Before you go banishing Iowa State's Larry Eustachy for his behavior at a college party, you need to put his mistakes into perspective.
Earlier this month an internal investigation at the University of Iowa was critical of the way the school and basketball coach Steve Alford responded to charges by a female athlete that Hawkeyes player Pierre Pierce sexually assaulted her.
The report, commissioned by school president Willard "Sandy" Boyd, said Alford was wrong to proclaim his belief in Pierce's innocence during the criminal investigation. It claimed Alford "implied that he disbelieved and discredited the claims of the student victim."
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| Larry Eustachy didn't break any laws or put any students at risk.(AP) |
Meanwhile, a local prosecutor told the Iowa City Press-Citizen that Alford was "absolutely wrong" and claimed Alford's comments were "extremely hurtful to the victim." There was even an effort by the Christian group Athletes in Action, the report said, to have "the victim and Pierce settle the matter together through prayer."
In the end, that victim wound up refusing to testify, allowing Pierce to plea bargain third degree sexual assault charges, a felony, down to assault causing injury, a misdemeanor. He was sentenced to one-year probation.
"For (the victim)," the report concluded, "(the behavior of the school) confirmed her fears that the university would act to protect its athlete and would not effectively pursue her interests in a disciplinary matter."
After sitting out this past season, Pierce is expected to play for UI next year.
Was Alford wrong to proclaim his faith in his player or was he just honestly stating his opinion and standing behind his guy? Did the athletic department choose sides (even inadvertently) here and subvert the judicial process, or did it act with as even a hand as could be expected?
These are good questions.
Last week at the University of Missouri, where we now know the Natural Light Ice flows deep into the night, junior guard Ricky Clemons plea bargained his way to misdemeanor assault down from more serious felony assault charges for his role in choking and holding a female student against her will in January.
Mizzou officials suspended Clemons from the team for one year but he will remain on scholarship. This was not the first time Clemons had faced such charges. He was accused of almost the same crime during a stint at a junior college in Idaho.
That prompted a women's group to wonder why Mizzou coach Quin Snyder didn't do his homework better when recruiting players.
Should Snyder be responsible for not investigating Clemons' past and is the school being too lenient on the player or is there only so much we can ask of a coach and cutting Clemons loose now serves no purpose?
These are some more good questions.
And they are not easy to answer. Running a college basketball program is complex, fast paced, and Alford and Snyder will be the first to tell you they don't have all the answers. If they made mistakes, it is quite possible they were honest ones. Like everything else in society, this isn't a black and white affair.
Reasonable people can agree or disagree on these points.
But there isn't a lot of agreeing, disagreeing or debate at all about whether Alford affected a criminal investigation or whether Snyder should be responsible for checking the backgrounds of potential Tigers.
The fan and media focus in the Heartland is centered on whether Eustachy should be fired as head coach of Iowa State for attending parties with college-aged students after Cyclone road games at Mizzou and Kansas State.
Which is why we all need to take a deep breath, relax and not lose sight of what is important.
Whether a basketball coach did something bone-headed like attend a party and have his picture taken with a Natty Light in one hand and a coed in another is far less an important question than the aforementioned ones.
Sure, the Eustachy deal is interesting and, for many, down right hysterical. The pictures from the Missouri party show the cheap beer, the coach in his trademark black mock turtle neck (does he own anything else?), and a married father of two posing for pictures while kissing chicks on the cheek.
Monday's story in Des Moines Register contained all sorts of amusing details such as Eustachy declaring to his fellow partiers "my team sucks" and that "girls down (at Kansas) are much hotter" than at K-State.
But comparatively this is a whole lot of nothing. In a sport with so many real world problems, whether a coach chose the wrong place to drink (and he did) is not that big a deal. Unless further details emerge, Eustachy broke no laws, did nothing wrong and put no students at risk. At worst this is the sign of an alcohol problem, but only Eustachy knows that.
He made a fool of himself, something he will be reminded of by opposing fans. For his big night(s) out, he will pay in reputation, a currency that even his million-dollar income can't buy back. Monday, ISU athletic director Bruce Van De Velde did not say what the official punishment, if any, would be.
"The situation will be dealt with in an appropriate manner," said Van De Velde.
Eustachy must understand that when you get paid big public money you lose your private life. He should lay off the sauce, apologize to anyone who will listen and never again attend a college party.
But he shouldn't be fired. What he did may have been dumb and he may not have been forthcoming when first asked about it, but it shouldn't be considered worse than the bad things that coaches knowingly and unknowingly do in an effort to win. It shouldn't be compared to the important issues that emerge out of college basketball.
If the public and the media want to spend time looking at a serious Heartland controversy then skip the late night antics of the Iowa State coach and focus on student athletes and sexual assault. That's a real problem with real victims that just keeps happening.
Eustachy's behavior may be sensational and entertaining, but when it comes to the stories of the month from his neck of the woods, it comes in a distant third in importance.
Sexual assault and the role athletic departments should play in preventing and prosecuting it is a real issue. Drinking beer with college kids is just real funny.
