Roger Goodell Wants To Meet With Charlie Strong To Discuss Discipline and Values, Per Report

Discipline of football players can be a difficult matter, since they play football. Texas coach Charlie Strong has eschewed convention being less troubled than most by that fact. This has attracted the attention of the National Football League. Chip Brown is reporting that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and NFLPA head DeMaurice Smith have sought an audience to discuss his “commitment to five core values.”

Strong brought his “core values” concept with him from Louisville to Texas, resulting in nine player dismissals and three suspensions since January. The values are (1) Honesty (2) Treat Women with Respect (3) No Drugs (4) No Stealing (5) No Guns.

Some may quibble with No. 3. No. 5 could be controversial in certain parts of the country. But, in essence, Strong’s innovation has been to set a reasonable baseline for behavior and (audible gasp) to hold players accountable to it, for the most part. He was not above giving Michael Dyer a ~~second~~ third chance at Louisville after failure to uphold multiple values.

Strong’s system appears to be nothing more than deploying common sense. Had the NFL done that initially with Ray Rice, the league would have saved itself a lot of grief.