Large organizations with supposedly more mature, responsible adults have problems with drunk driving--the military, police departments, hospitals. If hospitals cannot stop 30-year olds with PhDs from DUIs, what makes you think a football coach can? I'm not saying 21-year old football players should have a get-out-of-jail-free card on DUIs, but I am saying that we should not do the "one DUI and let's kick the guy off the team forever" route. Universities do not have the answer to DUIs any more than the military, the police, and our hospitals--this is a cultural problem with no solution at this time.
Good points, especially about alcohol use being a cultural problem - since alcohol is legal, we tolerate its use in the home, in public establishments and at social functions. We often use the term "adult beverages", and those who are of legal age, no matter what they do, should know enough to consume them in moderation and with common sense. DUI is a crime, but the root of it stems from stupidity on the part of the transgressor for having made the irrational decision to get behind the wheel in that condition.
On Leakfan's post mentioning "Fratgate", Zook was out of bounds in what he did at the Pi Kapp house that night; a college coach doesn't stoop to the level of the students and egg them on to start a fight, especially where they had been drinking. That could have turned out to be dangerous, in part because of Zook's loose trap.
As far as the recent incident involving our own Frankie Hammond, Urban Meyer's back was against the wall in dealing with the number of disciplinary problems over his five-year tenure and he had no other choice to implement "if one falls, they all fall" as punishment. As much as the concept of the innocent suffering on account of the guilty sucks, Urban's hands were tied at this juncture.
