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Editorial: Buffs in trouble
Hawkins, Bohn take incidents seriously
CORRECTION (6/24/08): This editorial incorrectly reported that former University of Colorado football player Christopher Perri was dismissed from the team. He left voluntarily.
Imagine how University of Colorado football coach Dan Hawkins and Athletic Director Mike Bohn cringe every time a Buff makes headlines for all the wrong reasons.
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Share and Enjoy In the latest bad news, former quarterback Bernard Jackson and former safety Lionel Harris were arrested on suspicion of an armed robbery that took place June 5.
Also, a man who was assaulted last year on University Hill plans to sue his alleged attacker, linebacker Michael Sipili.
Beyond that, five other players have gotten tangled up with the law in the past six months for alleged involvement in everything from smashing a car window to assault.
"It's disappointing when people fail to grasp the philosophy of 'excellent with class' that is Buff football," Hawkins said in response to the arrest of Jackson and Harris.
Disappointing? Absolutely. But is it prima facie evidence that football players are more prone to running afoul of the law? Is the game itself, indisputably violent, the cause? Are athletes, treated by some as quasi-royalty during their college careers, people who suffer from delusions of entitlement?
Some who defend athletes argue that, statistically speaking, they don't get into any more trouble than any other discrete university population, whether made up of fraternity members or members of the golf team. They say incidents involving football players are unfairly magnified in the media.
Without firm statistics it's impossible to say, but the former claim seems overstated. We find it hard to imagine that, say, CU engineering students wind up wearing jailhouse orange as often as football players.
As far as the media attention goes, well, sure. The narrative about football players at big schools getting into trouble is based on evidence, so every time it happens, the media unsurprisingly comes running.
But we see no reason to point the finger at CU's program, which under Hawkins strongly emphasizes character. Remember, even parents who have the opportunity to influence their children every day have no control over how they ultimately turn out, and people make their own choices. Hawkins isn't putting up with misbehavior -- for example, he suspended Sipili and booted former player Christopher Perri permanently after the alleged University Hill attack last fall -- but he can't babysit of his players 24/7.
Every time something like this happens, there are calls for CU to drop kick football, or at least step down from the top ranks and play in NCAA Division II or III, where the pressures to win are not as great, which supposedly would translate into fewer illegal incidents.
Not going to happen. Football produces significant revenue (mostly for itself, but it also aids other athletic programs) and many powerful boosters. And don't forget, 50,000-plus fans show up on autumn afternoons, come broiling sun or swirling snow, to watch their beloved Buffs play. The only other way to get that many people together in Boulder is to throw a top-notch 10K race.
It's time to accept that football is at CU to stay. And remember, Hawkins can talk until he's silver and gold in the face, but some immature players are going to do stupid, illegal things.
At least Bohn and Hawkins take the incidents seriously. That's more than we can say for some past coaches and officials.
-- Clay Evans, guest editor
for the Camera editorial board
Posted by Pogue009 on June 24, 2008 at 12:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)
CU engineering students likely don't come from violent and impoverished backgrounds as some of these players do. Some of these guys are bad dudes, some made bad choices, none ran through the streets stripping their clothes off after assaulting a woman.
So far in the stories I have read Jackson and Harris are the only indefensible ones and they are not on the team. Other than them you have DUI, a charge hardly uncommon around here, Assault but with mitigating circumstances such as a Tazer, and smashing a car window(I remember worse being done in defense of porch couches, and underage drinking)
All are individual cases none involved completely innocent victims(IMHO) short of maybe the car window(Was it an SUV?)
Posted by SoldierInWarofIdeas on June 24, 2008 at 8:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
One of your more balanced editorials, Clay. Too bad you don't give the same benefit to Bush in his foreign policy..
Re: Hawkins, you state that "Players make their own choices. So, do countries, dictators, and whacko clerics, even when we've made every effort to help them do the "right" thing.
One other thing....Unless I am mistaken, the color silver, as in "Hawkins can talk until he's silver and gold in the face", is not a buff color. Its Black and Gold, is it not?
Posted by JBPoorman on June 24, 2008 at 8:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The two players in question are FORMER players. So 4 players in 6 months. Have you ever compared Boulder and Fairview High School crime stats to CU or the CU Football team? What you will find is numerous assaults, drug possesion, underage alcohol possesion, and of course a scavenger hunt of stolen property.
The football team always represents the most "fertile" ground for the Newspaper and our "academic" community. However, clearly the problems in our local high schools far outweighs the great front page news flashes of former STARS in trouble.
Here is a great opportunity for some one with a real pulse on the community to bring up what is constantly swept under the rug about alcohol and assaults... IT IS NOT JUST THEM; IT IS ALL OF OUR KIDS.
Wake up Boulder! The football team has more integrity; more community service hours; and more character then our kids. They work out twice a day; hold summer jobs; and work in the community per coach Hawkins. I know. I employ one of the hardest working kids around who plays for CU.
I also have a daughter who was assaulted at Boulder High. She got knocked down and robbed two blocks from the High School. Is she an angel? No. I am not pointing fingers at the High School. I am pointing the finger at myself and all of us to get involved with our kids. And participate with our schools to intervene, like Coach Hawkins, with students to get them on the right track.
These incidents should draw attention to a problem in our community; which includes the Football Team. For the record, I did not attend CU nor do I support the football team. Go Rams!
Posted by yayo on June 24, 2008 at 8:43 a.m. (Suggest removal)
No need for the last sentence Evans, you hack.
Posted by darkcloud on June 24, 2008 at 8:54 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The hand wringing by the Camera and the supposed Voices of Reason over these incidents is somewhat hypocritical. The Camera has too much at risk by keeping tabs on the Men in the Program (coach talk that changes to Kids Just Having Fun at need following perp walks)and their enablers.
The Camera is an enabler.
Along with violent incidents, sometimes covered up by de facto police liasons (and sometimes actual liasons, remember?), every year here in Boulder it seems our scholarship football players are driving brand new - and expensive - cars. This is probably true at every Division One football college. It's just not within the rules of the NCAA.
If anyone wants to blow college ball open, say professors concerned about the money spent on football or taxpayers preferring the CU Foundation alter its preferences for spending, they merely have to trace the convoluted ownership sequences back to the original buyers and car dealers, and the generally rich alumni and alumni foundations that illegally pay for them. Local newspapers, despite their claims of journalistic principles, won't follow this because of the advertising revenue lost. They're enablers. And, well, co-conspirators.
So far, Hawkins comes across as pretty much a good guy, with high expectations, and a somewhat goofy but honorably held set of high standards for his players. It's very hard not to like him. But this is his first jaunt in the world of big money football, so we'll see down the road.
Posted by gtbinprescott on June 24, 2008 at 8:56 a.m. (Suggest removal)
SoldierInWarOfIdeas: While the Buffs wear Black and Gold on the field, the school colors are indeed silver and gold (hence the name of the "Silver and Gold" campus newspaper).
Posted by ziggle on June 24, 2008 at 9:07 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I expect that college athletes who have had athletic scholarships should behave better than average students, not worse. It doesn't matter if they come from impoverished or violent backgrounds, when they come here they need to get the message that bad behavior won't be tolerated at all. Already one of the infamous eight is asking to have his team suspension reduced. Hawkins should practice saying, "no".
These guys get a free ride to college. They have tutors and coaches and trainers and advisers everywhere they turn. And they still manage to mess up at awe-inspiring rates.
And, contrary to what Evans suggests, it is hard to believe that CU Football has actually made any money over the past 15 years given the costs of all of the lawsuits and settlements the University has had to pay as a result of the many legal entanglements players and coaches have gotten them in to. And let's not forget the cost of recruiting a new CU president, athletic director, and football coach after the others left in disgrace. No true accounting could have that bunch turning a profit.
I'm sure that Hawkins is mortified by the arrests. Maybe he needs to direct a little of that mortification energy at his recruiting crew and tell them to just say no to the kids that already have messed up in high school. After all, exactly how much do all those recruits that are suspended and cut because of bad behavior actually help the team?
Posted by JBPoorman on June 24, 2008 at 11:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)
One more time... the local high schools are outperforming the CURRENT scholarship athletes in crime.
This arguement of a coach being responsible 24/7 for his athletes led to the tragedy at Duke.
Sorry that none of us got a scholarship for athletics... but let's get over it!
Posted by lafayetteeast on June 24, 2008 at 12:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This is all ridiculous. These are ex-Buffs. They have a life. They've chosen this path. What's the hand-ringing about? They did a crime, they'll do the time. And why, since they're out of the clutches of Bohn and Hawkins, does this reflect on the current football program at all.
Posted by OutToPasture on June 24, 2008 at 2:18 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Anyone that thinks that football program doesn't generate a ton of revenue for the university is just an idiot.
Forget the direct revenue generated by television contracts, bowl games, etc. Forget contributions from alumni that can be traced directly to the support of athletics. Just look at enrollment. I got to CU in '88. The university didn't even reach full enrollment that year. I recall reading the stories in the Colorado Daily talking about how many dorm rooms were empty. A couple years later, many freshmen had to live off campus.
A big-time athletic program brings a lot of attention to a university - some good, some bad. Our local papers have thrived on printing the bad stories. Negative news will sell more papers, that's just life. Look at this website, if there's is a positive story about a CU athlete, you might be 3 or 4 die-hard fans saying "atta boy", but you run something negative and you immediately get the burning flame icon next to the comment count.
"It's time for college and universities to get back to their primary purposes..."? Get back to? In what year did most major universities not have athletic programs?
I'd almost like to see the school do away with the football program and see what you people have to say about the state of the university in about 5 years. CU would turn into a glorified community college with no students and no money. CSU would become the top school in the state!
Posted by darkcloud on June 24, 2008 at 5:49 p.m. (Suggest removal)
College football in this division does generate a lot of revenue. It's, you know, the net that matters. For the reasons nuclear bombs are tabulated under the Energy Department and not the Pentagon, some things aren't on the books of the Athletic Department that should be.
That's why truthful and accurate bookkeeping might be nice. We'll start slow. How are the football camp's books this year? When they can do that accurately - two years in a row, even, maybe? - we can start believing their 'program' books. Have they even met the promises they gave a few years ago?
The CU Foundation has halved their money raising expenses since their audit, after the recent 'unpleasantness.' Normally, there would be queries into that, since it's a lot of money.
When the Grand Jury testimony and information is finally released, despite CU's hysterics to keep it hidden, lot of people will be upset, I'd wager.
Meanwhile, what cars are the scholarship football players driving this year? As they've driven in years past, right in front of all the local media who never seem to notice this irony, since they're on scholarship.
Posted by Pogue009 on June 26, 2008 at 12:05 a.m. (Suggest removal)
LR I believe Heath Irwin was a Rhodes Scholar in addition to playing left tackle for the Buffs. Not everyone who is strong is stupid, anymore than those who are weak are smart.
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