Chronic Issue

"Philly" was escorted by Campus Police into the Administration Building. I happened to be walking out of the building while he was being brought into it. Something serious was going on but I didn't care to ask about it at the moment. At that point in the school year, I didn't feel like dealing with nonsense. If anything, I knew that an officer or the Dean would be in touch with me at some point.

The second semester of my sixth year was filled with drama. It all started with my leading scorer tearing his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) right before the first semester ended. He was a speedy guard we relied on for easy transition baskets since the team lacked a big man who could score inside. I knew that it would be a challenge to replace his production, but I assumed we could weather the storm since we were adding another scorer (Philly) to the team in between semesters. I was wrong.

It didn't help matters that we had a very difficult schedule to begin the next semester. Our first six games were against the top three teams in our league and three Division 2 schools. We lost every single game. The mental toughness of my team quickly came to light as the "captain", with whom I had a very tenuous relationship, started to unravel. He decided to lead his own version of a mutiny against me by doing a number of things to get under my skin--like showing up high for games with Philly and another teammate (Spider).

My back was against the wall. I wanted to kick them off the team, but having already lost a major contributor I didn't think we would be able to compete with anybody in the league without those guys. I was also aware that booting them from the team meant they would all likely drop out of school. Their response to losing a lot was to get kicked off the team--essentially, relieving them of their misery. I didn't take the bait. Instead, I suspended the "captain" from a game to send a message to Philly and Spider.

There were no more weed infractions that season. Even though we had a losing record that semester, we still ended the season with a respectable 15-12 record and a berth in the regional tournament. Still, I couldn't wait for the season to end. When the final horn sounded during our semi-final round loss in the regional tournament I was relieved. The misery was over until I got called into the Associate Dean of Students' office a month later.

Dean: Is Philly one of your guys?
Me: Yes, he is.
Dean: You should know that he got in trouble for having drugs on campus.
Me: Drugs?
Dean: Yes. Marijuana. He was caught lighting up in his car earlier in the week and again a few days later by the Student Life Center.
Me: Was he with anybody?
Dean: Yes. He was with your team captain.
Me: I figured. That's real nice.
Dean: What was funny in this is that he didn't think he did anything wrong.
Me: How so?
Dean: He said he was just holding the marijuana-filled blunt. He wasn't smoking it.