Sex and College Sports...
 

The following is from Sports Illustrated Columnist Rick Riley, a University of Colorado Graduate. I've met Riley once when I taught TV Sports Production at CU, Boulder -- and I know the father of the young woman in the following article. He is the "Medical Specialist" at the last TV station I worked for. He is a D.O. and currently serving with the Army in Iraq. He has done reports for NBC and CBS TV stations and some of you may have seen him on TV.

A couple of years ago, there was another investigation of recruiting practices -- that of having upper classmen take recruits to parties where drugs, alcohol and sex were apparantely offered. A young man from our kids high school was named in the newspaper as one of the recruits at a party where this allegedly happened.

I am a fan of the university, an outstanding institution with Nobel Laureats, and I enjoy their athletic program, but this is disgusting.

I can't remember his name, but an NCAA official told a Denver TV station on camera (paraphrasing) that this kind of thing is the tip of the iceberg in Division One Athletics.

Fasten your seatbelts.

Another Victim at Colorado
After being verbally abused and molested by teammates, former kicker Katie Hnida says, she was raped by one of them.

New Mexico's Katie Hnida kicked a field goal against Texas State-San Marcos to become the first woman to score in a Division I college football game.
Greg Sorber/AP

(here is a link, so you can see the picture alluded to:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...ida/index.html

(or www.sportsillustrated.com if you catch it this week with another picture of Ms. Hnida)

If you thought Colorado football recruiting parties were jailbreaks, brace yourself for the allegations made by the only woman ever to play on the team.

As a CU placekicker in 1999, Katie Hnida says she endured a kind of sexual hell you can't imagine. After being verbally abused and molested by teammates, Hnida says, she was raped by one of them.

An honor-roll student, a homecoming queen and an honorable mention all-county kicker at Littleton (Colo.) Chatfield High, Hnida (NYE-da) had dreamed of booting for Colorado. "Football is what makes me breathe," she says. Then-coach Rick Neuheisel invited her to walk on, she accepted and then he took off, leaving her in new coach Gary Barnett's hands. "None of the players wanted her on the team," Barnett remembers. "Basically we were doing her a favor."

On her first day of practice Hnida found out how welcome she was. She says five teammates surrounded her and verbally abused her, making sexually graphic comments. During the season players exposed themselves to her "at least five times," she says. "They'd go, 'Hey, Katie, check this out!'" One player came up from behind, she says, and rubbed his erect penis against her.

Sometimes when the entire team was huddled up, Hnida says, players stuck their hands on her crotch or groped her breasts under her shoulder pads. "She endured more abuse than one person should have to bear," former teammate Justin Bates says. Even as she practiced, players called her vulgar names and one fired footballs at her head.

Why didn't she tell Barnett? "Because I was terrified," she says. "He didn't want me around in the first place. I thought for sure he'd kick me off [the team]."

The worst was yet to come. One summer night Hnida was watching TV at the house of a teammate. "He just starts to kiss me," she recalls. "I told him, 'That's not O.K.' Next thing I know he's on top of me. I told him, 'No!' But he just kept going, 'Shhhhh.' I tried to push him off me, but he outweighed me by 100 pounds." Hnida says he lifted her skirt, pushed aside her panties and penetrated her. She was a virgin. The phone rang, he reached for it, she slipped out from under him and ran.

Why didn't she go to the police? "I was so scared of what he might do to me," she says. "And I didn't want a huge media mess. I was already carrying around so much inside me, I was numb."

Just before the start of the 2000 season, it was clear that Hnida, sick with tonsillitis, was not going to make the roster. She says she fell into "the darkest of dark places."

Worried for his daughter after she had finally told him about some of her hell (but not the rape), Maj. Dave Hnida, an Army surgeon currently stationed in Iraq, went to athletic director Dick Tharp and Barnett about "the cornering, the groping, the name-calling and the football-at-the-head thing," Katie's father says. He got nowhere. "Talking to Barnett was like talking to a wall."

Neither Tharp nor Barnett recalls Dave Hnida saying anything about sexual harassment. "If I'd have heard that, I'd have jumped down somebody's throat," Barnett says. "Not one time did I ever see or hear about anybody treating her wrong. I don't believe she was sexually harassed. I don't believe our players would do that. They'd be in too much trouble with me." Barnett says he gave one player a "tongue-lashing" for making a vulgar comment to Katie.

She dropped out of CU after her sophomore year. She says she was depressed for two years, suffered from insomnia and gave up kicking. Her dad ached for her. "Barnett went on TV and said how these [recent recruiting party] accusations have hurt his family," Dave Hnida says. "I'll show you a hurt family."

Katie went into therapy, enrolled at a junior college and then had the guts to walk on at New Mexico in 2002. Last August she became the first woman to score in Division I football history when she kicked two PATs in the Lobos' 72-8 rout of Texas State-San Marcos.

Meanwhile, three other women alleged they were raped by players or recruits at or following a Colorado football recruiting party in 2001 (click here for full story). There have been reports of players hiring strippers for recruits as recently as last month.

So why is Hnida, 22, telling her story now? "Because all the news sent me back into that nightmare," she says. "It made me literally sick. I realized that until I tell my story, I can never heal."

Hnida isn't suing Colorado or pressing charges against former teammates. "I just want to see changes made there," she says.

She also wants a sixth-year exemption from the NCAA, so she can return to the Lobos. "We have 125 great guys on this team, and I haven't had one single incident," Hnida says. "That's because of the standard Coach [Rocky] Long sets here for behavior. There's no b.s."

At Colorado they're majoring in b.s. The denials have piled up like cordwood. You show me a coach who maintains he's unaware of recruiting parties featuring paid strippers, of four alleged rapes, of sexual harassment claims by one of his players against other players, and I'll show you a coach who is hell-bent on not knowing.

Makes this alum want to hide his class ring.

u think the coach gonna be fired soon?

I was just down in the cafe here at my work and I was watching CNN talk about this. What makes my blood boil was the coach's statement that she was a girl and a terrible player on the team. What an ass! The look on the university president's face when they played that clip for her was priceless! I hope she fires his ass!

I saw the president of the university on the Today show this morning and was very impressed by her. She is appointing an independent person to investigate within the athletic department because she said they need someone who's job is not on the line to do the investigation. Matt Lauer asked her "Does this mean you don't trust the people in that department?" and she replied that it only made sense to appoint someone who's livelihood didn't depend on the result of the investigation. She also discussed problems of binge drinking on all college campuses. She was very intelligent and well spoken.

Dee

With all of the fire the program has been under that he "didn't know about," in the past couple of months, I'd be amazed if he survives.

What is more worrisome to me is the NCAA guy I can't remember who basically infers that using sex as a recruitment tool is probably rampant in the big programs. (Two women claim they were raped at a CU recruitment party -- the players and recruits claim sex was consentual)

If the guy wasn't just blowing off steam, this could turn into gigantic scandal embracing a lot of big university programs.

ETA, I believe the person she (The university president) is hiring will oversee elements of the program on an ongoing basis. There is already a newly formed 6 person investigating team the university has appointed to investigate the previous charges. It is made up of community members -- not university. One member, though, has already had to leave the committee since he, as a former FBI agent, had administered a polygraph test to one of the players under investigation.

They should fire Barnett and replace him with Mike Price.

You couldn't get a stripper onto campus without Price knowing about it.

Boy, there's a real calling card.

The coach has been put on paid administrative leave during the investigations. I'm not sure how happy I am that he's still being paid, considering his supposed remarks about Hnda and with a fifth woman came forward yesterday saying she was raped at the football recruiting party.


CU coach placed on leave for saying Hnida 'awful'
Thursday, February 19, 2004 Posted: 5:09 AM EST (1009 GMT)

BOULDER, Colorado (CNN) -- University of Colorado football coach Gary Barnett was placed on paid administrative leave because of his disparaging remarks about the university's only female placekicker, who has accused a teammate of rape, CU President Elizabeth Hoffman announced late Wednesday.

"In the context of a rape allegations, it is inappropriate to make statements about the ability of the player," Hoffman said.

Barnett had called Katie Hnida an "awful" player.

Hnida, a CU placekicker in 1999, told Sports Illustrated this week that she was raped by a teammate and that she was verbally abused, harassed and molested by her fellow players.

At a news conference shortly after Hoffman announced the university's decision to place Barnett on leave, the coach read a prepared statement in which he accepted the reprimand -- noting that he did not agree with it -- and accused the media of taking his comments out of context.

"I sincerely regret that yesterday, a portion of my remarks were either misinterpreted or taken, aired out of context," he said. "And I apologize for answering that question in a manner where I must have come across as insensitive.

"What I wanted to communicate, was that regardless of Katie Hnida's abilities, I wanted Katie on our football team, I wanted to give her a chance to be a part of our program. I want to reaffirm my feelings, remarks that I made yesterday: I am very sensitive to Katie's allegations, I want to do whatever I can to help Katie."

Barnett will be on leave until the outcome of a police and internal investigation into allegations that the CU football team uses sex parties to recruit athletes and that the athletic department might have ties to an escort service.


The rest of the article

I don't think girls should be allowed to play sports.

-Rudey
--But I feel sad about her pain

Where are the SID and AD in all of this?

The SID should at least be consulting with Barnett. Whenever Barnett opens his mouth, what is coming out is extremely insensative and only has made the situation worse.

He could still be telling the truth without saying things like "Hnida was a horrible player".

I think that the entire staff here shares responsibility. Barnett for allowing it to happen and the SID and AD for not getting the situation under control once it came to light. So far, it's just been getting worse and worse.

Actually, this is the part of this that surprises me about the whole deal -- that people are so surprised that sex is used as a recruiting tool for basketball and football (and probably some other sports as well) across the big D1 programs. It seems pretty clear to me that the majority of the public has been ignoring some very obvious signs that it's rampant.

We've discussed "hostessing" organizations at schools on GC before, and from what I know, the hostessing organizations that involve sex (either consentual or not-so-consentual) outnumber those that don't. Many of the schools that don't have official hostessing organizations use sex as a recruiting tool just as often as those that do.

I think the thing that surprised me is not how prevalent sex is, but how prevalent rape appears to be, at least in the Colorado case. The idea that sex is used as a recruitment tool is hardly surprising to me, but I assumed that in most cases it was consentual. After hearing what's been going on in Colorado, I wouldn't be shocked at all to hear more rape allegations in cases like this at schools around the country.

All I know about Katie Hnida as a football player is what I've read in the papers. Her senior year in high school she was pretty consistant on PAT's and FG's, but here longest was about 35 yards -- not terribly impressive, even in high school. Of course there's no way of knowing if other, longer, opportunities even existed that season.

Hnida was invited to "walk on" by Rick Neuheisel, not a particularly well thought of person in these parts -- or in Washington (state) probably in retrospect. Barnett inherited her. Of course that does not excuse his apparent attitude. If he didn't like the thought of her, he could have cut her. Or could he? That wouldn't have been a great PR ploy either, would it?

In any event, he has most likely sealed his own fate with his arrogant sounding comments. I've never really met Barnett, so I can only judge him the same as anyone.

As regards the SID (Sports Informantion Director), Dave Plati has been with the university for years -- but has little real input into the program. I worked with him for several years when we televised CU football. A really good guy, and very clever and bright, but with no clout in terms of what the coaches say or don't say. (He works for them, not the other way around.) I really doubt that many SID's do in major programs with really strong coaches. And, of course, they can't be with the coach 24/7.

The AD, Dick Tharp, is a lawyer whom I've only met once because he's new since I was involved with the telecasts, so I can't really comment. My personal opinion is that he should have been more aware of what was going on and dealing with the situation. But that's only opinion.

One of the CU Regents has now called for a Grand Jury Investigation, as yet another open case of rape reported to the Boulder Police has been announced. You have to wonder whether the BPD and the University talk to each other.

U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO) said today that if the NCAA can't control recruiting in major sports, then Congress will step in. Hmmmm....

This just gets uglier and uglier.

Maybe Hnida really was an awful player by the standards of Coach Barnett.

ITs interesting that in this PC society he is on administrative leave for saying something considered crass versus the actual alleged sexual harrassment.

Note: The player was a very odd rapist. He answered the phone in the middle of the rape, didn't beat the victim and just let her walk away like it was nothing before he was through raping her because of the said phone ringing.

Talk about saved by the bell.

DeltAlums,
Do you know anything about Dave Logan? I keep hearing his name being mention as the next coach in CU.

I don't think it was the comment that she was an "awful player" was what got him suspended -- it was the fact that he brought it up in the middle of rape allegations like somehow that MATTERED to the charges. I think we can all agree that her ability as a player had nothing to do with the alleged rape, and the juxtaposition of the two is, at its most innocent, extremely strange, and at it's worst, extremely frightening -- as if he's saying that since she wasn't a great player, she shouldn't have been there, and since she was, it's her own fault that she got raped and assaulted and who knows what else.

Of course nobody really knows what exactly he meant, but I think the school is wise to do damage control. I mean, the guy's on PAID leave -- it's not like it's a particularly terrible fate. I think the statement was potentially troubling and indicative of a possible larger problem, so they should definitely be investigating.

As for your comments on the rape, it shows how little you understand about it. I don't think that the story is particularly odd for any rape/assault where alcohol is involved. And I don't think I would consider any rape victim particularly lucky just because the rapist didn't finish the deed. :rolleyes:

S&S,

I think you're reading too much into the suspension. The stated reason is his attitude, and the instance they keep using is his comments about her being an awful player. At this point, I take that at face value.

In reality, Barnett's problem (beyond coming off as incredibly arrogant and uncaring) is that his program was/is rife with runaway problems that he should have been on top of and either wasn't, didn't care or encouraged them behind the scenes. It is important to realize, though, that the reason he is only suspended at this point is that these are still allegations. Inncocent ulntil proven guilty.

Too late, he already took the job at UTEP.

No way you're gonna drag him away from El Paso and the Donkey Show over in Juarez.

Kitso
KS 361

Hey Moe,

Dave Logan: Renaissance Sports Man.

Yeah, I know him reasonably well. Outstanding guy. He was the color commentator on our Bronco Pre-Season, high school championship and CU Football Games. He is presently the radio voice of the Denver Broncos. He is incredibly bright, well spoken and has an encyclopedic knowledge of sports. I tried to get NBC interested in him, but for some reason they never bit. He now does a SportsTalk radio show on KOA which is heard in thirty-eight states.

If that weren't enough, though, he also is TV Spokesman for a bank, and coachs high school football on the side. A couple of years ago, his team won the 5A (Big School) Colorado State Championship.

He is a CU alum, having lettered in both Football and Basketball and was All America in the former (and maybe the latter, I don't remember for sure). He is a natural athlete, obviously. He played for a number of years as a "go to" receiver for the Cleveland Browns and ended his pro career with the Broncos.

He is an initiate of the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.

He is a hell of a high school football coach, but that sometimes doesn't translate to college just as a great college coach dosen't necessarily make a good pro coach.

All in all, I think that Logan would be a great candidate. He is well known and liked by local fans and media. He is local, and has been for years, which may be a plus in a case like this in these days when many coaches are little more than carpetbaggers. I think locals have confidence in and trust him.

If it turns out that he isn't a great college coach, he probably couldn't leave the program any worse than it is. So, in a few years, they hire someone else.

He's so smart, though, that I have a feeling he could be a great college coach.

Dave Logan was a great addition to the Browns during his Playing Days. I think He'll make a fine Coach at CU.

Where did alcohol figure into her rape account ? And alcohol doesn't rape. She didn't claim to be passed out.

We may have a misunderstanding.

I don't recall anything in Katie Hnida's charges involving alcohol. If they or he were drinking, she didn't mention it.

There is a charge from another woman who was drinking at a bar and was escorted home by two men she "thinks" were CU football players and woke up the next morning bleeding. She believes she was raped and possibly drugged.

Interesting discussion on KOA (Talk) Radio this morning. I didn't hear the whole thing, so I'll just hit some of the highlights as I understand them.

The program is hosted by Boulder lawyer Dan Capliss. He is a former "Legal Expert" reporter with the station where I worked. As such, he also worked with Dr. Dave Hnida, Katies' dad.

Apparantely, (I didn't hear this part) the CU president is backing down fairly dramatically on her criticism of Gary Barnett -- I think saying that she heard some of his comments out of context, and that she used language that was too harsh under the circumstances. That is my paraphrase, not her words.

Capliss had Gary Barnett on the next hour, which I heard only the end of. Barnett was fairly eloquent in defending the CU Football program. In my opinion, it may be that he really didn't understand all of the use of sex in recruitment -- which seems remarkable, but I suppose it's possible.

The two most interesting points to me, though, came from Capliss. Remember that he is a lawyer first, broadcaster second.

While professing admiration for Dr. Hnida, he points out that his daughter Katie and he have leveled some serious charges, but refused to give any details or name any names in her alleged rape. While stressing that if the rape did happen, the rapist should be punished to the fullest extent of the law, Katie Hnida was basically indicting all 75 members of the team by not naming the alleged rapist. No member of that team will be free of suspicion until a suspect is named. She has refused to release any other facts as well. That is unfair to all the rest of the team.

Capliss had a copy of the official police report for the latest allegation of rape. As I said earlier, this victim was pretty vague. Capliss read much of the report on the air. It seems that the woman was in a bar, interacted with a fairly large number of men. She remembers talking to two black guys who "might" have been CU football players, because they were "pretty big." She doesn't remember leaving the bar, or with whom, but woke up the next morning in her apartment partially clothed, bleeding from her rectum, and discovering a condom wrapper on the floor which she didn't recognize. She does not remember how she got to the apartment, or with whom. The police immediately started looking for big black men and found two CU football players who were in the bar. DNA tests have cleared at least one of them. The tests took months to be completed. So, the question becomes, was the BPD's initial investigation tainted with racism since they immediately focused in on black men at the bar? Since witnesses say she was with a number of men in the bar, it could appear that way. And her story is pretty vague.

Another alleged attack report was apparantely brought by a female employee of the CU Athletic Department. She allegedly said that if Coach Barnett took care of the problem to her satisifaction, she would not press charges. She didn't. Does that mean that Barnett did confront the alleged player or players? We don't know that, but the fact that she didn't press charges might indicate that he did.

All of this leaves me really conflicted. I was pretty well decided that Barnett was at least guilty of being remarkably unaware of what was going on in his program. What I heard on KOA leaves at least some amount of doubt. If nothing else, it was a less passionate consideration of the situation than I've heard on other local and national media. And, of course, it was an interpretation of a practicing lawyer. As we know, they tend to look at things from a different angle than we do.

Finally, from what I hear, the CU President backed way off in her comments regarding Gary Barnett.

This could get real interesting.

Which brings me to a personal delema. I've met quite a few athletes -- from high school through professional. My impressions, in MANY instances, have not been favorable. Many act like spoiled kids who believe they are above the rules. That's probably not entirely their fault, since we're the ones who place them on a pedestal and treat them like supreme beings. So what needs to be done to get this kind of alleged situation under control?

IF Barnett loses his job, will he be a well known scapegoat and will these alleged situations be allowed to go on because of big time influential alums and the big business side of sports? Or will the NCAA and universities with big time programs unite to put a stop to this kind of thing?

Or is Barnett and the CU program really out of control in comparison to the likes of Nebraska, Ohio State, Miami (Florida), and the other huge names? It's not that difficult for me to believe -- but I only know what I hear. The fact that I know some of the people involved does make it interesting, though.

Stay tuned...