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Heavy speculation in the local media today is that Barnett will be reinstated before the end of the week.
I suppose it's possible that he and his staff didn't know about all or any of the stuff alleged during the past few months. That seems a little hard to imagine, though. If nothing else, they are terminally dull witted. If you send at 18 year old kid out on a campus like Colorado with a 20 or 21 year old kid -- what the heck do you think they'll do? At the very least, the lack of supervision was apalling.
And what about the AD and other university officials? It's a little like the Iraqi prison abuse scandal. Were does the buck stop? Who should fall on his/her sword for this?
It's interesting that ESPN would interview and quote J. J. Billingsly. He went to high school with two of my kids. He was mentioned in an alleged alcohol laced event when he was being recruited. He's not a bad kid, but I doubt that his credibility is at its high point here.
Then there's Katie Hnida, the high school homecoming queen and football player (kicker in both HS and college) who says she was raped by a former team mate. Whether deserved or not, her reputation has been sullied with comments about her alleged "sexual conquests." Political smoke screen? Who knows? I've never met her, but I worked in TV with her dad, Dr. Dave Hnida, and he is a fine man. At the outset of this situation, he was an Army Reserve Major, serving as a surgeon in Iraq. He may still be there. If nothing else, Barnett's comments about her and her athletic ability have been insensitive (at best). His myopic defense of his players (Hnida not included) has not endeared him to very many.
In terms of the football climate in Boulder, it certainly isn't Columbus, Lincoln, Norman, Ann Arbor, South Bend or other such storied locations where people kneel at the shrine of college football. But on Fall Saturdays the Flatirons Club in Folsom Stadium is always full and the traffic from Denver North is pretty daunting.
At the moment, there is the appearance of "circling the wagons" at the foot of the Flatirons (the mountains immediately West of the CU Campus). The president has the chancellor's back, the chancellor has Barnetts back -- nobody is sure if anyone has Dick Tharpe, the Athletic Director's back. He may be the one sharpening his sword tonight.
A local newspaper reporter was saying on the Rocky Mountain Sports Report on FoxRocky tonight that, in this economy, CU can't really afford to fire Barnett and pay off his contract while hiring another high priced coach. Interesting theory.
Of course the big question is whether Barnett's ability to recruit has been damaged. Or, does the great player and his/her parent really care as long as the program is a winner? (Which this one wasn't last year.)
The ongoing speculation is whether this is a CU problem, or endemic of a much larger problem throughout big time college football that the NCAA either doesn't know or care about. Hard to believe the former. So where do the ethics of recruiting begin?
Finally, just let me say that for many years I was either executive producer or director of CU football telecasts and I met a lot of folks in the Colorado Athletic Department. For part of that time I taught TV Sports Production at the J-School in Boulder. Most of the folks were good, hard working professionals. But many were caught up in the mystique of big time college athletics, where winning is everything.
__________________
Fraternally,
DeltAlum
DTD
The above is the opinion of the poster which may or may not be based in known facts and does not necessarily reflect the views of Delta Tau Delta or Greek Chat -- but it might.
Last edited by DeltAlum; 05-27-2004 at 02:11 AM.
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