Hopefully Our Final Post Re Selwyn Lymon

You may recall an unfortunate incident where then-Purdue football players Selwyn Lymon, Jonte Lindsey, Stanford Keglar and Dustin Keller got into a bar brawl with a couple of civilians in 2007. We really weren't sad to see Lymon go.

To close the loop on that story from more than five years ago, while Keglar and Keller settled out of court with the plaintiffs, Lymon and Lindsey did not and found liable for $100,000 and $50,000, respectively, pursuant to default judgements.

The moral of the story, of course, is don't push women while tying to enter a ladies restroom or beat up a guy in a parking lot while you're drunk and parked in a handicapped spot. You know, the basics. 

We're all entitled to our day(s) in court, but neither Lymon nor Lindsey showed up for theirs.

Which makes this story just like their on-field days at Purdue.

But wait, there's more!

The details of Lymon's arrest were made public this morning...While it is embarrassing for Purdue to have a starter arrested for a OWI, it's more embarrassing for this to happen:

-Domestic disturbance between TWO men and one woman get the police's attention.
-Police arrive, Lymon gets in his car to run from an arrest.
-Can't start the car...so the car stays in handicap spot (which he had placed it in earlier).
-After the no-speed pursuit, Lymon is caught and urinates on himself while the police question him.

Good stuff. Another story not being reported is that Lymon had charges filed against him after he was evicted by an apartment...not sure if they're seeking damages for destruction of property or want money, but it's another example of how Lymon has been simply pissing away opportunity (sorry about the pun).

I think it's all but criminal that Lymon stole Standeford's starting job this year as he should have never been on the team. You honestly can't tell me that Lymon was a better receiver than Standeford this past season despite the athleticism discrepancy. Honestly, Painter should be as relieved as anybody if Lymon is kicked off of the team...Selwyn gave up on more routes than any receiver that I can remember during Tiller's regime.

The Tiller situation...further analysis

I've heard some grandiose theories about the decline of Tiller...one account says he had a heart attack and as a result, his doctors told him to take it easy. Thus, he laid off of recruiting a bit and has tried to avoid stressful situations (such as close games). Another says he's a changed person in that he no longer interacts with players and has put coaching on "auto pilot" allowing the coordinators to run the practices and in turn the program and hardly every even talks to players anymore.

Regardless of what you hear or believe, I think it's quite simple what's going on. Joe Tiller has gotten comfortable. His occupation pays well, he's doing an OK job and he knows his boss will not fire him nor does he want to. Plus, in his defense, it's tough to continue to do things at a high intensity level as you get older. He turns 65 on December 7...on one hand, he probably would like to retire to Wyoming and fish...on another, he probably feels like he's still capable of coaching. The problem is, he's not capable of doing it the way it needs to be done any longer.

I'll quote Lloyd Carr's presser to illustrate...I think this fits perfectly. "I may look tired but I still have a great passion for the game, the players and competition. But there are some things I don't have anymore. And I know that. It's simply time." Perfectly put Lloyd. While Lloyd wasn't wise enough to beat tOSU any longer, he was wise enough to look at the situation objectively, something Tiller refuses to do.

While I think Tiller seems like a pretty good, genuine guy, like all of us, he has his flaws. I think his biggest flaw is that he seems more worried about his legacy and how history will judge him than by how he's being viewed in the present. Two cases support this idea. First- consistency. Tiller has made it a point to strive for a bowl, any bowl, each and every season. Instead of biting the bullet every few years to build toward a championship, he makes sure his teams are at least .500 every season (Please reference recent quarterback problems as further proof of this theory). Granted, this feat is not easy, but I believe it's short-sighted. Second, he wants to be the winningest Purdue coach. Mollenkopf was 84-39-9 (with 57 Big Ten wins), Tiller is currently 82-54-0 (with 50 Big Ten wins). I'm pretty sure Tiller will never reach Mollenkopf's Big Ten mark, but he should easily get the three wins needed to surpass Jack next season.

I do understand some of the sentiment that the "Fire Tiller" crowd is giving, but, it simply is not going to happen. Joe Tiller, for better or for worse, will be coaching our Boilermakers next season and will probably grab his rod and reel following the '08 campaign- not because he was forced to, but because he wanted to. Let's hope he doesn't do further damage to the program he built in an ironic effort to cement his legacy in the Purdue record books.

Adios, Numero Uno!

Many asked a few years ago- "What would a Joe Tiller offense be like with a real blue-chip wideout in the stable?" With Lymon's Purdue career now over, we can answer the question- It was awesome! Here are some "highlights" from Lymon's illustrious Purdue career:

-Lymon raised expectations high from the get-go by accepting the number 1 from Coach Tiller. And man-o-man did Sel live up to it! He got off on the right foot by becoming academically ineligible his Freshman year.

-Then, he showed us all of what he was physically capable by torching Notre Dame for 238 "garbage yards" receiving. That is the most yards receiving ever allowed in a game by Notre Dame. We knew great things were just around the corner.

-He followed that big performance with a big bag of nothing special during the rest of the '06 campaign.

-He set the tone for the coming season in the spring of '07 by getting hammered, beating the snot out of a guy, leaving the scene and lying to the police about the incident (allegedly).

-After recovering from a stab wound that he received during the parking lot beating, Lymon scored a whopping two touchdowns in '07 and averaged an eye-popping 51 yds. receiving/game.

-Lymon has decided he no longer wishes to play football...and his press conference came in the form of an early-morning arrest for operating a vehicle while intoxicated.

Alright, alright, I'm probably being presumptive in thinking Tiller will take any action to discipline the best receiver Purdue has ever had*. He'll probably just go ahead and let the legal process run its course...Can't wait to see Sel representing my alma mater in Houston for the Texas Bowl!

*Best receiver is defined by the fact that Tiller and the coaching staff offered him a special number to honor him before he had played a down in black and gold.