[Vision2020] FW: How Low is Too Low for the UI to Stoop for Athletics?

[Saundra Lund]

Visionaries:

 

Rosemary Huskey asked me to forward the below to V2020 - for some reason,
she's unable to post to the Viz just now.  SL

 

___

For those of you who were as unaware as I was of this situation the
following text will help to bring you up to speed.

"Just before the start of his only season with the University of Idaho men's
basketball team, heralded transfer Steffan Johnson was asked about his final
days at the University of the Pacific, where he was expelled for an alleged
sexual assault incident.  "I'm beyond Pacific," Johnson told The
Spokesman-Review in November 2009. "I had good times when I was there. I
learned a lot when I was there. I accomplished a lot while I was there, but
it's time for me to start a new chapter in my book." . . .

"Regarding Idaho's decision to accept Johnson after the incident, Barry
Brennan, Beckett's father, told CBS, "Unbelievable to sit there and say 'Oh,
wow, OK, well, we can use a guy like that.' 'Oh, he has a sexual assault and
has been found guilty?' How in the hell do you end up at another university
within three months?" 

Don Verlin [UI basketball coach] did not return a phone message left for him
Tuesday asking for his response. But after Johnson arrived in 2008, he told
Foxsports.com, "He got himself into a little bit of a bad situation, but I
never had a doubt. He's a terrific kid."

Following the CBS report, Idaho released a statement that read: "As with any
story there are two sides. We can assure we did our due diligence before
offering Mr. Johnson a scholarship. The Pacific case did not involve a
police investigation and no criminal charges were filed. In his brief time
on our campus Mr. Johnson was a model citizen and earned his degree."

Pacific also provided a lengthy response to the "60 Minutes" piece. It noted
that the judicial review board "spent 25 hours hearing witness testimony and
deliberating before coming to its conclusion that not all the students
should be expelled. The Board considered the specific actions of each male
student, and grappled with the fact that there were dramatic differences in
what the students did."

Paired with point guard Mac Hopson for the 2009-10 season, Johnson was
expected to help UI compete for a WAC title. But the Vandals finished 15-16
and 6-10 in conference play, good for the seventh seed in the WAC
tournament."
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2011/apr/20/idaho-vandals-defend-steffan-jo
hnson-transfer/

It is unimaginable to me that a coach (who at least figuratively speaking is
supposed to provide a moral compass of some sort to his/her athletes) would
describe a rape as "a little bit of a bad situation, but I never had a
doubt. He's a terrific kid."  Never had a doubt about what Coach Verlin -
that Johnson was expelled for his part in a gang bang, or that he had the
ability to make points for your lack-luster basketball team ? I remain
enraged that UI continues to waste money on programs that further damage our
financially strapped institution, and continue to pay administrators who
make jackass decisions.  Coach Verlin is paid twice as much as many of the
faculty who actually contribute positively to reputation and mission of the
UI.  Perhaps, someone can help me to understand exactly what Coach Verlin
has done for our beloved university.

 

Rose Huskey

 

 

 

From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
On Behalf Of Saundra Lund
Sent: Friday, April 22, 2011 1:20 PM
To: 'Moscow Vision 2020'
Subject: [Vision2020] How Low is Too Low for the UI to Stoop for Athletics?

 

If you -- like I -- thought the UI had the ethics, integrity, and wisdom to
*not* actively recruit AND give a full ride scholarship to a dirtbag
expelled from another university for sexual misconduct, you -- like I --
would be sadly mistaken.

 

If that's not bad enough, the piece of crap responsible for that genius
decision is still Men's Head Basketball Coach at the UI -- Don Verlin.
Unbelievable.  Really, UI?!?!  Disgusting.

 

And, the piece of crap is paid $133,000 (FY2010) a YEAR to recruit sex
offenders to the UI.

 

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/04/17/60minutes/main20054339_page4.shtml
?tag=contentMain;contentBody

 

As for Steffan Johnson, three months after he was expelled from the
university for sexual assault, he was given a full scholarship to the
University of Idaho. 

Head coach Don Verlin told a local newspaper he recruited Johnson after
talking to the associate head coach from the University of the Pacific, Ron
Verlin, who just happens to be his twin brother.

You can read the story here:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/04/17/60minutes/main20054339.shtml?tag=c
ontentMain;contentBody

 

Or, you can watch it here:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7363066n
<http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7363066n&tag=related;photovideo>
&tag=related;photovideo

Huh - before I graduated, one of the things I did was go around to student
living groups giving presentations on date rape awareness & prevention.
Guess that's not something the UI cares about anymore - hell, I guess the
philosophy now is to pay Verlin big bucks to recruit the dirtbags and give
them a free rides.

And yet sporties wonder why those of us who value academics are upset about
the preferential treatment athletics receives.  Tenure or not, I'd just
about bet my bottom dollar on the fact that had an academic professor
knowingly & actively recruited and provided a full ride scholarship to
someone expelled from another university for sexual assault, that would be
the end of that professor's career at the UI, one way or another.

Yet, Verlin is still at the UI and is actually making more money now - his
salary in FY2009 was $117,000 and was increased to $133,000 for FY2010. . .
guess the UI pays a premium to someone who recruits athletes expelled for
sexual assault from other schools.

Really, UI?!? 

Pardon me while I go vomit . . . 

 

 

Saundra Lund

Moscow, ID

 

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do
nothing.

~ Edmund Burke

 

***** Original material contained herein is Copyright 2011 through life plus
70 years, Saundra Lund.  Do not copy, forward, excerpt, or reproduce outside
the Vision 2020 forum without the express written permission of the
author.*****

 

 

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