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Will Jimbo Fisher dismiss Florida State RB Dalvin Cook after battery arrest?

By Kerry Belkin

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Following Dalvin Cook’s arrest on battery charges that the Florida State leading rusher punched a woman, does head coach Jimbo Fisher need to dismiss him from the team?

Another day has passed and Dalvin Cook remains on the Florida State Seminoles while he and his lawyer fight the charges that he punched a woman multiple times outside a Tallahassee bar.

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This is an all too familiar crossroads for the Seminoles and head coach Jimbo Fisher who is no stranger to having his team dragged through the mud because of the actions of one or more players on his team.

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First, there was the behavior from star quarterback Jameis Winston that cast a black cloud over Tallahassee. A sexual assault accusation dogged him for much of his tenure at Florida State, he was cited for shoplifting and suspended for shouting an obscenity on campus.

Fisher defended him and supported him as the case never went to criminal court and the Seminoles celebrated a national championship and a Heisman Trophy for Winston. He also stood by running back Karlos Williams in the wake of a domestic violence allegation against the starting running back in which he wasn’t charged after his accuser wouldn’t meet with investigators.

Fast forward to the summer of 2015 and a video was released of FSU freshman quarterback De’Andre Johnson striking a woman in the face in a Tallahassee bar. The punishment was swift and severe as the three-star recruit who was competing for the No. 3 quarterback job was dismissed from the team.

The next day, Cook allegedly punched a woman multiple times outside a Tallahassee bar and was suspended indefinitely. Cook’s lawyers are fighting the charges and deny he hit anyone as he fights for his college football career.

Surely, if Johnson was dismissed for hitting a woman, certainly Cook will be too for allegedly hitting a woman “multiple” times, right?

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    • If he is found guilty and Fisher allows the team’s leading rusher to remain on the team, what kind of message does that send?

    First message it sends is hitting a woman isn’t the worst thing in the world if there’s no video to back it up. Johnson wasn’t dismissed on the allegations, he was dismissed when the video was made public of him striking a woman in the face at the bar.

    Secondly, it sends the message that Cook helps Florida State win games where Johnson wasn’t going to step on the field this year. Fisher needs Cook on this team to keep the ACC championship and national championship window open, because without him they’re without their best offensive player.

    Fisher needs to be consistent with his punishment just like he asks his players to be consistent with their performance. His perceived coddling and enabling of his players has to stop with today and Cook needs to be removed from the roster.

    South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier said it best on Tuesday at SEC Media Days when he reiterated his longstanding zero-tolerance policy toward violence against women.

    “I’ve always had a rule as a coach, that if you ever hit a girl, you’re finished.” Spurrier is not just a Hall of Fame coach for his on-field success. He runs a clean program and doesn’t have the black cloud hanging over it like Fisher does at Florida State.

    It’s about time Fisher instituted a policy of his own and dismissed Cook and sends a clear message that this behavior won’t be tolerated and begin changing the national perception of his program.

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