Given the opportunity cost of not getting MILLIONS right away, it’s unreasonable to suggest that anyone (like Oliver) give up that opportunity when it is presented to him.
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Oliver may not be an all-star yet, but it seems that he has too much talent not to be successful. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
In any event, I wouldn’t be going after a player that has already gotten us lots of good press, helped us to three winning seasons, and was both a Consensus All-American and Outland Trophy winner while he was here. I would certainly not be wishing for such a UH all-star NOT to be successful at a higher level. I’d hope he’d be a GREAT success, and bring greater fame and credit to our program/school in the process.
That’s NOT the kind of guy that you go after by saying that he hasn’t done enough or otherwise lived up his obligation to UH.
He’s definitely done MORE than enough, and helped us MORE than enough. More than most players, actually.
He’s entitled to reap the rewards of his great contributions here by going pro. Well-deserved, in my view.
It’d be great to have him here for another year, but I can’t begrudge his decision. I’d have probably made a similar one if I were in his shoes.
Given that, going after him is a bit over the top.
It’s amazing. Theres a thread about a basketball guy who didnt play at all calling him a legend after being here 1 year.
Ed, Kyle and others who played here multiple years and stuck it out trough a garbage coaching group get crapped on for leaving early for their pro career or coming from another school. I’m baffled.
You do realize that the amount of money they make just for signing with a pro team more than covers the cost to get a degree should athletics not pan out, right?
No doubt. But sometimes those NFL contracts don’t pan out either. Not everyone has a UT sugar daddy to provide you with a lifetime income after you’ve spent all your NFL money - cough - Vince Young - cough.
Some people just don’t get it. He has millions now and has the freedom to go back to finish his degree whenever he wants. Pretty sure the $19.5 million guaranteed he has can take care of some of that tuition cost.
I’m not getting into an argument about whether or not college players deserve pay, but UH definitely made a return on the investment they put into his scholarship.
The “get your degree” stuff is garbage. He got $20 million guaranteed. Sticking around solely to finish up a degree would be ludicrously stupid. Over half of new college grads are underemployed in jobs that don’t require a college degree anyways.
Expecting UH players to forego that kind of money to stick around for a year for ~$40k in education and room/board is ridiculously one sided.
Exactly. $20 million guaranteed, or play another year and risk injury for nothing.Sure, as a fan you hate it (I happen to be a Bills fan so I didn’t hate it as much), and certainly miss what he brought to the team, but you can’t blame him for leaving. Just gotta wish him the best and thank him for the memories.
It’s not so much the “get your degree stuff” that hacked a lot of people, or at least me. It was that he quit on the team in mid-season saying he was hurt while doing flips on the sideline. What kind of message did that send to the rest of the team? To me it said, “I’m bigger than the team, and I can do what I want.”
No, he is not one of my favorite Coog players; regardless, I wish him well in the pros because it will reflect well on UH.
That’s fine. Reasonable minds can disagree as to how he handled his injury, etc. and I’m not particularly interested in debating that. I was only specifically responding to the take that by not sticking around to finish his degree it is indicative of character flaws with Ed, which I find to be a very bad and unfair take.