OREGON COACHING SCANDALS

If the old shower whizzer could do it right, what’s wrong with the rest of the coaches?

When athletes get paid huge sums to play their game, people pay attention. The money draws eyes to see if a player is worth the investment.

It’s the opposite of rec-league friends and parents in the stands.

The other side of the coin is behavior beyond sports. Of course we love our favorites, and when they do more, when they move beyond the norm, their greatness multiplies.

It works the same way when they fail. The more spectacular, the better. And sports fans never forget.

Two current coaching problems work their way through the system because of one bad choice after another.

1. Oregon Duck basketball.

2. Madras High School Track.

Neither passes the smell test.

Oregon Duck basketball falls victim to the old Watergate question: “Who knew, and when did they know it?”

You’re wondering when Coach Richard Nixon came back so Senator Baker could ask him the question?

No, it’s not Nixon. It’s Coach Altman.

1.

So far consensus says too many decision makers at Oregon knew too much and said too little.

On the face of it, what more can you say about a party night with three guys and one woman in college?

The woman didn’t think it was much of a party.

The law didn’t clamp down on the three guys, but they ended up dismissed from Duck basketball and banned from campus.

Is this fair treatment?

In the world of high profile athletes mistreating women, from Kobe in Colorado to Ray Rice in an elevator, you’d think everyone, high school, college, or pro, might take a step back when faced with certain choices.

This comes from the You Gotta Know Better file:

This blogger was a scholarship athlete at a small party college. Going to a party school meant parties. One night an older lady student and her friend were at a house party going full blast. On any campus, these ladies were stand outs.

I’d met them before on campus, but just to say hello. At this off-campus house party they were much more friendly. Have I seen the basement, they asked? Would I like to?

Once in the basement, we all looked around. At least I did. Couches, low lights, and a locked door. I don’t know if the women were expert tour guides, or if this was a one time thing, but this freshman sized up the atmosphere and bolted.

One man, two women? In a strange basement? I had to fake illness to make my run. The peer pressure said stay, but the fear pressure said go. It wasn’t easy.

The pressure on UO isn’t going away. How will recruiters explain the departure and campus ban of three basketball players? How will they comfort worried parents whose kids want to attend Oregon?

2.

In an unrelated instance, a high school coach visited jail and stayed. The charges?

From oregonlive.com:

Melissa Bowerman was delivered from her home in Fossil to the Madras jail. Charges include:

• Sexual Abuse in the Second Degree (class C felony)
• Luring a Minor (class C felony)
• Online Sexual Corruption of a Child in the Second Degree (class C felony)
• Contributing to the Sexual Delinquency of a Minor (class A misdemeanor)

Can we agree sports and social life don’t mix when a woman in her forties, the wife of a man in his seventies, takes a seventeen year old guy from the track team she coaches to the prom? Then let’s also agree that a little ping pong and a few slow dances don’t add up to high crimes.

The story changes when the same coach goes to her next job and engages in similar activities, minus the formal wear.

Adults associating with minors in sports are role models. They show athletes how to break down walls of adversity to reach their potential. That’s not a green light to ignore the legal limits of normal society, regardless of desire.

If People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive showed up at a rural Oregon high school to coach anything, how many students and teachers and ladies in the community would line up for his autograph? Name recognition removes certain barriers, then it’s up to the individual to decide what’s best in the situation.

Being labeled a sex abuser for life is a badge no one wants to wear.

Mrs. Bowerman failed as a coach, a teacher, and a wife. She’ll answer for that. And the University of Oregon?

Back on the UO campus, where did Coach Dana Altman fail? Some writers say he failed to recognize his players’ problems during recruiting. Some say he should have known about the alleged sexual assault before he said he did. Worst of all is the guess that he knew his players were in trouble, but he needed them to play.

The state of Oregon has a college basketball coach and a high school track coach in hot water. How hot and how deep is still in question. One may get fired while the other goes to prison. That’s not coach-speak, that’s consequence-speak.

No one gets a free pass to lie or act out, no matter your place of employment or your last name. Coaches need to win. Some break unwritten rules; others write their own rules.

Doing it the right way still sends a message we all need.

Name a coach who gets it right. I want their name in comments. They’d like it, too.

(originally published on oregonsportsnews.com)