Tragedy at Notre Dame

As I’m sure many of you have already heard from the news, something very tragic happened last week.  On Wednesday, Oct. 27, the Notre Dame football team met for practice as usual; however, on this day, practice wouldn’t end with an encouraging team huddle or high fives.  Instead, it would end with a horrific disaster, and one that should have been avoided.

On the previous day, the football team was forced to move practice to a indoor location because winds were exceeding 50 mph.  Head Coach Brian Kelly hates moving practice indoors which is possibly why on Wednesday, when winds were just as high, Kelly pushed for practice to resume back outside among the inclement weather.  Later, a weather report would show that the winds on Wednesday afternoon blew around 45 mph with gusts around 53 mph.

So as the football team took their position on the field, Declan Sullivan took his place in the 50 ft high scissor lift to film the practice.  Sullivan was a junior at the university and part of football’s video team working closely with the coaches and players to meet their film needs. Sullivan had filmed from the scissor lift many times before and was comfortable with the idea, but this day was different.

As the winds gusted, Sullivan reportedly tweeted the following from high up in the lift:

“Holy [f-ck]. Holy [f-ck]. This is terrifying.”

45 minutes later, the scissor lift blew over taking Sullivan down with it. Sullivan was rushed to the hospital, but died there.

Having read many blogs about this story, majority of people are furious with the Notre Dame coaching staff.  Owning that type of equipment should mean that you are aware of its safety issues and should very well know that it is never to be used in high winds.  In fact, it is suggested to not use them, and especially not put a person up in one, if winds exceed 25 mph.

A 20-year-old boy is not going to refuse to do his job and tell his superiors that he is scared.  The coaches should have better realized the situation, told the boy to do his best filming from the ground on that day, and not took the risk.

What also seems to be upsetting bloggers a lot is that practice resumed the following day as normally scheduled.  This boy risked his life to film the football team’s practice and lost it. I feel that if a player on the team had died practice definitely would have been cancelled out of respect.

Since the incident, media has portrayed a lot of rage towards Kelly and has laid sole responsibility on his lap. Currently, an investigation is underway.  Forbes predicts that the incident could cost the university nearly $30 million dollars if found guilty of negligence. 

For now, the Sullivan Family wishes to be left out of the investigation while they mourn the lost of their son.  They appreciate all the prayers and thoughts from the university’s students and administration. 

Without a doubt, I very much DISLIKE this story.  It's extremely sad and should never have happened.  My heart breaks for his family.