Advertisement

Attorney for deceased UCF player: 'UCF can go to hell'

GLENDALE, AZ - JANUARY 01: Head coach George O'Leary of the UCF Knights gestures during their 52 to 42 win over the Baylor Bears in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl at University of Phoenix Stadium on January 1, 2014 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Former head coach of the UCF Knights George O’Leary. (Getty Images)

The lawyer for deceased Central Florida player Ereck Plancher had strong words for the university when he learned the school was erecting a statue of former coach George O’Leary.

Plancher collapsed and died in 2008 during an offseason practice because of complications from sickle cell trait. UCF’s athletic association was found negligent and Plancher’s family was awarded $10 million by a jury in 2011.

While O’Leary was not sanctioned in the judgment, several players testified that he was at the practice and did little to help Plancher when he noticed he was laboring.

“They ought to erect a statue to Ereck Plancher,” attorney Steve Yerrid told CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd on Tuesday. “Instead they’re erected a statue to the coach who watched it? Pitiful.”

“I tell you what, ‘[UCF] can go to hell.’”

The statue, which is scheduled to be completed in 2017, will sit near Bright House Networks Stadium. It was financed by a group of private donors. O’Leary, 70, compiled a 81-60 record in 12 seasons with UCF and helped lead the Knights to seven bowl games. He retired at the end of last season.

Despite the judgment, Yerrid told Dodd the Plancher family hasn’t seen any money and is now set to receive just $200,000. That payment is on hold because the school “is waiting a final judgment from the court based on issues raised by the plaintiff’s attorneys.”

“Let me tell George O’Leary something through you,” Yerrid told Dodd. “When a 19-year-old wonderful black man loses his life, nobody wins. [O’Leary] is nothing more than a fool. Put one [statue] of Erick Plancher up. That’s what a man does.”

Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter!