard, participated in class discussions and activities, and earned those top grades. At that point, I saw hope and felt that giving Michael a chance to play Ragin' Cajun basketball again was the right thing to do." The coach is confident that Southall is determined to succeed on and off the court. "Hopefully, he will make his family, his team and his university very proud. Then, he can be proud of himself. Michael knows that if, at any point, he does not perform well in class - or in the community - he will be off the team for good." Although Lee doesn't doubt that he made the right decision, he was curious. What would other coaches have done in the same situation? So he asked about a dozen of his peers. All told him they would have given Southall one final chance. Lee has gotten mixed reactions from fans who have heard about Southall's return to the team. "It was a tough decision and I have to live with it. It's very easy to strictly judge a situation like this one when it's not your kid. But I considered what I would want if Michael were my child. I think that if people asked themselves that same question, and answered it honestly, most would support giving Michael a final chance. "Helping Michael reminds me of one of my greatest accomplishments as a high school coach. I was coaching a kid who was in a difficult family situation and I was the last chance he had to succeed. He needed basketball at the time to have some order in his life. Basketball helped keep him motivated to do good things, gave him a sense of belonging, and gave this young man hope. Today, he's is a well respected physical therapist who is working in central Louisiana." Lee noted that Southall was never arrested while playing basketball for UL, adding that athletics can give students the discipline and structure that they need to succeed in life. "Basketball is a sport of forgiveness. You miss some shots, but you continue to shoot. And success isn't completely defined by what happens on the court." LOUISIANA SI