TCU coach Gary Patterson is not about to let his players vote on a teammate’s discipline.
Patterson, whose Horned Frogs open the season against LSU on Aug. 31, criticized Tigers coach Les Miles for reinstating running back Jeremy Hill after his teammates voted to allow him to return to the team.
“I’m sure if it was some opponent they’d beat by 100 points, [the players] wouldn’t have a vote,” Patterson said, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “It’s not my worry. I’ve got to play whoever they put on the field.”
Hill had been suspended from all team activities since his April 29 arrest for punching a man outside of a Baton Rouge, La., bar. He was already on probation for pleading guilty to a 2012 misdemeanor stemming from his sexual relationship with a then-14-year-old girl while he was in high school.
Hill pleaded guilty to misdemeanor simple battery for the bar fight charge in July and practiced for the first time Monday.
Miles wouldn’t rule out Hill missing games, saying he wanted to keep his punishment internal.
TCU has its own key player facing a suspension for the LSU game, with defensive endDevonte Fields banned for the first two games of the season for violating team rules during the spring. But Patterson said a similar vote to the one LSU used with Hill is out of the question.
“My whole team would vote Devonte to be back on the team because they all want to win,” Patterson said. “That doesn’t teach life lessons.”
Story courtesy of ESPN.com