So if anyone has read anything about WSU recently… my guess is that it’s been fairly negative. Most recently was the news that Xavier Hicks was suspended for three games after stealing and using someone else’s credit card, and putting rubbing alcohol in former-teammate Grady Maxwell’s contact lens case: both felonies.

True, Hicks did bargain down to third-degree credit-card theft and attempted third-degree assault instead of the felonies, so on the record it looks a bit better than him being a felon… but not great. But what gets me is that this “conduct council” (apparently new head coach Paul Wulff either doesn’t want to be accountable for this decision or learned his management skills from watching “Survivor“) only suspended the safety three games. That’s it; three games. Only three games after dragging the good name of WSU through the mud for the past several months. My question is, what punishment would this “conduct council” have recommended if I had been convicted of attempted third-degree assault of a WSU football player? Expulsion? Suspension for the entire fall semester at least.

And now it seems that even after being allowed to bargain down from being a felon, Hicks still hasn’t learned his lesson. Huh, wonder why. Maybe it’s because this decision by the “tribal council” (which again I love because it’s mob mentality at it’s finest: no one is accountable) wasn’t strong enough, didn’t send a strong enough signal to Hicks that it’s not just about him screwing up his own life: it’s about him degrading the reputation of the WSU football program, WSU student-athlete, and ultimately the reputation of WSU students like me. He also puts his teammates seasons’ at risk because, hell, can they really count on him to be there for them down the stretch… or will he be creating more problems?

All I’ve got to say is that I don’t care how creative of an offense Paul Wulff is brining to WSU (and although I’m certain that he is a good coach), if he doesn’t have the balls to send a message here and now, then who is really running this program? To me, this was his first test… and he failed it pretty miserably.  It’s his giant head up there that is the face of this program; so council or no council, this one’s on him.

[Editor’s note: the biggest shame in all of this though is that the fact that Grady Maxwell’s once promising career looks like it has ended due to injuries… and no one seems to care. They only care about when they can expect their felonious starting safety to be back on the field. Priorities folks. Football is great, and I love it, but there’s so much more going on here.]