College football question

[WSLer]

Why do many college football coaches in the South have 2 cops walking off the field with them after games?

Don’t the police have much more important things to be doing, like breaking up fights in the stands or arresting drunk drivers at the game?

I first noticed this phenomenon during Southeastern Conference games, but it has since spread to other conferences like the ACC and the Big 12. Not every coach has them, so is this a personal thing or a school thing or what?

And who did this “tradition” start with? My personel guess would be “Bear” Bryant, but I could be wrong.

Info, I need info!!!

Oh, thanks in advance.

[Acsenray]

Are you sure they’re actual cops and not hired security guards or CPs?

[USCDiver]

Oh yeah…it’s cops; often times State Troopers. The referrees get an armed escort out of the stadium too…

[beagledave]

It’s not just a southern thing. (I know the Univ of Iowa does it also…Go Hawks!!)

Ahem.

My WAG…

It’s probably a safety thing…there have been plenty of games where hundreds or thousands of students storm the field after a game…and the trooper kind of clears the way for the coach to be able to shake hands with the other coach, and then leave the field in a resonable amount of time.

[Lsura]

I actually read something about this in the last week - it was either in the UTK Daily Beacon or in the Atlanta paper…
hunts for cite
Well, the Daily Beacon ( http://dailybeacon.utk.edu/ ) site is down right now.

But it was actually in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, but it doesn’t really answer your question. But since I went and hunted it down, I’m going to post it anyway, ok? Oh, and I got it from: http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/epaper/editions/wednesday/metro_d33a7c00947f604200bd.html

Q: The head football coaches at the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech always seem to have State Patrol bodyguards. Who pays for this, the taxpayers or the schools?

— Leon Gabriel, Marietta

A: The institutions reimburse the State Patrol for all such expenses, said Gordy Wright of the Georgia Department of Public Safety.

State law permits “security protection services, or transportation or escort services, or both” to coaches, players, referees and other officials in connection with athletic events involving an institution of the University System of Georgia which offers four-year postsecondary degrees.

Details of the law can be found at libraries in the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, Title 35, chapter 2, section 33; or online at www.ganet.org/services/ocode/ocgsearch.htm (in the box Search by Code Number, enter 35-2-33).

[WSLer]

*Originally posted by beagledave *
**It’s probably a safety thing…there have been plenty of games where hundreds or thousands of students storm the field after a game…and the trooper kind of clears the way for the coach to be able to shake hands with the other coach, and then leave the field in a resonable amount of time. **

Yeah, but fans storm the court at basketball games too, and I don’t see the coaches surrounded by cops at those games.

Plus, the cops don’t seem to be clearing the way, they alwasy are on either side of the coach, NOT in front of him.

[BobT]

I think the coaches are being protected not from students storming the field, but rather from an overzealous nut of a fan who may be packing a gun, knife, etc.

People do take football a bit more seriously in the South.