Michigan parts ways with former director of performance Fergus Connolly
Michigan's former director of sports science let go after being arrested on suspicion of drunken driving.
Connolly was arrested in early March on suspicion of drunken driving. Police were responding to reports of a hit-and-run accident with a parked car when they arrested Connolly shortly before noon on Monday, March 5.
The spokesman said Connolly was an employee of the athletic department until Thursday, but his role had changed and he had not worked directly with the football program for the past two months.
We don't need that nonsense
I'd be extremely disappointed if this didn't happen.
Gone, but not ferg-otten.
Hope he gets some help, and had accident forgiveness.
His driving performance left a lot to be desired.
ferg-iveness
Due process should still be a thing in this country. I know its old fashioned and not instantaneous lke internet justice but it has worked for over 200 years.
Due process pertains to the law, and he will receive that. It's very much still a thing in this country. A public or private institution can make any decision it wants based on the information it has.
It's not as if they pulled a sparty by covering it up and/or waiting several months to take action. I'm sure they were doing their own internal due diligence (crossing i's, dotting t's, ensuring they are following proper policies and procedures, ensuring all documentation is up to snuff) before firing him. Firing someone because of a newspaper article is dumb. Firing someone because you determined cause per your internal policies is the right way to do things.
More than any other part of your post, I appreciated the crossing i's and dotting t's statement. I try to use the same analogy myself because I would't want "dotting the i" to be confused with any buckeye tradition (and as I'm sure you're aware the first script Ohio was actually done by the MMB as a salute to their opponent).
March 16th, 2018 at 12:27 PM ^
I was wondering if anyone would catch that :)
Dude process. Freuidian Slip.
The dude process abides.
Due process does NOT apply to your job and companies can fire you for reckless things you do in your private life and do NOT need a conviction in court to do so.
You just have to be careful with this statement. Obviously many states are at-will (such as Michigan), but managers still have to be careful. I think the comment as generally as it was written applies more to employees in positions that might have some sort of public face or trust with their employer.
As a manager you may be in a position where you have MSU grads you want to get rid of because of something reckless they have done in their private life. However if there's a CBA (Collective bargaining agreement) or even your own rules, if you don't follow them you risk all sorts of action. Often these either reference that the terminable offense must be work related or occur during work (CBA) or your own rules may make no mention of private actions as terminable or discipline worthy. Past practice should also be a guide here, if there are obvious issues where employees know say employee A and C are still employed but just had DUI's and have to take the bus to work or bum from a co-worker, and the employees know that managers are aware of this, if Employee D gets a DUI the following year, you better not try to get rid of them without talking hard with in house counsel .
None of this applies to managers that mess up. Generally speaking, employers have broad leeway with dealing with managers who exhibit reckless behavor.
That being said, no, employee's don't have the right to face their accusor either (in these circumstances).
This is an emmotional debate, please check your logic and legal advice at the door.
Just because we aren't legally required to give employees due process doesn't mean we shouldn't.
Having worked for multiple universities, this is not how things work in that kind of bureaucracy. As many have pointed out ad nauseum, these things sometimes take a couple days to process. It's not as easy as "Yes, let's get rid of that guy because of that one article." He got canned. 48 hours or so is not 48 days paired with a vigorous campaign to cover-up and defend. The university did the right thing here. But, thanks for playing internet armchair HR.
Define the timeline of "summarily." Again. They took, what, a day? A day and a half?
Additionally, all we know about this story is what's been put on MLive. We don't know if there are extenuating circumstances (known issues, medical or drug treatment, etc.) that would cause extra boxes that need to be checked.
I'd rather the university do everything that needs to be done to minimize its legal risk AND do everything possible to minimize the risk/harm for someone who may need some help, than just say "Yep, a news outlet said this, you're gone this second."
No way.
Come on, man. 10days. It's not like someone informed Dr Schlissel and he responded with "Play it straight."
Nor did Harbaugh's first call go to the local FBI office.
And it's not like our dumbass is on video asking the officer if he "knows who I am?"
I think it's too bad the guy had to lose his job to his disease (I am assuming he is an alcoholic/addict), but perhaps this is what he needs to break through his denial before he hurts an innocent bystander, or himself.
I am slightly troubled that others did not lose their job for a similar offense, but the circumstances of this one were so weird, I can certainly see why action was taken.
The guy was wasted at noon on a workday. What was he doing and where was he coming from in that condition for that time of the day?
Better question: What might he be dealing with that would cause him to be apparently more than just wasted at noon on a weekday? It's clear this guy was more than just kinda wasted from some day-drinking.
More like Fergone!
Good, that guy is a hot mess
It seems from the article that Harbaugh had already gone a different route and that he was no longer working with the football team as of January.
Right decision. Can't have coaches and staff on a college football team drinking and driving. I'm sure people will disagree, but college kids are still impressionable. You have to lead by example and expect a high standard.
Yea, I completely disagree. We need more coaches and staffers who are alcoholics.
This school of thought to even a small amount, we would have kept Gary Moeller and won like 3 National Championships but NOOOOOO he makes one mistake and the rug gets pulled out from under him by AD who was in charge at the time (there's so many and I was a kid, I can't remember who it was)
Well, Moeller was the perfect storm of mismanagement from an Athletic Department prone to mismanagement.
No offense to Gary Moeller, who I think was a fine coach, but the only reason people assume he would have been vastly more successful as a head coach than Lloyd, let alone Bo, is that he never had the chance to clearly prove otherwise.
Lest we forget "No more 8-4."
for Michigan on this. Wrong kind of example, putting the public at risk. Suspect everyone of us here knows someone killed by someone driving under the influence. Hope he gets his life together makes better choices from here.
This is Michigan Fergussakes! We can't have that kind of non-sense hanging around Ann Arbor!