The Truth about Ray Ray

Ray Ray and his Brother

You won’t hear it many places, however the whining and complaining are mostly from the ignorant. Like this article from Sports Illustrated, about how heartless Clemson. Or from some truly clueless people at Sports By Brooks.

UPDATE: Ray Ray’s Mom gets it

No Tears For Ray Ray. Ray Ray McElrathbey took on his brother as a charge last year while playing football at Clemson on a scholarship. Playing may be a stretch. You see Ray Ray was hampered by injury for his 3 seasons he was on the team.

Clemson has told Ray Ray that he won’t be on the team come fall, however they offered him financial help and a job as a Graduate Assistant. Now you may ask how can he be a graduate assistant? He is due to graduat at the end of the Summer, thanks to a very large trust fund and the scholarship.

The trust fund was put together by Clemson’s Athletic department who went to the mat for him with the NCAA. After obtaining a waiver they raised well over $200,000. The amount is not know because they stopped telling people the amount in it after it went over $150,000. People are still donating to the fun. They also received permission for boosters and coaches to give rides to Ray Ray’s brother to and from school.

Several people are upset that they are not continuing his scholarship. My response is: get over it. He had a free ride, and a lot of support from the Clemson community. He will graduate, and be able to get a good job this fall. What’s the problem here? Perception, and people wanting to make waves for their own selfish reasons.

Bowden has been portrayed as this cold, unfeeling person who is cutting Ray Ray loose simply because Clemson needed the scholarship. It’s an entertaining narrative that pushes all the emotional hot buttons. But it just isn’t that simple.

The fact is that McElrathbey has been known to have issues with the coaching staff and was less than consistent when it came to attending team functions. The time had come for a change in the relationship for the good of the entire team. Bowden is not going to say anything publicly because he doesn’t want to embarrass the kid. So he’ll take the heat.

Bobby Bowden just moved up in my book. Good job coach. I hope the rest of the sports clueless world can see this for what it is. Coach Bowden is not a social worker, he is a coach. Ray Ray was a every now and then player, and not a very good one at that. You have to make the team.