Hoffman news confrence expected shortly--Barnett out in CU?
 

Should be in the next couple of minutes here in Colorado.

Local Denver news is repotring this is pretty much a done deal as the lawyers meeting was this afternoon.


BTW---Let the Frank Solich rumors begin now!

Who cares, she couldn't even kick it through the uprights, she got harassed because she sucked at football.

That coach is an assclown.

they literally should throw all his stuff out on the lawn and kick his ass to the curb.

9pm PST is very late

I think they are trying to time it so they can be live during the 10 o'clock news. It is all about the media.

imagine that exactly 10:00 Hoffman has just sit down to the microphone

Barnett has been suspended without pay because of his remarks about that stupid bitch kicker.

Tell me you're kidding.

Which remarks?

I hope you have daughters.

The remarks in which he said she was "a terrible kicker." They said that was an inappropoiate response to comment on her skill.

Now, please remember that she was "Verbally" raped by another team member.---My guess is the term "Bitch" was used.

Uh, no, she was physically raped by another team member. She was constantly verbally and physically abused by the rest of the team, at practice. The rape was not at practice.

Only suspended???

Well, within the context of the situation, do you feel that his commenting on her athletic prowess was appropriate?

And yes, she was physically raped by a teammate.

Click here for the ESPN story detailing the account.

Remember, the actions are because of what he said, not what happened in the program. They are gonna investigate and this should get him out of the way for a total overhaul of the program.

Slick Rick is leaving his mark where he goes isn't he? UW and CU are close to getting the death penalty.

Exactly. I don't have a daughter but I can feel the rage emitting from decent fathers around the country after reading the Rick Reilly CNN/SI story. The poor girl's father tried to get Barnett to stop the harassment and he didn't do a damn thing. Barnett should be kicked out of college football forever. Too bad most of the players probably aren't playing football anymore because I'd like to see some of those involved kicked off the team. Time to lock up some Colorado players. I hope they find enough evidence to lock up all the players accused of all these rapes.

Frankly, this remark is way, way out of line. Barnett should be suspended. In fact, he should have been fired. I don't care if she couldn't kick her way out of a paper bag. This ceased to be a discussion about her athletic ability (or lack thereof), the moment the word "rape" entered the picture.

Frankly, Taur, you should be ashamed of yourself. :mad:

Good heavens. These rank among some of the most irresponsible comments I've ever seen on this board. And that's really saying something.

Taur, I think you'd do well to review your opinions on this matter. They are, as WussGawd said, way, way out of line.

Oops, it should he has been suspended "With" pay.

Q: What kind of player was she.

A: She was a terrible player. One of the worst kickers.

I still do not know why this is an inapropiate comment for a Head Football coach.

If she was so terrible, why did he keep her on the team? I don't know Gary Barnett at all, obviously, but it sounds like he's just so damn tired of his football program being exposed that he decided to attack the most vulnerable person he could. Unfortunately, that person happened to be someone who's (allegedly) been raped. He did not have to go there. This isn't necessarily about WHAT he said. It's about WHEN he said it, and I think it was very, very poor judgment on his part. If he had said that about her when she left Colorado a few years ago, it may have just seemed like sour grapes. Now it looks like he's trying to tear down her credibility. Excuse me, but when a woman says she's been raped, unless you have any evidence whatsoever to the contrary, it seems less than apropos (or, more accurately, just plain shitty) to attack her credibility at first opportunity.

Well, when you take the comment out of context as you have done here, it does not seem to be an inappropriate comment; however, this is one situation where you cannot take the comment out of context and still comprehend the man's ignorance.

For the coach to make a comment on the kicker's athletic ability when the word "rape" is being batted around is utterly irresponsible and at the very least raises many questions about the man's maturity level, his level of involvement with his program, even his understanding of what really matters in this situation.

If you are still feel that those who have posted in this thread are angered by your quote about the kicker's ability, then you've sadly missed the point of our responses to your "bitch" comment.

So, why isn't anyone blaming the reporter who asked the question about her football skill?

Reporters can ask whatever they want; its up to Barnett to choose which ones he answers. In this case, he made a very bad decision.

Regardless, the reporter should not be held accountable for Barnett's behavior.

And why on earth would you call her a bitch?

Did he really need to come out and say that she sucked after she reported being raped?

And another thing, how does that make her a bitch?

Because her reporting it hurt the program. All part of a blame the victim attitude in rape situations that I've seen far too much of.

Uh, how does this situation have anything to do with Rick Neuheisel?

And if you think the UW is close to getting the death penalty, I have this great bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you...

First things first. She was verbally abused, and physically assaulted on a regular basis by her team mates. She says she was actually raped by a team mate. Actually physically raped, as in imagine someone holding you down and shoving their dick in your ass.

Barnett shows his class by first offhandedly dismissing her claims. Then he trumps himself, by piling on to her saying she was terrible and awful. To quote him and the espn article: "It was obvious Katie was not very good. She was awful," he said. "Katie was not only a girl, she was terrible. OK? There's no other way to say it." He went beyond dismissal, and actually went after the victim. It is no wonder they had a 10PM press conference to suspend him. I'd be surprised if he makes it to Saturday with a job. He completely went off the deep end here and he needs to pay for it.

dola,

Because the reporter isn't paid to take the high road. Barnett was under fire, and he chose to fire back at an alleged rape victim.

holy tripple dolas batman!

It was inapropriate because he was being asked these questions because she reported that he did little or nothing to prevent her harrassment while she was at the university, and that one of his players raped her. He responds by brutally assessing her ability in public without any apparent concern for her feelings. Ripping your players in the media doesn't coach any popularity contests either with his players or the public. Insulting a rape victim in the media should get you fired.

I agree, as disappointing as Rick is, the current situation at CU had nothing to do with him. It ALL happened on Barnett's watch.

With the way TV contracts are now and the money involved, I don't think we will ever see the death penalty again. It penalizes the wrong people and TV wants the best teams for the huge dough they pay. With the recent finding of "lack of institutional control" at UW, you have to start thinking UW's problems were more the AD's than his. How convenient Barbara Hedges "retired" a couple of months ago.

I think Barnett should be gone, apart from the comments, he either new of the sex for recruits (fire him) or he didn't (but he should have so fire him). The captain must go down with the ship. I think the AD should probably be gone too. Time to clear house.

You're kidding right?

I would be stunned if using sex/stripper parties to woo recruits at CU started when Barnett got there.

I say this not to pile on Rick (which I normally do at every opportunity) because I can also say the following:

I would be stunned if using sex/stripper parties to woo recruits at CU started when Neuheisel got there.

Barnett's response:

"My remarks were taken out of context"

Responding to a comment about an alleged rape victim

"Katie was a girl, and not only was she a girl but she was terrible." I don't know how anyone could have taken that out of context.

The comments were just the straw that broke the camel's back, there was no way for CU to handle having Barnett as coach any further. They have to say it was soley because of the comments, because if they say it was because of the problems with the football program they are essentially admitting fault and as a result would have little chance of a favorable settlement in the lawsuits from the recruiting party rapes.

According to the owner of the stripper company, the parties for recruits had been going on for 20 years... it wasn't a Barnett practice.

That said as both Maryland coach Gary Williams (yesterday Dan Patrik Show (ESPN radio)) and St. Joe's coach Martelli (this morning WHFS) have said in recent days ultimately you are responsible for all phases of the recruiting trip, and this is something that Barnett needed to actively discourage. Martelli pointed out with St. Joe's they are careful to pick the right guys to visit with recruits and then give the hosts some suggested activities (taylored to the recruits interests). To his credit he wasn't claiming to be naive, he knows that sometimes their suggestions don't get followed and said they deal with it. As he said ultimately he's responsible to the parents as well as to the university for what goes on during the recruiting visit.

I'm glad to see that the CU President changed her reasoning for doing this. This was her comment a day or two ago:




"I have told him in no uncertain terms that that was an unacceptable remark," she said. "You have a rape allegation here. That's a very serious criminal allegation. It's simply inappropriate to essentially blame the victim, which is what he did."


I'm sorry, as inappropriate and insensitive as that remark was, it was in no way "blaming" her for the rape. In fact, it had nothing to do with the rape, which is, in part, what made it inappropriate - to comment on her athletic abilities during the investigation of a rape allegation.

Barnett also talked about football culture (or at least Colorado football culture) during the course of his remarks on the female kicker. He talked about how football players have to earn one another's respect. That's when the comments about the female kicker's ability were made. The suggested implication of these remarks seemed to be that because she wasn't that good, she was not worthy of respect. For Barnett to connect respect and her ability was to excuse the alleged sexual assault. He may as well have said she had it coming and it was her fault.

If he had left it at talking about the kicker's ability, I don't think this would have blown up to the degree that it has, even if those comments would have been stupidly inappropriate.

I am still interested in hearing from you why she is a stupid bitch kicker...

Dude you should get suspended for these comments, your no different then that scumbag Barnett.

As a CU alumni I can tell you she was a BITCH.

This was a girl who was on the football team over Barnetts protests The AD is 100% responsible for her wearing a CU jersey. She didn't like to do team conditioning, she would not particapte in team contact drills, and she was always a no show for off season weight training. BUT, she did like and Demanded to suit up for home games. Like I said a real Bitch, that always ran to mommy(AD) when things did not go her way.

Oh man, you just dont get it do you? Just because your program is crumbling doesn't mean you have to go after the character of an alleged rape victim, it justifies nothing. Theres a time and a place to comment on those things and now is deffinitly not the time, you and Barnett need to learn some tact, seriously.

The death penalty is a myth. It will never happen again in college football.

Write it down.

I guess I'd have to hear/read the whole interview to get a better impression, but if the interview turned from the rape to her activities on the football team and her abilities, then I think it's a stretch to connect the two. Again, he shouldn't have even let the interview get that far, and what he said given the circumstances was inappropriate, but I don't see how his comments about her ability and the lack of respect she earned from teammates had anything to do with the rape. I guess it depends on how the interview flowed, and like I said, I haven't seen it.

I don't know why people allow themselves to be put in the position of making an ass of themselves. That's all the media is after - a story. So why give them something out of nothing? A simple "no comment" on the entire matter would have sufficed.

Good call, good post.


Now that does bring up an interesting question:

IF he was asked about her athletic abilities, does the investigation make it impossible (socio-politically) for him to answer the question? Is his only option to avoid drawing fire to say something along the lines of "Well, there's more serious issues at hand right now & I don't really want to comment about that?

What I'm bumping into here is having a hard time condemning an honest answer to a question that someone asked (if that's indeed the case as someone suggested earlier).

Seems to me I'd be more upset that (I presume) an idiot asked about football ability in the midst of a rape investigation, because I really don't see how that's relevant. I mean, if the alleged victim was a physicist, would someone have asked about her skills in the lab?

That would have been the appropriate answer, in my mind. Just because someone asks you something, doesn't mean you need to answer it, even if you have an answer for it.

This is the response that should have been made. It doesnt take a genius. It's just that some coaches are so arrogant that even in the midst of something like this, they want to exhibit some control over the situation.

Dola - BTW, reporters are known for asking stupid questions, and even baiting coaches or players into sticking their feet in their mouths. If a player/coach can say "no comment" to a stupid question during a press conference after a football game, why can't they do it here?

Didn't someone ask for a REAL or GOOD reason? Not just "I think"...

Do we at least also ding the idiot who asked the question?

{note: I'm open to the whole "no comment" thing, I'm just working on whether there's some more blame to go 'round}

Since when does a kicker participate in contact drills anyway?

My answer is either "I don't think so," or "We should ding reporters for EVERYTHING they do that is wrong." To me, asking this question is hardly as inappropriate as attempting to interview someone as they are being told of a loved one's death. But that happens all of the time, and no one gets particularly bothered by it - at least not enough to DO something about it. So it seems unfair to go after this reporter in this instance.

You guys hang out a lot? Did you go out to parties together? Study together? Did she invite you to dinner when her parents were in town for parents' weekend?

I didn't think so. Your assertions are even more embarrassing now that you have backed them up with 3rd-hand speculation and hearsay. It is bad enough making that value judgement about a person when you don't know them. But to make them in a thread about that person and an alleged rape is just completely unfathomable.