Bryan Mac offers the perfect commentary on MSU situation

I've had this conversation a number of times recently, so to get my thoughts out there:

If you require a criminal charge as a prerequisite for disciplining players for sexual impropriety, you're sending players a clear message that anything short of that is permissible.

— Bryan Mac (non-seasonal) (@Bry_Mac) January 29, 2018

This is so true from a common sense and collegiate athlete point of view.  However, every case is different, and there are due process considerations in many cases.

I do agree, though, that this nails it.

actually could use a break from all of this. I have the utmost sympathy for the victims of all of this and hope those in the wrong are held accountable as they should be. But just my personal opinion, I think this Board could use to focus elsewhere for a day or two. All of college athletics is not doom and gloom, some of it is awesome. I think I am ready to get back to that for a while. Go Blue.

So, the people who do Tough Mudder also do an 8-hour overnight as-far-as-you-can-go-in-8-hours obstacle race. And I thought to myself, “I bet people would pay good money to make an idiot do that.”

So that’s what we’re gonna do. https://t.co/yqBTqLDLYl

— Bryan Mac (non-seasonal) (@Bry_Mac) December 13, 2017

He pretty much nailed it.

I'm not quite understanding this. Is he suggesting that if a girl comes a long and says "One of your players raped me", that player should be immediately suspended? I don't think that's how it works. I think said player should immediately be taken aside and talked to, but unless the police come ahead and say "Player X has been accused of rape, and the case is now open" I don't think you suspend the guy.

"I'll/We'll cooperate with any investigation and always have...We've done it before and we'll do it moving forward"

 

was a pretty low bar as well. What else are you going to do? 

This was the main view reflected on the radio station that shall be unnamed, and a popular view on twitter: that if a player is not charged, or even charged but charges are dropped, that the player doesn't deserve to be disciplined.

...it raises the difficult question of how a coach should determine what happened. I don’t think we’ve figured out how colleges should handle charges of rape, so there is nothing tried and true for a coach to fall back on.

The problem with the short sighted viewpoint of hard core Mark and Tom defenders is it only accomplishes one very small thing (buys the possibility of of extra time for two very damaged coaches in their early 60s). And in the process of doing lame defenses for those two, the defenders do far larger damage to their school.

The world at large is never going to buy the "coach cooperated, referred it to the authorities and when they found nothing he did X" argument.

Only hard core fans of the team making that argument buy it. And by doing that, they sink the school deeper into an abyss. 

The "due process" of two coaches who common sense would tell you were at best not leading and at worse aiding in the the retention of abusers to win games, is far more important to them than the due process of anyone else. 

These fans look like  moronic knuckle draggers and they drag the school in the mud longer than it otherwise would be. 

 

And Appling “kept going because he wanted to ejaculate or something”, that’s all I need to hear in that case. Izzo probably thought that if he temporarily suspended them it would show an admission of guilt, even though there were no formal charges brought against them. The media would ask why those guys were riding pine, even for one half of a game let alone longer, and then he would have to make up a lie that it was breaking team rules or let the whole cat out of the bag. Better that everyone count their blessings, start toting around a young terminally ill girl and win some more games. See how easy that happens? Prove me wrong. Man up and own it Izzo.

I like following him on Twitter but why was this worth a whole post here?

what happened is investigated.  And meanwhile the young woman who was abused sits in dark silence wondering if anyone is listening or even cares what happened to her.  If the player allegedly took illegal benefits, the coach suspends the player immediately to preserve the integrity of wins and losses on the field of play.

Why in God's name is a possible felony crime that may destroy a young woman's LIFE be any less significant.  The focus on the "fairness" for the player should come wayyyy down the list of importance.  

The safety and welfare of the victim and the quick, imparshal and accurate investigation to determine facts should be paramount.

Any coach, any administrator, any department head should put the welfare of the victim ahead of any desire to win or protect their own reputation.

What happens all too often is worrying about stature and preserving someone's reputation.  All leaders' first duty is to protect and defend those that cannot defend themselves.

I am sickened that they coaches and administrators even paused to think about preserving their own or the schools reputation when students have been attacked and abused.  What has this country become?