CMU: Austin White, Joe Sawicki, Danel Harris released from football program
By Aaron McMann on April 18, 2012 11:21 am / 19 comments
Three Central Michigan University football players, two jailed Tuesday and another wanted by campus police, have been released from the program.
CMU head coach Dan Enos, in a release sent out Wednesday morning, announced the “immediate release” of sophomore running back Austin White, sophomore tight end Joe Sawicki and freshman receiver Danel Harris.
“We hold our student-athletes to the highest standard of conduct as members of our team, our campus and our community,” Enos said. “Actions that do not represent CMU and the community with pride have no place on our campus and will not be tolerated.”
Sawicki and Harris were jailed Tuesday in Mount Pleasant, arrested by CMU police in their residence hall for separate crimes. An arrest warrant has been issued by the Isabella County prosecutor for White, whose whereabouts remain unknown.
Sawicki faces charges of manufacturing and delivering narcotics, possession and maintaining a drug house inside his terrace-floor Celani residence hall. He was lodged in the Isabella County Jail, arraigned and bonded out Tuesday.
Harris faces a charge of felony larceny from a vehicle. He remains lodged in the county jail on a $10,000 cash bond.
White also faces charges of manufacturing and delivering narcotics, possession and maintaining a drug house. The CMU directory lists him as living in the same terrace-floor residence hall as Sawicki. Both are both alleged to have been growing and selling psilocybin, a form of hallucinogenic mushrooms, inside their residence hall, CMU police chief Bill Yeagley told Central Michigan Life Tuesday.
CMU distanced itself from the three in the release, saying they never “officially appeared in a CMU jersey.”
White, a four-star recruit and rated as one of the top running backs in the country out of Livonia Stevenson High School in 2009, transferred to CMU from the University of Michigan following the 2010 season. He sat out 2011 due to NCAA transfer requirements, but was suspended indefinitely by the program in October for undisclosed reasons. Enos reinstated White prior to spring practice.
White, Sawicki, Harris, sophomore receiver Deon Butler and sophomore defensive back Kevin King were suspended indefinitely by the program following Saturday’s CMU spring football game.
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19 Comments
So instead of trying to help the KIDS you just distance yourself from them? Where’s the accountability, Enos? You’ve done nothing well since you’ve gotten here.
I for one am disappointed with the Athletic Department cutting these kids loose. In this country, they are still innocent until proven guilty and should be afforded proper due process. They should all be suspended, but not kicked out of school when they have yet to be convicted. Poor rush to judgment by Enos and Heeke.
I am wondering how White, Sawicki and Harris have been released from team and all live in same room. But Butler , whom lives in that room as well hasnt been released from team. Something doesn’t add up there. Maybe he wasn’t part of the happenings in the room?
White was in my Geology group and naturally being a football player, he rarely showed up to class expecting leniency. He flunked out of U of M and from my experience with him he’s probably keeping his academic standards the same. This is someone who wrote the end of term ground water lab report on lined paper. I expect him to be apprehended sometime soon; definitely not someone who could even attempt to evade law enforcement.
I personally applaud the decision to cut them. This is not the image that CMU needs. They are not kids, and therefore, need to live with the consequences of their actions. It saddens me to see everyone quick to point the finger at Enos (who I still am not fond of) and the AD. Enos is accountable to the University and the image that it has. The players are as well, and when that expectation isn’t met, well, we can see what happens. I guess it’s just normal to shift the guilt up the ladder until someone gets fired. Surely it’s not the athletes in question who broke the law or did something wrong….
My problem is that they are being punished for just being charged with something. Not convicted. No presumption of innocence. University who brought them here just cuts them loose. Its really troubling.
You guys can’t cut Enos a break. Had Enos kept these three on the team, we’d be in an uproar over having criminals on the team and not holding our student athletes to any standard. But now, he’s working against his kids by not keeping them on the team. There’s no pleasing you people.
Furthermore, I am sure the football team wouldn’t have released the players if they weren’t reasonably certain they were involved in this. Perhaps that’s why Deon Butler hasn’t been released yet.
According to Cmlifecommenter’s logic, a teacher accused of having inappropriate relations with one of his/her students, should stay teaching until s/he’s convicted. I’m troubled that this is troubling to him.
According to Cmlifecommenters logic, a person accused of being a witch should not be burned at the stake until s/he’s convicted. I am troubled that this is troubling to him/her.
You’re comparing kicking players off a team to burning someone at the stake? Have you been sniffing paint or something?
What if it weren’t true? They should be fired for being accused of something? Paid suspension, MAYBE. I can accuse anybody of anything. Should I be able to walk down the street, point at a random person, and accuse them of murder? And when I do, should they be fired from their job?
That’s a watered down scenario altogether. An accusation of murder with no evidence is not going to do anything, other than prove you bat s**t crazy. You said in an earlier post that they shouldn’t have been kicked off the team until they were convicted, but a “conviction” is a term that is used within the court system for legal purposes only. The football team is not a court law. Through its head coach, football programs choose standards of behaviors that all players are very aware of. These were not random overnight dismissals based on finger pointing. The coaches talked to the players involved, saw internal reports, police reports, and other evidence. You’re way off on this.
I agree. Are we more concerned about image? Or working thru problems and making a difference in lives?
According to you guys, we should rip the Constitution to shreds… ANYBODY accused of a crime has the right to trial by jury. Enos kicked them off the team simply for his own image. Had he not done dismissed them, he would have been criticized for allowing criminals play football, which is NOT true, as they have NOT been convicted of any crime (innoncent until proven guilty). Anybody that thinks otherwise should not consider themselves an American and leave the country immediately.
Were these Enos’ recruits?
He didn’t flunk out of U of M. He was released from the football program two weeks before the first game in 2010. He finished his semester there that fall.
Aaaaaah, the SPARTAN tradition (criminal activity) continues!!!
Little update for everyone, Sawicki’s charges were dropped
Umm, no they weren’t. He was sentenced to 12 months of probation. Big difference.