Bo Schembechler Implicated In Robert Anderson Scandal
I think we all knew this day was coming:
According to a lawsuit filed today, Schembechler told the student to tell then-athletic director Don Canham. Canham did not act on the knowledge, according to the lawsuit.
— Dan Murphy (@DanMurphyESPN) July 30, 2020
Since the abuse affected so many people over an extremely long period of time, this is probably the tip of the iceberg.
The heart of the distribution here is that Bo heard about this and referred it to other people who were also uninterested in doing anything until it became clear that there was no point in asking anyone in authority to put a stop to Robert Anderson. Even if the still-anonymous student "doesn't blame Schembechler for not coming forward" because it was Canham's job… it was also Schembechler's job.
[After THE JUMP: suspend Paul Schmidt.]
I flat out do not believe denials from former Michigan coaches who claim that Anderson's activities were not brought to their attention. When even Bo's son Glenn Schembechler, understandably in denial about events, describes Anderson as…
He said he knew of Anderson as an "odd guy" who was a part of the program but did not see him frequently.
…you have to be blisteringly naive to believe them. Everyone else is telling the same story of an open secret around the athletic department. The university has 383 reports of abuse, a number that must significantly understate the actual number of abused.
Meanwhile we have yet more credible accusations that a current employee of the university treated this with callousness:
A pair of anonymous football players said in a lawsuit that current head athletic trainer/associate athletic director Paul Schmidt and another trainer identified only as "Murph" also knew about Anderson's abuse and regularly joked about the athletes who had to see Anderson and "drop their drawers."
Why the fuck is Paul Schmidt still interacting with Michigan athletes? Suspend him, investigate him, and when that investigation inevitably shows that he repeatedly failed in his duty fire him and sue him into oblivion. The university's response seems like it's been as good as it can be given the circumstances, except in the case of the only guy who's still employed.
This isn't hard. Do not pull the Michigan State. No golden parachutes. Scorched earth.
I agree with Brian that this is disappointing but not shocking given what we already know.
Bo Paterno.
Oh, no, Bo.
It was only time before the other shoe dropped. Something going on this long reaches every corner and it must be reckoned with. Now, the question is whether we need to take down the statues and remove his name from the building.
Sounds like many other questions would need to be satisfactorily answered before that.
Makes it pretty likely Lloyd knew too, and that would actually upset me. Bo retired when I was four so I don't really have a connection to him other than the guy who did Big Ten Ticket on channel 7. But Lloyd I always thought of as one of the few actually moral people in college football.
Has anyone asked coach Jim yet?
Probably smart enough to not molest the child of an assistant coach who was sort of the head coach's adopted kid.
The further removed you get from the source the more the information goes from having “knowledge” to being aware of a “rumor”
That said, with something this widespread, egregious and harmful to those you are tasked to educate and protect, rumor should be enough to take action, ask questions, and demand answers.
Shamefully, it’s obvious nobody in a position of power did that here. Different individuals will and should receive different levels of scrutiny and public shame- but all deserve whatever shit they are about to eat from this very preventable tragedy.
But hey, at least we don't “cheat” and pay players and they go to class!
Guess it’s time to ask the mods if I can change my username.
Time to end the lionizing of Bo. The downside of "the team, the team ,the team." One still has to do what is right even if it can be awkward for a team or organization. I think that is a true Michigan Man.
Guess I'm the only one who didn't think about Bo's potential involvement, color me naive. Incredibly disappointing and assuming this is true, I want his likeness, quotes, and posthumous involvement with UM to be done.
When stuff like this happens, when Bo is notified of this issue and refers the student and victim to Canham, do we think Bo never thought about it again? Never asked anyone about it? Never asked Canham what happened? Were these people all so busy that is never crossed their minds again? I would expect Bo to have had an off the record conversation with someone about this unless he was so focused on other things he never asked. That doesn't excuse him however. This is serious stuff. I can only shake my head at all the ways these kids were let down. Paul Schmidt especially should be a goner.
Also, BO WAS THE FUCKING ATHLETIC DIRECTOR FOR TWO YEARS.
Did he circle back on the "several of my players think this doctor did something horrific to their bodies"?
Apparently not, since Anderson remained employed.
Fuck Bo Schembechler, and FUCK Don Canham. Are we Penn State? The answer will be revealed in the coming months.
Also obligatory FUCK ROBERT ANDERSON.
Goddamn it! How can people turn a blind eye to this, for decades?! I am so disappointed by all of this. I hoped and hoped that Bo was out of the loop on this, but I think I always knew he'd be involved as soon as this came out. So sad. I feel bad for myself that this tarnishes so many memories for me, but I still feel so much worse for the men that this happened to. Goddamn it!
My question is this (for Michigan, MSU, PSU, OSU, etc...): Why protect this guy? Did he have something on someone important at the University? Did he have pictures on someone? Was Anderson sleeping with Canham, the University President, the mayor of Ann Arbor, the Governor??? Was there an embezzlement that he knew about? WTF???
I could sort of "understand" if the perpetrator was a too big to fail character like Bo, Paterno or Woody Hayes. But some pathetic, human excrement "Doctor"? Why cover up?
I bet in each case there was something behind the scenes that we will probably never find out about now that pretty much everyone who could have been involved is now dead.
1) Until recently society thought of sexual assault victims as weak and didn't treat the crime seriously. Even more so with male victims. And I'm being optimistic with the "until recently."
2) The brand. The brand. The brand.
Yes, on both counts. A lot of football people of that generation probably considered those kinds of "exams" a mere rite of passage.
Point 1 is a very key point. As a society, we are far, far more aware and conscious of sexual assault today than 30+ years ago. In those days, doctors especially were looked at as gods, beyond reproach. If someone accused them of a crime, it was routinely ignored or swept under the rug. Does that make it right? Of course not. But to extend our 2020 values and ethics on people in the 1980's and before and expect them to act the same as we would now is not realistic or fair. Besides, in this case, we have no idea at all whether Bo followed up with Anderson or Canham and if so, what happened. We never will. Let's be careful about talking about removing his name and likeness from everything before we have enough facts.
Well, Anderson kept his job, so whatever happened wasn't enough, and Bo should have known that.
Agree that this seemed inevitable. If it can be corroborated, he should get the same outcome as Paterno. My only positive thought is that at least the comments above me show that Michigan's fan base isn't going to pull a Penn State and defend the indefensible to the death.
The reaction here has by and large been appropriate, and that's truly appreciated. That said, did have to pull a couple comments from this post and lock the board thread when it began to turn. This one may get locked soon just so we can do work without checking every few minutes.
Ugh, fair enough. I'll remain cautiously optimistic.
Well, what a sad and disappointing day. Just a heads up for the board, I just switched up my username and image. Used to be LongLiveBo
Looks like it’s going to take a bit for the image to reset.
A damn good name to change it to at that
Scorched earth policy is the only correct approach to a tragedy like this.
The University of Michigan is bigger than Bo, bigger than Football, and bigger than Athletics.
Correct. There will be no “healing” here if we win a big football game. The healing lies in how we support the victims, fix any organizational issues that still exist, and hold all with knowledge accountable, even post-Morten.
I hate to say it, but I 100% expected this to happened. Somewhere along the line, Bo had to of known.
He was the fucking athletic director for 2 years. Of course he knew.
And...... we made ESPN's front page. This thing is gonna blow up.
Just wait till someone tries to connect this with someone with the last name of Harbaugh, then the fun will really begin.
I guess Jack Harbaugh was at Michigan in the right time frame.
As someone who has survived abuse perpetuated by another organzation whose complicity still galls me to this, and knowing the feelings I had toward PSU when they went through this, all I can say is I will not be giving another penny to the Athletic Department until Schmidt is fired and they admit they fucked up all the way around with this.
Being hopefully not naive to the litigious society we live in, I think my second condition is a pipe dream.
So, I'm fully prepared to never give the AD another shred of my money nor support at events until both things happen. If they don't admit that they fucked up all the way around, there is no way I'll be confident that they value protection of student-athletes above the almighty dollar.
Just my opinion and I'm sure the AD is quaking in their boots at the thought of not getting my seat license, season ticket, and sundry one-off ticket purchases.
However, I've been around the U as a student and employee long enough to have seen the U lawyers slow-walk these things until we all conveniently forget about them (again, as a way to protect the almighty dollar). Not this time.
Why would anyone donate to the athletic department? Seriously, beyond the Uber-rich sending teams abroad or funding construction projects I don’t get it. Big-time athletic departments are cash cows. Donations could be so much better spent on people/activities that actually have a meaningful impact on the world.
It is a uniquely upsetting feeling when your heroes let you down. Ugh.
Based on the facts at hand, there's no scenario here that doesn't 100% require swift action from the university.
He knew. He did nothing.
Take Bo's name down, fire Schmidt, support the victims.
Bo has lost my respect forever, though that had happened as soon as it became clear he was likely implicated. He, like Paterno and myriad other abuse enablers, was a coward who prioritized his comfort and constancy over the wellbeing of the players and students upon whose backs he built his legacy. To the toilet with him and his ilk.
Which, like Paterno, is 1000% inexcusable especially considering their tenure, stature, and general standing within the athletic department and wider school communities.
Prioritizing comfort is egregious and that's exactly what this looks like.
He said it himself yet didn't live up to it... "no man is more important than the team... no coach is more important than the team"
Gee it is almost as if people in leadership positions are and were flawed human beings and not the "mythical heroes" we made them out to be.
While I agree 100%, you don’t need a mythical hero to have fired the son of a bitch. You just need somebody not willing to look the other way.
Goddamnit, Bo.
You too, Canham.
In 2006 I cried when Bo died.
Today I mourn the death of respect I once had for the man.
This is all so very disappointing, but not surprising knowing how large institutions work.
Replace his statue with a 100' tall statue of Tacopants.
Expected. And yes, bring down the statue.
Let’s not behave like PSU.
There aren't words to describe how terrible and disappointing this is. This is just the liquid shit icing on the turd cake.
Now is when we see if UM truly is "Leaders and Best". It's when trials and difficult times come when you find out what you really are. That applies to individuals and organizations.
Please do the right thing and take every necessary action, UM Admin.
I am wondering: is there any way this isn't true? Is there any path that absolves Bo of this horrific (non) action?
I can't really think of one.
So sad.
Why would anybody let this stuff go on for a day, much less so many years?
At least it kind of makes sense now why we’ve been a crap to mediocre Program since his death.
Man sold his soul. Karma is a bitch.
So maybe when umich hires it’s next coach (whenever that may be) we can go outside this ludicrous Michigan man only mantra
Being fair to Bo, the student goes on to state Bo was visibly angry and he holds no blame nor ill will towards Bo.
Tough, but fair article to write. This sucks, but do what is right now. Also, I think Manual and Schlissel need to answer for why this was kept hush hush when they received a complaint from a victim 2+ years ago.
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