Syracuse football defensive tackle Steven Clark's career put in jeopardy by blood clots

[Bayside44]

There is a trail of kid's he's "dinged". Sounds like he was trying to do the same to the starting QB, as well. It is not a minor, or isolated case of questionable(at best) judgement. It's a pattern, and a method. That IS a big problem.

We have a choir of posters here that cannot believe Dungey got cleared, so...

 

[TexanMark]

Well, the athletic side of the house (coaching staff) has been very helpful. They deserve kudos for doing everything they could to help Steven. Administrative staff? Well...

I'll be bringing a tailgate group to WMU next year...hope you can make it. All of us are sick of how this transpired...best of luck to your son and family.

 

[TexanMark]

There is a trail of kid's he's "dinged". Sounds like he was trying to do the same to the starting QB, as well. It is not a minor, or isolated case of questionable(at best) judgement. It's a pattern, and a method. That IS a big problem.

Yup...it goes back almost a decade of DQs above the norm...

 

[sutomcat]

I'll be bringing a tailgate group to WMU next year...hope you can make it. All of us are sick of how this transpired...best of luck to your son and family.

Yes, best of luck to Steven at WMU. We haven't seen the best of him yet and I suspect he will do really well in the MAC. It is sad he has to leave his friends and the home he has found at SU at this point in his career. The coaches there will do right by him. No question about it.

The one good thing about this awful episode is that it will force Syracuse University to address the situation and find a better solution for dealing with these kinds of decisions.

No offense to Dr Tucker, I am sure he was trying to do the right thing. But when a call is being made that will possibly end an athletic career, it needs to be made by the most qualified people possible, preferably a group of experts in the field, and care must be taken to ensure the experts involved are truly impartial and unbiased.

That clearly has not happened. Again. The best interests of the students were not served. Again. I believe the university is trying to do the right thing but the right thing is to have the most knowledgeable people possible make these calls. Not doing that doesn't help anyone and in fact, might make it more likely SU gets sued and has to pay large settlements in the future.

It is time for change. It has been for a while now.

 

[TheCusian]

The fix is simple. You look at other universities and find a model that is fair to both student athlete and one that keeps the lawyers happy. If we are running the best system and we have an unusual amount of DQ's - you question the doctor.

My guess is that the system is bad AND there is too much input from lawyers on a doctor who is afraid of liabilities.

The needle can be threaded.

 

[HtownOrange]

Yes, best of luck to Steven at WMU. We haven't seen the best of him yet and I suspect he will do really well in the MAC. It is sad he has to leave his friends and the home he has found at SU at this point in his career. The coaches there will do right by him. No question about it.

The one good thing about this awful episode is that it will force Syracuse University to address the situation and find a better solution for dealing with these kinds of decisions.

No offense to Dr Tucker, I am sure he was trying to do the right thing. But when a call is being made that will possibly end an athletic career, it needs to be made by the most qualified people possible, preferably a group of experts in the field, and care must be taken to ensure the experts involved are truly impartial and unbiased.

That clearly has not happened. Again. The best interests of the students were not served. Again. I believe the university is trying to do the right thing but the right thing is to have the most knowledgeable people possible make these calls. Not doing that doesn't help anyone and in fact, might make it more likely SU gets sued and has to pay large settlements in the future.

It is time for change. It has been for a while now.

Well put. As unfortunate for Steven, his family, the football team and for us Orange fans as this situation is, the silver lining is that the school will have to address the matter.

Getting the policy right on DQ by requiring multiple opinions from specialists pertaining to the specific injury, including equal weight for the player's chosen specialist, is probably enough to fix the situation. There are variations and possibly other options, as well. Regardless, the process should not be reactionary as we may wish, rather, it should be deliberate and well reasoned.

 

[Newhouser]

Yes, best of luck to Steven at WMU. We haven't seen the best of him yet and I suspect he will do really well in the MAC. It is sad he has to leave his friends and the home he has found at SU at this point in his career. The coaches there will do right by him. No question about it.

The one good thing about this awful episode is that it will force Syracuse University to address the situation and find a better solution for dealing with these kinds of decisions.

No offense to Dr Tucker, I am sure he was trying to do the right thing. But when a call is being made that will possibly end an athletic career, it needs to be made by the most qualified people possible, preferably a group of experts in the field, and care must be taken to ensure the experts involved are truly impartial and unbiased.

That clearly has not happened. Again. The best interests of the students were not served. Again. I believe the university is trying to do the right thing but the right thing is to have the most knowledgeable people possible make these calls. Not doing that doesn't help anyone and in fact, might make it more likely SU gets sued and has to pay large settlements in the future.

It is time for change. It has been for a while now.

Just curious as to why we think this will force the school to address the situation?

 

[Shrmdougluvr]

Good luck to Steven and Cubs at WMU. Wish things could have worked out for you at SU.

 

[Killdozer]

Unfortunately I have lost all faith in the University to do what is right. So many things have seems to have hit a black hole. I get all pumped up for things to come and nothing transpires.

Best of luck to Steven and his family.

By the way, I have zero sympathy for "Dr" Tucker. He is a clown and hope he never practices medicine again for the sake of all patients. I hold him personally responsible for the entire brace issue.

 

[SUFan44]

Anyone remember Jermaine Pierce? Was supposed to be a stud LB out of PA. Career never began at SU due to blood clotting situation.

Wonder what the steps taken for that DQ were? Incidentally, it was Jim Tucker who made the call in that case, too.

Orange freshman phenom forced to give up football

 

[bcubs9497]

Anyone remember Jermaine Pierce? Was supposed to be a stud LB out of PA. Career never began at SU due to blood clotting situation.

Wonder what the steps taken for that DQ were? Incidentally, it was Jim Tucker who made the call in that case, too.

Orange freshman phenom forced to give up football

Sounds like, from what I read (and didn't read), that Pierce ended up with a PE precipitated by an UNPROVOKED blood clot. The huge difference between Pierce and Steven is Steven's clot was provoked (by his knee injury and, most importantly, that damned, tiny brace cinched too tightly around his tree-trunk leg).

 

[SUFan44]

Sounds like, from what I read (and didn't read), that Pierce ended up with a PE precipitated by an UNPROVOKED blood clot. The huge difference between Pierce and Steven is Steven's clot was provoked (by his knee injury and, most importantly, that damned, tiny brace cinched too tightly around his tree-trunk leg).

Yeah - not saying the cases were the same or if Tucker's findings in that case were right or wrong. Just bringing up another DQ involving an SU athlete that hasn't been mentioned before.

 

[Bayside44]

Yeah - not saying the cases were the same or if Tucker's findings in that case were right or wrong. Just bringing up another DQ involving an SU athlete that hasn't been mentioned before.

I don't think Pierce ever played again.

 

[bcubs9497]

I don't think Pierce ever played again.

Makes sense. People who develop an unprovoked clot are at much higher risk of another clot.

 

[bnoro]

I honestly don't know. I am of the opinion, though, that Tucker has, to some degree, their support.

Why would you feed into the hysteria by posting something that you don't actually know? I can understand you being upset at Tucker, but to unnecessarily place blame on the administration is a bit out of line, no?

 

[bcubs9497]

Why would you feed into the hysteria by posting something that you don't actually know? I can understand you being upset at Tucker, but to unnecessarily place blame on the administration is a bit out of line, no?

No.

 

[tep624]

Why would you feed into the hysteria by posting something that you don't actually know? I can understand you being upset at Tucker, but to unnecessarily place blame on the administration is a bit out of line, no?

Pure speculation on my part, but I tend to think that the administration would be driving this more than Tucker for a few reasons.

1) The clotting being brought on by the knee brace that was undersized - if a future event occurs while playing at SU, that's a liability issue without a doubt, and collegiate administrations are not fans of "unnecessary" liability

2) In order to mitigate #1, and depending on how risk-averse the administration and their legal counsel is, it's not beyond the realm of possibility that Tucker is being given a set of parameters in which to make his decision - i.e. if there isn't 100% chance of non-recurrence, don't clear him

3) Just doesn't make sense to me whatsoever that a university medical official can be the be all and end all on a topic like this. Is Tucker an expert in potential medical lawsuits as well? It's got to be a combination of him, legal, admin, etc

Ultimately, if he's being given a parameter of 0% chance of recurrence, that pretty much would explain the dismissal of the specialist opinions because I'm not aware of any of them saying there was a 0% chance of recurrence. (I could have missed that though)

 

[SUFan44]

Why would you feed into the hysteria by posting something that you don't actually know? I can understand you being upset at Tucker, but to unnecessarily place blame on the administration is a bit out of line, no?

You sure are hellbent on standing up for an administration that has knowingly allowed this type of shenanigans to go on for a long while. Why that is is beyond me. But have fun.

 

[Chris02M]

You sure are hellbent on standing up for an administration that has knowingly allowed this type of shenanigans to go on for a long while. Why that is is beyond me. But have fun.

innocent until proven guilty or some actual evidence of wrong doing? Look it sucks what happened to Steven and a review of our medical policy should be done asap to make sure we are on par with other ncaa teams and not going out on a limb with the dq policy. Dr tucker seems like he is under qualified to make a dq call in my opinion but to blame the Ad blindly with no evidence is just wrong to do. Part of me thinks a big reason no dq wasn't overturned with tucker is the fact that this private matter has gone through the media making Syracuse look incompetent at handling their business.

 

[bcubs9497]

innocent until proven guilty or some actual evidence of wrong doing? Look it sucks what happened to Steven and a review of our medical policy should be done asap to make sure we are on par with other ncaa teams and not going out on a limb with the dq policy. Dr tucker seems like he is under qualified to make a dq call in my opinion but to blame the Ad blindly with no evidence is just wrong to do. Part of me thinks a big reason no dq wasn't overturned with tucker is the fact that this private matter has gone through the media making Syracuse look incompetent at handling their business.

So, punishment, in other words...

Reject the findings of specialists in Alabama, New York, (not to mention Michigan) to send a message. Smart.

 

[Chris02M]

So, punishment, in other words...

Reject the findings of specialists in Alabama, New York, (not to mention Michigan) to send a message. Smart.

yes precisely

 

[Alsacs]

innocent until proven guilty or some actual evidence of wrong doing? Look it sucks what happened to Steven and a review of our medical policy should be done asap to make sure we are on par with other ncaa teams and not going out on a limb with the dq policy. Dr tucker seems like he is under qualified to make a dq call in my opinion but to blame the Ad blindly with no evidence is just wrong to do. Part of me thinks a big reason no dq wasn't overturned with tucker is the fact that this private matter has gone through the media making Syracuse look incompetent at handling their business.

So the one being transparent is trying to make Syracuse look incompetent?

 

[bcubs9497]

yes precisely

That's seemingly crappier than trying to avoid a lawsuit. Not yammering at you, FYI.

 

[retro44]

I don't think Pierce ever played again.

I believe he may be in Jail now after he left Syracuse for selling drugs again.

 

[Chris02M]

That's seemingly crappier than trying to avoid a lawsuit. Not yammering at you, FYI.

not worries..situation sucks.glad steven will get to continue to play football.