When the sickening details of child sexual abuse at Penn State were uncovered, an overwhelming feeling of disgust seemed to indicate no other university could stand by when something so evil took place. There surely would be a new level of accountability in college sports.
Yet while that scandal unfolded and culminated in former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky’s conviction, Michigan State officials allegedly were turning blind eyes to the sexual abuse of hundreds of young gymnasts by team doctor Larry Nassar, who also worked for USA Gymnastics.
At Ohio State, former university doctor Richard Strauss is accused of molesting as many as 2,500 athletes for 20 years until 1998, resulting in recent class-action lawsuits against the school (Strauss killed himself in 2005). Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer is on administrative leave, pending results of an external investigation, after his questionable handling of an assistant coach’s alleged repeated domestic abuse. Three years ago, Illinois fired football coach Tim Beckman after players said he mishandled injuries and employed demeaning coaching methods.
And here we are again. Another lesson unlearned.
The Big Ten scandal du jour is at Maryland. An ESPN report Friday uncovered what it called “a toxic culture” under coach DJ Durkin that led the university to put Durkin and three members of the team’s training staff on leave Saturday — just three weeks before the season — while it conducts an external investigation.
The report arose from ESPN’s investigation into details of redshirt freshman offensive lineman Jordan McNair’s death from heatstroke two weeks after falling ill during a team workout May 31. The attorney for McNair’s family on Sunday called for Durkin to be fired “immediately,” saying that Durkin “fostered a horrible culture of physical and verbal abuse of the players” and that the training staff showed “complete indifference” to McNair’s illness.
At none of these Big Ten programs did any adult with an inkling of suspicion raise concern to authorities. Left with little oversight, these authority figures deftly try to shake off any accountability.
I’m left wondering how all these powerful men think they can continue to get away with it. I suppose it’s because we’ve given them permission to do so.
The hierarchy of college sports — in which coaches are paid millions and athletes are paid nothing — indeed can be dangerous. Coaches wield all the power, typically going unchecked until an athlete builds the courage to speak up or a journalist unearths disturbing truths.
Where’s the oversight on coaches? Where’s the university official from outside the athletic department checking in on practices? Before hiring a coach, do administrators interview dozens of former athletes who played for him or just the coaches’ enabling friends in the industry?
Meanwhile, athletes from Michigan and other schools are under investigation for possibly violating NCAA rules by selling their shoes. Spare me.
Could we be a little more vigilant about tracking the behavior of coaches and team doctors?
Power permits the powerful to skate accountability everywhere: in politics, in business and in sports.
Scandals happen throughout college sports. But these heaping Big Ten scandals have been the sort that makes our stomachs turn, imagining our own children or young relatives vulnerable in similar environments, in a place where adults help keep the curtains closed and hide secrets.
When will any of these institutions learn from the others?
Ever?
Twitter @sryantribune
