As the entirely avoidable death of Declan Sullivan continues to gnaw at me like that feeling of something I’ve forgotten to do or the sense that there’s something I need to remember to do but can’t quite remember what it is, the only way to make the discomfort subside for the next 10 hours or so is to write about the situation.
I’ve spent a lot of time over the past few days wondering what Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly is thinking right now. As the man ultimately responsible for everything that happens in the Fighting Irish football program, and as the man who apparently decided to practice outside, not inside, on Declan’s last day, Kelly likely is feeling responsible for the accident.
There’s that word again. “Accident.” As I’ve told my son more times than he cares to remember when he’s doing something that he shouldn’t be doing, a potential bad outcome can’t be brushed off as an “accident” when common sense should have indicated the connection between the behavior and the eventual “accident.”
And when an “accident” happens under those circumstances, people are held accountable.
For Notre Dame, which undoubtedly has liability limits and umbrella policies that will allow $10 million or more to be paid by an insurance carrier to Sullivan’s family (as if that will even begin to comfort them), the question of accountability runs far deeper than whether the death falls within the terms of the available coverage. For Notre Dame, the question of accountability entails doing the right thing in the wake of a preventable tragedy — and, ideally, those accountable shouldn’t have to be told by anything but their own consciences what the right outcome should be.
Jason Whitlock of FOXSports.com has made a passionate, persuasive argument that Kelly should immediately be fired. We agree with a lot of what Whitlock has said. For now, however, we’re not sure we agree with the suggested outcome.
It’s still too early in the process for Notre Dame to determine whether Kelly has responsibility for Sullivan’s death. But Kelly likely knows right now, in his heart, whether he bears all or part of the blame for Sullvan’s death.
The algorithm is simple. Can Kelly look the mother of Declan Sullivan in the eyes and truthfully say, “There was nothing I could have done to save your son”? If Kelly can’t do that, then he should resign. Apart from being the right thing to do, it will set a clear precedent and send a loud message to every head coach at every level of every sport.
Every day, people entrust the safety of their sons and daughters to these men and women. Certain risks aren’t avoidable. Plenty of risks — especially weather-related hazards like wind and lightning — are. Coaches need at all times to be willing to take all reasonable precautions to protect the sons and daughters under their care from these dangers.
And when they fail to take reasonable precautions, they never should seek refuge in the notion that it was all an “accident.”
blah blah blah
Benito, grow a heart.
Great article.
I agree with this article entirely!
Just who COULDN’T see this coming? Even the kid tweeted about the danger so he felt uncomfortable about doing it. I said for years that Texas A&M was playing with fire as their stack kept getting higher and higher and then it finally happened. It’s time to use common sense and they spend the money to build a sturdier platform then let’s do it the right way or they don’t put people in harms way. Tell you what, if the coach wants to have someone go up into something like that then he should be forced into accompanying them and he can’t leave until they leave AND if he does leave then the others have to leave as well and he can’t force them to stay. Let’s see how willing they are to send people into those death traps if they had to share the same risks (Forward he cried from the rear And the front rank died. And the general sat and the lines on the map Moved from side to side)
Right, because Brian Kelly is responsible for the kid’s death. He made the explicit decision for Sullivan to go up in the lift that day. I’m sure he even operated the controls. It’s absolutely certain that he was micromanaging the A/V personnel rather than managing his staff and running the practice.
You wouldn’t even be talking about firing him if Kelly were winning games, Florio.
Hey, remember when Texas A&M fired R.C. Slocum for the bonfire collapse?
I feel sorry for both. Kelly has to live with this forever. Like someone who gets in a car accident with another but he only survives. Is it ultimately Kelly’s fault? I don’t know that answer but I do know this: he was on the same field during the same time and is being paid millions of dollars to keep the whole team safe. At the same time, if I were the kid, I would have said “are you frekin’ kidding me!?” But then I don’t like heights and the wind would have heightened that fear.
Common sense should have been played by ALL staff involved and the victim. Err on the side of caution.
Not sure that logic works Florio. That means every other video guy should resign, both at ND and other schools…cause they’ve all been where Declan was. And all the other coaches. and administration. and ex-video guys who are now doing other things. it’s just not the correct way to hold someone accountable. Let the investigation play out and comment on it when its complete.
well yes burntorangehorn kelly is responsible for the kid’s death. he is the one that chose to practice under those conditions and the kid’s job was to video practices. what do you think the chances are of him having that job the next day if he tells him he does not think it is safe to go up and do his job? despite what he and the a.d. claim it was no sudden burst of wind, that weather had been that way for 2 days and all the weather channels warned of it. jim tressell used commeon sense and practiced indoors even though they have towers at ohi state built to withstand winds of up to 100mph. Kelly could have done the same thing and chose not to and now has to live with that decison. they can try and spin it anyway they want but he is the boss and the one responsible.
The coach should not bear the responsibility for this incident.
1) Declan was an adult, and it was ultimately HIS decision to go up there that day.
2) HC’s have a lot to deal with, making sure the guy taping practice was safe is not something that’ll be in the front of his mind.
3) Who was operating the lift? That man is required to be aware of the risks, and should not have allowed this to happen.
4) The school itself deserves blame for failing to ensure that this sort of thing didn’t happen. The operator obviously didn’t have the appropriate training, and Declan, who should also have been aware of the dangers, had probably never had a safety meeting regarding the lift.
It’s really easy to blame a HC who already has a lot on his plate…but the truth of the matter is that there are far more people who hold far greater responsibility for this incident.
One final word. I knew a family very well, and was very sad when they moved away. A couple of years after they left, they decided to go on a family vacation. On their trip, they were struck by a drunk driver(no insurance) who killed the mother and youngest child instantly. The driver himself was unharmed. Preventable deaths are tragic…and while money cannot fix death, Declan’s family is going to have a much easier time dealing with their loss considering their circumstances don’t require them to work two jobs as a single father who has to keep his now only son motivated to continue living. There is such a thing as a blessing within a tragedy.
First of all, peace and strength to the Sullivan family…
It is hard to argue with Florio’s logic. Everything he says does make snese, yet I still find myself with that nagging feeling. “Common sense,” oh if we all just had that, but we don’t. Whether it is the fifth kid drowining off of Picnic Rocks (because the first four should have been a clue it is not safe to swim there), to bonfires out of control to letting a kid up on a tower in a dangerous situation…common sense always seems to be lacking in critical situations. We’ll never know what Brian Kelly was thinking but I’m going to assume he didn’t send him up there with malicious intent…maybe (maybe) he didn’t realize how serious the wind conditions were. Maybe he thought he was gawd and sent the kid up there anyway. But I agree, you have to think Kelly bears some sort of responsibility.
This has to be one of the most ridiculous posts that I have ever seen from Florio and gawd knows he has a lot of them. This is such twisted sensationalism on Florio’s part.
I’m just at a loss. This is just so over the top Florio. So unnecessary. So cold. And of course you had to throw the legal / lawyer BS in there as well.
Florio isn’t saying he should be fired. Nor is Florio saying that Kelly is responsible. What he IS saying is that until an investigation finishes, the only person who does know if Kelly had anything to do with this kid’s death is Kelly. And whether or not Kelly should be the Notre Dame head coach is simply asking himself (and by himself I mean Kelly) the question, “Can I look into this dead boy’s mother’s eyes and tell her I had nothing to do with his death?”. If he can, then he should not step down. If he can’t? Then he needs to resign. Its a tad Polly Anna to think he would step down, college coaches aren’t exactly known for their consciouses. But the sentiment that Florio is expressing is dead on right.
“Can Kelly look the mother of Declan Sullivan in the eyes and truthfully say, “There was nothing I could have done to save your son”?
—————————————————-
How about the Athletic Director? Does he have any responsibility here? How long has a scissor lift been used to shoot practices? When was it rented / purchased? Who authorized it? How were the operators of it trained. What was ND SOP for use of the left? etc.
There are many many questions that need to be answered before we start assigning guilt and then “sentencing”.
If this was 2008 or 2009 Charlie Weiss, he would have been fired by now.
Cygnus–practicing in gusty wind is no big deal, and I’ll bet you dimes to donuts that Kelly’s not the guy in charge of the video recording. In fact, I’ll bet he and Sullivan have never even met in person. That’s the type of thing a graduate assistant on the team or even just someone in the athletics department oversees.
Some of you need to take THIS from the article:
The head football coach has final say over everything that transpires on the practice field. Everything. That’s why Ohio State’s Jim Tressel moved the Buckeyes’ practice inside on Tuesday when wind gusts made conditions unsafe.
“I don’t know if we’ll be inside or out,” Tressel told Ohio reporters 24 hours before the Notre Dame tragedy. “It looks a little nasty. I worry about our cameramen, their well-being up there 50 feet in the air. ”
Tressel saw the problems coming and had the foresight not to put his people in harm’s way but Kelly didn’t. Make excuses all you want but it was Kelly’s call to make that the kid stay safe.
FYI, this is NOT the same as A&M, which did not take place on the practice field and since that time, the bonfire is held off campus without the support of the university so are you going to blame A&M or their coaches for something that they have no control over?
Given Kelly’s and ND’s wacko religion, all they have to do is confess in private and all will be forgiven.
What a religion!
As a Notre Dame graduate, I am saddened and upset with Declan’s death. At Notre Dame, football is important, but not so important that students’ safety should be compromised. IMO, no one should have allowed Declan to go up on that tower, despite his dedication to his filming work. Other than a couple of masses, I’m not sure what the team is doing to remember Declan. Perhaps at the very least, the team should sport his initials on the helmets. May Declan rest in peace.
Florio’s post is not surprising given that his son is a teenager who likes football. It’s natural that he empathize with Declan Sullivan’s family. What was he–a sophomore, a junior? Not quite an adult yet, but quite obviously still an undergrad and subject to influence by the coaching staff.
Sullivan was following instructions. Despite some rhetoric, football is a game, not a war. It is understandable when an athlete suffers an injury, even one that knocks him out of competitive athletics for good, but the possibility that filming practice would cause injury, let alone a horrific death, is nearly unimaginable.
Was there a prior incident that should have sent up alarm bells? Was this platform a jerry rigged situation born of necessity but not vetted for safety? Is there some kind of industry standard for an undertaking like this?
Long story short, probably nobody feels worse than Kelly. Perhaps the best approach would be for him to offer his resignation and let the Sullivan family make a decision.
I’m not seeing the correlation between this young man’s death and having the coach fired. Kelly will have to live with the knowledge that this young man’s death was preventable, which is far more punishment than getting fired.
What is this need to point blame and find a villain in every tragic situation? Let the family and friends grieve in peace, without politicizing, legalizing and, shall I say, exploiting this tragedy.
Completely agree with your post, Florio. As someone pointed out with Tressel’s comments, the head coach is well aware of where the videographers are during practice, and they sent that kid up there knowing how dangerous it was.
Shame, shame on Notre Dame, this was an absolutely senseless and avoidable tragedy. What galls me is Mike Golic’s son tweeting at the memorial service they had for Declan how “proud” he was of Notre Dame at that moment. He should be more ashamed of the negligence on the part of the football staff that led to having to have a memorial service for a college junior who will never get to graduate, get married, have kids, anything. Sad beyond words.
edgy–how do you know that he has direct management of the A/V people? Is that just an assumption on your part?
# burntorangehorn says: October 30, 2010 5:31 PM ET
edgy–how do you know that he has direct management of the A/V people? Is that just an assumption on your part?
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I didn’t make ANY assumption. Kelly, like ANY coach, has full control of what goes on with his field (This isn’t Dallas where the coach just genuflects to Jerry Jones. In college, the coach IS king). Tressel had already made the decision that no one would be put in harms way and that’s why no one from Ohio State was hurt on the same day. Are you saying that if YOU were the head coach that you’d allow some kid to get on an unsteady platform and risk his life under those conditions? At BEST, you’re being disingenuous and at WORST, you’re criminally negligent.
Notre Dame just lost to Tulsa. Coach Brian Kelly needs to be fired right now. This minute. Unbelievable incompetence in play calling.
some PERSON needs to be held accountable for getting this kid killed. when the lift has a 25 mph rating, whether the wind was sustained at 50 or gusty to 50, either way it was unsafe for him to be up there.
“As the man ultimately responsible for everything that happens in the Fighting Irish football program…”
“It’s still too early in the process for Notre Dame to determine whether Kelly has responsibility for Sullivan’s death.”
Too early for them, but not for you and nbc sports. Like that hush money Favre supposedly paid.
Here’s the thing. Even indoor practice in a semi-permanent facility isn’t perfectly safe. Ask Rich Behm.
But yes, if Jim Tressel can see this coming, then so can Brian Kelly. Should he resign? Good question, but he certainly bears a degree of liability.
I don’t think Brian Kelly should be fired as a result of this tragedy. Incidents like this happen all the time, he might not have been thinking. It’s not like he tried to kill him. I’m sure his heart is filled with much sadness but he should not lose his job over something that he did not intentionally do. He has been doing a good job as a coach and people just want to take that away.
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